“Again?!”

Salk: Why Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald’s career really begins now

I’m sure this is what you were thinking when Seattle Seahawks star DK Metcalf lost a fumble in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Giants. The play, before it became a turnover, looked like a 10-yard pickup that went second and short in a tie game. Instead, it was a forced fumble that was recovered by the Giants. Four plays later that turned into a touchdown and a 17-10 New York lead.

It was the second lost fumble in as many weeks for Metcalf, and both times the rebounding team scored a rushing touchdown. It felt like one of the most expensive losses in primetime for the Lions. In a game against the Giants where Seattle was thoroughly outplayed, it was costly, but also one of many punches to land.

Ball security isn’t Metcalf’s biggest strength, but to say he has a fumbling problem feels a bit reactive (Note to Metcalf: Please don’t mess with the 49ers and make me regret this statement). He has eight career lost fumbles, including three in his rookie season of 2019 and two in the last two weeks. The rest? Three lost fumbles in a span of four seasons.

It’s not ideal — trust me — but it’s also a digestible number for a player who led your team in receiving yards (5,753) and receiving touchdowns (45) since entering the league. He became the first Seahawks receiver ever to have three consecutive 100-yard games and is less than 300 yards away from surpassing Steve Largent (Steve Largent!) for most receiving yards in the first six seasons by any player in franchise history .

That said, the Seahawks have a problem when it comes to the passing game: those receiving numbers are nice and all, but they’re passing on too much.

Seattle leads the league in pass attempts per game (39.8). These numbers don’t include play-heavy play, meaning Geno Smith is dropping back quite regularly in an already one-dimensional offense — already a tough ask for a great offensive line, let alone one with three new faces and a third string. right approach. Despite all the problems with O-line this year, that approach does not make it any easier.

First-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb took full responsibility for the team’s failure to establish the run.

“I will own that,” Grubb told reporters on Tuesday. “I have to get the ball to Ken (Walker III) more often. And I think we had enough run game in the plan that it had nothing to do with the fact that we didn’t have enough calls for that, we just weren’t getting calls. And for us, we leaned on the wrong thing. And I think if we give Ken ten more touches, fifteen more touches, things will look different. So that’s 100% my responsibility and my job is to make sure I get all our guys in the best possible position to win the game. And I didn’t do that.”

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