A tough loss under Mike Macdonald was bound to happen at some point; It happens to every coach and every team. That it happened against a New York Giants team missing its star rookie receiver and top running back is concerning. There’s no way to polish the turd that was the Seattle Seahawks’ 29-20 home loss, their first under Macdonald.

There are no winners for this week’s winners and losers because the achievement didn’t produce any winners. Instead, I’ll shout out Jerome Baker for the forced fumble that allowed Rayshawn Jenkins’ touchdown, congratulate Jaxon Smith-Njigba on his first touchdown of the season, raise a glass to Tyler Lockett for 4 catches and 75 yards, and note that Derick Hall has five sacks this season after Daniel Jones’ self-fumble was ruled a Hall sack.

Losers

Mike Macdonald’s defense

Many of you disagreed that the Seahawks defense was “thoroughly humiliated” against the Detroit Lions because of the missing players. Many of them came back. How would you describe Sunday’s performance? An analysis? How about 420 yards of total offense (including 175 on the ground), 7/16 on third down and zero tackles for loss outside of pockets?

23 offensive points allowed are friendly to the defense. The pass rush was disappointing, the blitzing was ineffective, the secondary was torn and had only one pass defended, the tackling was sub-par and the run defense issues continued. Some of the “stops” they got were the result of missed Daniel Jones passes. And this is the worst offense they will likely play from now until the end of the season.

Almost nothing worked. It was a total mess.

Ryan Grubb

Seven. Only seven carries combined for Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet. If he doesn’t trust Seattle’s run blocking, that’s a big problem, but you can’t give up the run on kickoff. At least against the Detroit Lions you could justify the process because they were behind and the passing attack was effective, but this wasn’t the same situation.

This is the first serious negative for Seattle’s offensive coordinator. You can’t immediately get discouraged by a few negative runs.

Jay Harbaugh

For reasons already mentioned. I think the Seahawks are better at covering kicks and kicks today, but this special teams unit is just a mess, and the buck stops with him.

Offensive line

Wow boy. Some of those sacks were on Geno Smith/superior downfield coverage, but Smith took a beating. No one can hold their heads up high after that terrible performance. Everyone had a hand in the poor blocking and pressure allowed, even Charles Cross.

Dealing with Messrs Burns, Thibodeaux and Lawrence was never going to be easy, but when Laken Tomlinson is driven back by DJ Davidson? This is not sustainable. The Seahawks have the cheapest line in the NFL and the results show it. I could copy and paste that previous sentence from many other seasons.

That OL effort was as bad as most of the Tom Cable era.

Tre Brown

You can’t have All-Pros everywhere, so I won’t pretend that Tre Brown has to be at that level when the Seahawks have two superior corners on the roster. That was easily one of the worst performances from a Seahawks corner this side of the Tre Flowers era. The fact that Brown has the same first name is purely coincidental. Brown committed multiple holds and was twice beaten deep by Darius Slayton, including for a touchdown. He was also bullied when the Giants went to their slant plays.

It’s possible the Seahawks corners have been “hidden” by the pass rush and are only now being punished in coverage by better quarterbacks. Brown was by far the worst defensive player and that’s bad news for him in a contract year.

DK Metcalf

Two weeks in a row with a lost fumble in enemy territory. He has effectively caused 10-14 point swings in back-to-back games. Metcalf is off to one of the best statistical starts of his career while continuing to have terrible issues with ball security and penalty killing. At least he avoided a penalty today, but the point remains that Metcalf cannot continue to be a grab bag of outcomes ranging from hero to hindrance every second.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba

I can’t drop that third down pass. I just can’t do it. It’s a little bit in front of him, but it almost has to be to avoid a possible interception. For someone praised for his great hands in college, he’s had some ugly declines in the pros, and this one was killer.

Final comments

• Definitely not one of Geno Smith’s better games, even if the statline looks good (281 yards passing, 72 yards rushing). He was gone after a few steps and was a little indecisive about some of the bags he took with him. Slipping the first down early in the fourth quarter was maddening and perhaps his worst play of the night, but how many ruinous moments did he actually have? I worry about the hits piling up because, unlike Russell Wilson, he doesn’t have a reputation for excessive durability. If only there was something the Seahawks could do to ease the pressure on Geno… maybe mix in some non-passing plays…
• Rayshawn Jenkins had that touchdown, but also at least three missed tackles. This was my concern when he entered free agency, and he was at the forefront of the shoddy tackling efforts.
• The injuries to Riq Woolen, Derick Hall and Uchenna Nwosu mean that depth will be tested somewhat. I’m not sure Nehemiah Pritchett is ready for serious shots and I’d rather promote Artie Burns if necessary. Hopefully Boye Mafe is ready to return and so is Byron Murphy II. Ultimately, it seems like the Seahawks’ biggest flaw on defense is that they are undersized.
• The touches we saw from Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet were primarily in the passing game, with Walker catching 7 passes for 57 yards and Charbonnet having 3 catches for 19 yards.
• It’s clear that the Seahawks defense from Weeks 1 through 3 is the same false dawn we’ve seen in recent seasons, with Seattle beating weak opposition and then falling in virtually every other game. You can talk about ‘new plan, new roles’ all you want, but you’re going to lose the scrimmage? You’ll probably lose the game. Can’t maintain eye discipline during very basic game action? You’re going to give up explosive passing plays. Can’t cover guys 1-on-1 on slopes? You’re giving up easy first downs. That means it’s up to the offense to carry the Seahawks the rest of the way. Unfortunately, that doesn’t give me much confidence going into this offensive line. No problem, because the next one on the roll? The San Francisco 49ers. In a short week. I brace myself for impact. This is the first real test for Mike Macdonald after living on easy street for the first three weeks. They performed drastically below expectations today, now let’s see if they can overachieve against a superior team (their 2-3 record be damned).