Seahawks mailbag: Darrell Taylor’s role, second-half offensive woes and more

Another Sunday, another loss, and yet another week with a lot of questions about the Seahawks.

So let’s get to it, with another Seahawks Twitter mailbag (with questions edited slightly for clarity).

MarkHaroldson asked: What is going on with #52 (Darrell Taylor)?

This was a question addressed here last week, as well, but seems relevant again after another poor performance from the Seahawks defense. Coach Pete Carroll implied Monday that Taylor could be one of the starters whose playing time could be impacted as Seattle makes some adjustments.

The Seahawks hoped Taylor, a third-year player out of Tennessee but essentially in his second season after missing the 2020 season due to a leg injury, would emerge into being a consistent standout this year after a promising 2021, when he had 6.5 sacks.

Taylor did get his first sack of 2022 in Sunday’s 27-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Otherwise, this hasn’t been the start to the season anyone wanted.

Not that the grades of Pro Football Focus are everything, but they are an objective measure from an organization attempting to view every team and player through the same lens. And through three games, Taylor ranks 103^rd out of 104 edge players in the NFL, 88^th out of 90 in run defense, and has the lowest grade of any Seahawks defender.

That had Carroll hinting on Monday that rookie second-round pick Boye Mafe and recently acquired edge player Darryl Johnson could see more time, and at the potential expense of Taylor.

And particularly on early downs, meaning potentially streamlining Taylor more as a pass-rusher.

“He has continued the show bright spots that we needed to see,” Carroll said Monday of Taylor. “He had a great rush, and great forced fumble, great sack. He had some really good plays and some really good hits. I like the rotation with our guys at this position and we are trying to find out the right mix there. With Boye playing better and showing some good signs and us falling for Bam (Darryl Johnson), that combination of how we mix those guys is really something we are trying to zero in on.”

The Seahawks have a lot invested in Taylor as the 48^th overall pick in 2020, so they will exhaust every avenue to get him to be the player they thought/think he could/can be — and we’re just three games into his second real season.

But they’d like to see that happen sooner rather than later.

bdgiddens6: Any practice squad players making enough noise to warrant a call up to the active roster?

One practice squad player worth keeping a close eye on is veteran linebacker Christian Jones, who signed with the Seahawks on Sept. 14 and was a gameday elevation against Atlanta, playing 12 snaps on special teams.

Jones, who played at Florida State, has been in the NFL since 2014 and has 74 career starts with the Bears and Lions. He started 20 games for the Bears from 2014-16 when current Seahawks defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt was an assistant there.

Jones, 31, also started one game for the Bears last season at inside linebacker when current Seahawks associate head coach for defense Sean Desai was the coordinator.

So, while the depth chart currently reads that Nick Bellore and Tanner Muse are the only backups at the two ILB spots behind Jordyn Brooks and Cody Barton, Jones may be a more legitimate option if Seattle really needed someone else to fill in — or to provide competition — given his overall NFL experience and the system Seattle is now running.

“He can play OLB, ILB for us, so he has great position flex to be able to provide some depth and again, another special teams guy,” Hurtt said two weeks ago when Jones signed. “… He knows the defense so that way it doesn’t take him a lot of time to get up to speed. For the most part most of the terminology and things like that are the same, so it should be a quick study for him.”

Could Jones push Barton for playing time?

It may be premature to say that. But Carroll did note that Barton missed a few plays Sunday against the Falcons.

“Cody, he had a couple of plays yesterday that he needs back,” said Carroll of Barton, who ranks 71^st of 78 linebackers via PFF, and is 74^th of 77 against the run. “In general, he has been consistent. He got a lot of exposure (Sunday) on stuff, and he just needed to fit up on a couple of runs better. In the passing game, he had a couple of shots on third down where the ball was around him. He did not have a full week of practice (due to injuries). Whether that mattered, I don’t know, but we are counting on him to come through.”

rfm_732 asked: Why does the offense look so good in 1st half. Then nothing in 2nd?

If there was one really easy answer, it wouldn’t be happening. But certainly, the numbers through three games — an admittedly small sample size — indicate a real tale of two halves. Seattle has scored 37 offensive points in the first half and just three in the second (with the other TD on special teams). And the stats are equally stark — Seattle is averaging 6.7 yards per play in the first half, 3.5 in the second.

Seattle has hit a lot of big plays in the first half — five passes of 23 yards or longer in first half — and has none of 20 yards or longer in the second. It could be that Seattle has just had some really well-designed plays that worked in the first half of games (like the 36-yarder to Colby Parkinson against Atlanta).

One other big factor is the opponent’s pass rush — Geno Smith has yet to be sacked in the first half this year but has been sacked six times in the second half, five in the fourth quarter. Is the offensive line just wearing down? Opponents getting more aggressive?

One other factor is that in the Denver and Atlanta games — the only two relevant games here since the Seahawks didn’t do anything in the 49ers game throughout — is that the Broncos and Falcons each got the ball to start the third quarter and then went on long drives, meaning Seattle really only had three drives in the third quarter of those two games combined. And they moved it OK on those, getting a field goal on one drive against Atlanta and driving from their 10 into Denver territory on their one full drive in that quarter before DK Metcalf fumbled.

Penalties have also been a factor — Seattle had just one offensive penalty in the first halves of the Denver/Atlanta games, but four in the second, with three last week proving critical.

All stuff to clean up, for sure.