“Again?!”

Salk: Why Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald’s career is just now beginning

I’m sure you thought that when Seattle Seahawks star wideout DK Metcalf lost a fumble in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Giants. Before a turnover occurred, the play appeared to be a 10-yard pickup that converted to second-and-short on a tying play. Instead, it was a forced fumble that the Giants recovered. Four plays later, that turned into a touchdown and a 17-10 lead for New York.

It was Metcalf’s second lost fumble in as many weeks, and both times the recovering team scored a rushing touchdown. For the Lions, it felt like one of the most costly games of primetime defeat. In a game against the Giants in which Seattle was completely outplayed, it was costly, but also one of many shots to be thrown.

Ball security isn’t Metcalf’s greatest strength, but saying he has a fumble problem feels a bit reactive (note to Metcalf: please don’t fumble against the 49ers and make me regret that statement). He has lost eight fumbles in his career – three of them in his rookie season in 2019 and two in the last two weeks. The rest? Three lost fumbles in four seasons.

That’s not ideal – believe me – but it’s also a digestible number for a player who has led your team in receiving yards (5,753) and touchdowns (45) since entering the league. He became the first Seahawks receiver ever to post three consecutive 100-yard games and is less than 300 yards shy of tying Steve Largent for the most receiving yards in the first six seasons of franchise history to overtake a player.

However, the Seahawks have a problem when it comes to the passing game: The players getting numbers are fun, but they pass too much.

Seattle leads the league in pass attempts per game (39.8). Those numbers don’t include strong play action, meaning Geno Smith will have to drop back fairly 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 tackle. For all the O-line problems this year, this approach doesn’t make things any easier.

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

“This is mine,” Grubb told reporters Tuesday. “I need to get the ball to Ken (Walker III) more often. And I think we had a lot of running game planned, it had nothing to do with not having enough calls for it, we just didn’t get called. And for us, we relied on the wrong thing. And I think if we give Ken 10 or 15 more touches, things will look different. So that’s 100% on me and my job is to make sure I put all of our guys in the best possible position to win the game. And I didn’t do that.”

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