Well, that wasn’t fun to watch, was it?

The Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins almost flatly refused to play anything resembling clean football for most of the game. It was still a 24-3 blowout win in which the Seahawks never really looked like they were going to lose, no matter how many self-inflicted wounds they sustained. Fortunately for them, Miami was in self-immolation mode from the start and gave the Seahawks plenty of room for error.

Let’s talk about winners and losers!

Winners

Zach Charbonnet

After receiving a lot of criticism for an ineffective day on the ground against the New England Patriots, Charbonnet had by far the best game of his career, rushing for 91 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns. Add in three catches for 16 yards, and Charbonnet led all Seattle players in offensive scrimmage yards. When he had holes to run through, he broke through contact and made nifty cuts in the open field.

DK Metcalf

For the first time in four years, Metcalf has back-to-back 100-yard receiving games. The bulk of his yards came on a 71-yard touchdown late in the first quarter. Jalen Ramsey was in zone coverage, so the main culprit for the loss was safety Javon Holland, considered one of the better players at his position. DK finished with four catches for 104 yards and his second long TD of the season.

Noah Fant

The absence of Pharaoh Brown may have impacted Fant’s targets in the first two weeks. After a couple of drops last week, Fant had a perfect six catches on six targets for 60 yards. It was statistically one of his best performances ever in a Seahawks uniform.

AJ Barner

Barner, who is better known for his blocking, caught the first three passes of his NFL career for 13 yards. Two of his grabs were first downs.

Derick Hall

That jump in year two could be true. Hall had a forced fumble and a pair of sacks, giving him three on the season. He’s consistently generated pressure off the perimeter alongside Boye Mafe (who had a sack of his own) and seems much more comfortable playing the run and pass compared to his rookie year.

Dre’Mont Jones

Technically, he has a sack by Skylar Thompson dropping the ball all by himself, but he could have been there anyway given how close Dre’Mont was to him. Jones had a critical touch in the red zone that helped limit the Dolphins’ only points of the game.

Johnathan Hankins

The Seahawks run defense had some shaky moments early on, with the Dolphins running backs combining for just 59 yards on 17 carries. Hankins was central to that dominance, while Miami struggled to move him in short-yardage situations.

The linebackers: Tyrice Knight, Tyrel Dodson and Drake Thomas

Dodson recorded his first sack on a well-timed A-gap blitz, Tyrice Knight had a run stopping TFL on Miami’s opening drive, and Drake Thomas was all over the field, even with “only” two tackles and a pass defensed in the box score. I thought the linebackers did a really good job, especially mixing things up with Jerome Baker out.

Losers

Attacking line, led by Anthony Bradford

Bradford had some solid run blocks at his best, but at his worst he was a drive-killing machine. If you’re keeping score, Bradford has six penalties in three games. You can get away with getting punished badly if you’re also a consistently good blocker, but he gave up a sack and effectively set up Geno Smith’s second interception by getting thrown out of the building by Calais Campbell.

It’s hard to say that any offensive lineman was exceptional. Charles Cross got hit for a sack and his pressure led to Geno Smith’s first interception. Connor Williams had a false start and a holding penalty. For the first time today, Laken Tomlinson didn’t look so bad, but he picked up another penalty. Stone Forsythe was really the only one who didn’t seem to have any obvious negative plays, but when that happens, that’s a big problem when he’s the only backup in the lineup.

Dee Williams

Tyler Lockett should probably be back to at least make fair catches or catch the ball fairly. Williams has repeatedly made poor decisions in letting the ball bounce favorably to the opposing team. It’s early, but he’s 99% of the way on this list for return duties and he’s had more bad moments than good as a punt returner.

Devon Witherspoon’s Discipline

I’m a little irritated by the two penalties Witherspoon took. His personal foul penalty isn’t obvious, but it was way out of bounds and unnecessary. The pass interference was obvious and unnecessary against a fullback. That’s four penalties in two games, although one of them (last week’s DPI) was a soft call because that ball was uncatchable.

Point return coverage unit

I haven’t really liked Jay Harbaugh’s punt return team so far. They gave up a big return last week against the New England Patriots that led to a short field and a touchdown, and Braxton Berrios had a 44-yard return today on a 61-yard Michael Dickson punt. There’s something wrong with the coverage units these first few weeks, and special teams as a whole feels like an early demotion from the Larry Izzo units. It could have been worse, as the Dolphins didn’t get two snaps without a special teams penalty.

Final comments

• Too many penalties. Too many. Another 11 flags allowed, including four on the offensive line and another DK Metcalf OPI (except this one was on his own target). Coach Macdonald is not happy about this at all.
• Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen and Tre Brown kept Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in check, even acknowledging their limitations at the quarterback level. We’ll have to wait for much better offenses and receivers to truly test how good this trio is.
• Weird game for Geno Smith, who I think had his lows a little too close to some of his mistakes from 2022 and 2023, but his highs were excellent. He had just eight incomplete passes, but two interceptions deflected — one I think was a bad throw made worse by holding the ball too long, while the other was bad luck — and a couple of riskier throws that were batted away. Smith admitted to being “pissed off” with the way he played, which says a lot considering he was 26/34 for 289. It was good overall, but the bad plays stood out more than the previous two weeks.
• By the way, Ryan Grubb can’t call empty formations deep in his own endzone. There’s no reason to take the risk, and the Seahawks were close to another safety. That was probably my only real complaint, as much of the poor execution was due to sloppy play by the players.
• Tyler Lockett remains steady, with 5 catches for 46 yards and several first downs.
• You wanted Kenny McIntosh? You got him! Three carries for 11 yards, plus another carry that was canceled due to a Bradford holding penalty.
• Kevin Harlan is great, but Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s name has gotten him in trouble. He is known here as Jaxon Smith-Njengawho had 3 catches for 39 yards. Trent Green called Skylar Thompson “Skylar Murray” twice.
• Jason Myers missed his first field goal of the season from 50+. I think the nerves would have been a little calmer if he had made his kick and gone up 20-3.
• Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II both being out is a big deal. Jarran Reed has clearly stepped up and collected his first sack of the season, but Big Cat in particular fundamentally changes the pass rush. Hopefully his rib injury isn’t super serious, while Murphy’s hamstring injury could mean he misses playing time. We’ll find out more on Monday.
• I’m happy with 3-0 because the Seahawks haven’t played nearly as good football yet and still lead the entire NFC West by two games. I’m also a little concerned that this could be a false start to the 3-0 season, where our early season hype is met with crushing disappointment as the schedule gets much, much tougher. The Detroit Lions will be the first tough test Seattle will face this season, and win or lose, Monday night’s performance will give us all a better idea of ​​just how good this Seahawks group can be. And maybe, just maybe, Kenneth Walker and Uchenna Nwosu will return?