NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks’ offense faced a familiar foe during joint practice with the Tennessee Titans on Wednesday at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park.
26 jersey was veteran safety Quandre Diggs, who was released in March after four and a half seasons with the Seahawks.
Because Seattle’s starters aren’t expected to play in Saturday’s preseason game, I spent Wednesday’s practice watching how the offense fared against Tennessee’s defense.
Overall, Seattle’s first-team offense handled itself well and finished strong with a touchdown to Metcalf on the final play.
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TRENTON, Tenn. During Wednesday’s joint practice with the Tennessee Titans at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park, Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks offense encountered a well-known opponent.
wandering around the Tennessee secondary in a No. veteran safety Quandre Diggs, who played for the Seahawks for four and a half seasons before being released in March, was wearing jersey number 26. Jamal Adams, a former Seattle safety, played in a limited capacity as he recovered from an injury sustained at Titans camp.
Titans safety Amani Hooker claims that Diggs gave some advice to the defense prior to the combined practices with his former team.
“Ask DK (Metcalf) whereabouts, and ask Jaxon Smith-Njigba whereabouts,” Hooker commanded. “Geno will figure out a way to pass the ball to those guys.”. You can always expect the ball to come when they are going deep. “.
See how the team’s best players on both sides of the ball compare to an opponent is the goal of Seattle’s joint practices, of which there will be a second session on Thursday morning. For the offensive unit, it presents a chance to assess the Seahawks’ proficiency in finding their best players with the ball and, in light of Diggs’ guidance, how well they adapt when the defense tries to neutralize their chief offensive weapon.
I watched Wednesday’s practice to see how the offense performed against Tennessee’s defense because Seattle’s starters aren’t expected to play in Saturday’s preseason game. Chidobe Awuzie and L’Jarius Sneed, the top two cornerbacks for the Titans, were sidelined, and running back Zach Charbonnet, who didn’t dress because of tightness he felt on Wednesday morning (coach Mike Macdonald stated Lockett’s injury isn’t serious), was also sidelined for the Seahawks.
The first-team offense of Seattle managed itself admirably overall, capping the game with a touchdown to Metcalf on the last play.
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Diggs, who did not make himself available to the media following practice, was right when he said that Smith wanted to get the ball to Smith-Njigba and Metcalf. Metcalf was not successful in receiving Smith’s first pass of the first team period. The next move he made was to wheel route up the sideline to gain explosive ground on Smith-Njigba. On the next play, after Metcalf broke free in the second level of the defense, Smith and Metcalf connected on a long ball down the sideline that appeared to be a drop. This was the first time the first team offense had been successful.
The first-team offense resumed play after a special teams intermission. Smith’s next three passes included a back-shoulder pass to Metcalf, who gained a significant amount of yardage against cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. , an underneath pass to Smith-Njigba, and a reverse route to Metcalf (against Brownlee). Smith was successful in getting the ball to his primary targets despite the Titans knowing where it wanted to go.
Really speaking, Smith-Njigba stated, “I felt the offense felt comfortable today.”. Our plays were created. Twos did their thing, and ones did theirs. We trusted that everyone would perform their duties, felt at ease, and trusted the play calling. “.
The difficulty facing Seattle’s offense on Wednesday was not so much throwing and receiving as it was giving the quarterbacks enough time to get the ball out—a problem that this team is all too familiar with. Following Smith’s three consecutive touchdown passes to his best receivers, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons tackled right guard Anthony Bradford for what would have been a third-down sack.
Metcalf or Smith-Njigba did not receive the ball from Smith during a third-down pressure period. Brady Russell, a tight end, and George Holani, a running back, were the targets of his completions (albeit for first downs in at least two of those three cases). Harold Landry, an outside linebacker, was sack during that play while rushing from the right side of the offensive line.
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Watching that drill in practice and any preseason action involving Smith and the starting offensive line is crucial because Seattle’s offense finished 23rd in the league last year in third-down conversion rate. One may evaluate the starting unit’s performance in that scenario on Wednesday in two ways: first, the ball did not reach Metcalf and Smith-Njiba when facing a secondary that was missing its top cover corners. Conversely, Smith made use of what he had and moved the chains by throwing them to other players. According to my unofficial charting, Smith’s team converted half of its third-down attempts.
In terms of the first-team offense during that time, Smith stated, “I want to watch the film so I can give you a complete answer, but overall, I think we handled it well.”. “I believed we would have converted a few of those if it had been a game.”. We discussed improving in those areas because, obviously, we played well last week, going 55 percent (on third down). That is our goal, and it appears that we are making progress in that direction. “.
The final quarter, dubbed the “move the ball” session, saw Seattle’s starting offense play the closest to a game. After two and a half hours of intense, muggy practice in the upper eighties, it occurred. It was as much a test of endurance as it was of play execution.
Metcalf managed a first down, but the one-and-only run play didn’t seem to gain much, and Bradford seemed to be the culprit once more as the starting offense’s first drive ended in a sack. Diggs appeared to have taken Smith-Njigba away during the play, so the owner of the sack may have owed him an assist. A couple times on Wednesday, it seemed like Diggs readied himself for a deep pass to Smith-Njigba or Metcalf and shifted to make the throw harder.
Regarding Diggs, Smith remarked, “Gotta know where he is; he’s an exceptionally smart player.”. “The quarterback’s eyes are read by him. Even when I make an effort to ignore him, he doesn’t always engage. That’s why having experienced guys like that only improves me. As I have more opportunities to face elite players like Quandre, our offense improves. “.
During Smith’s last series of the day, Smith-Njigba made a huge catch. The safety on that play was taken out of the drill, which infuriated one of the Titans’ coaches (notice how well-protected that snap was). However, that drive was halted by a fourth-down sack by defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day, who was positioned on the right side of the line. Owing to the drill’s design or a flag raised during a play, the offensive team proceeded with the drill and entered the red zone.
Last season, Seattle’s offense was ranked 25th in the red zone and 20th in goal-line efficiency. The group placed 31st in the red zone for EPA per rush. Perhaps the most crucial aspect of every practice is how Seattle completes this drill each day.
On two goal-line carries, Holani had no place to run, which gave the starters a third-down snap to finish the game. Metcalf won the drill by beating cornerback Elijah Molden on a 6-yard slant. Molden tackled Metcalf at the 1-yard line, but it isn’t hard to imagine that a 5-10, 192-pound defensive back wouldn’t have stopped the momentum of the 6-foot-4, 235-pound ball carrier.
Since Macdonald had been on the phone with the defense all day, he was unable to provide much analysis of the offense following practice. However, his quarterback was encouraged by the way his team performed, and it certainly didn’t hurt that the game’s last play was a touchdown to the player the opposition knew would be facing the most pressure.
“We want to experience what it’s like to go through a 10-, 12-, or 14-play drive, and you want to get those drives in when you’re not playing in preseason,” Smith stated. As you can see, guys will get a little tired once you enter the red zone, but you have to finish and you want to experience what that feels like. Having that chance on the field was fantastic. “.
