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Geno Smith was hit on fourth down and his pass fell incomplete in the closing seconds, ending an ugly game for the Seahawks offense in a 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on the road Sunday afternoon.
Three immediate impressions from the game:
Red-zone woes
It was not a good day for Smith. That’s putting it mildly.
To be blunt, it was likely Smith’s worst performance since taking over as the Seahawks starting QB last year.
He struggled mightily in the red zone, and at the worst possible times too.
In four trips inside the Bengals’ 20-yard line in the second half, the Seahawks offense managed just three points.
Twice in the final three minutes, the Seahawks drove inside the Cincinnati 10-yard line — and they couldn’t get anything out of either possessions.
Smith looked hesitant and shaky throughout, particularly in the second half. He finished with no touchdowns and two interceptions, including a costly pick in the red zone.
He took a bad sack — losing 12 yards — with 3:27 left to push the Seahawks back to the Bengals’ 19. He then was sacked again on fourth down with 2:03 left.
After another stop from Seattle’s defense, Smith drove the Seahawks back inside the Bengals’ 10-yard line — only to make a risky throw intended for tight end Colby Parkinson at the goal line (it fell incomplete).
On fourth down, Smith was then hit as he threw, the ball falling harmlessly to seal the Bengals’ win. Smith was sacked four times and hit 13 times, playing behind an offensive line that features the return of left tackle Charles Cross and rookie Anthony Bradford getting the start at right guard.
The offensive performance was particularly perplexing given how great the Seahawks looked to start the game.
The Seahawks offense was flawless on its opening possession of the game, marching 75 yards on 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead on Ken Walker’s 1-yard TD run.
Smith was 5-for-5 for 51 yards on the opening drive.
But the offense didn’t look anything like that the rest of the game.
Defense does its part
The loss has to sting that much more for the Seahawks because of how well their defense played, holding the Bengals’ high-powered offense to three points over the final 42 minutes of game time.
The Bengals scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions to take a 14-7 lead.
After that, the Seahawks defense played as well as they have at any point this season.
The Seahawks didn’t generate much pressure at all on Burrow in the first half, but they had two sacks on the same possession in the third quarter, one by Jarran Reed and the other from Dre’Mont Jones, forcing a punt.
Boye Mafe added a third sack in the second half.
Here’s how the Bengals’ final eight possessions played out (not counting their kneel down to end the game):
Punt
Punt
Interception
Punt
Punt
Field goal
Punt
Punt
A lot to like about the Seahawks defense, certainly.
The Seahawks came into the game boasting the NFL’s best run defense, allowing just 3.2 yards per carry.
They held the Bengals to 46 yards rushing on 15 carries.
Big Play Tre
Tre Brown, the Seahawks’ third-year cornerback, came through with two of the biggest defensive plays of the game — none more significant than his pass breakup of a Joe Burrow third-down pass intended for Tee Higgins in the final two minutes.
Higgins, in fact, was called for offensive pass interference on the play after pushing Brown — a penalty the Seahawks declined to force a Cincinnati punt.
Brown had the first turnover of the game when he intercepted Joe Burrow on the Bengals’ first possession of the third quarter.
Brown had Ja’Marr Chase in one-on-one coverage along the sideline, and he turned at just the right moment to corral the ball as he was falling backward onto his back.
It was the second interception of the season for Brown, who suffered a concussion against the Panthers and missed the Giants game.
Veteran safety Jamal Adams, in his return from a concussion, had four tackles, one QB hit and one tackle for loss.
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