New York Giants Week 5: A Look at the Seattle Seahawks Offense

The New York Giants are facing the Seattle Seahawks this weekend, a team that is in its first season under new head coach Mike McDonald. Offensively, Ryan Grubb has come over from the college ranks with what appears to be a seamless transition.

Former New York Giants and New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith has the most passing yards in the NFL right now, as well as having the most passing attempts to go along with it.

Smith has had a career resurgence with the Seahawks and is coming off of back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons after winning Comeback Player of the Year in 2022.

In the backfield with Smith are Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet, although Walker has dealt with injuries to this point this season.

Both backs have been able to create explosive runs this season as they both have six carries that have gone for 10+ more yards on a combined 74 carries.

Walker and Charbonnet are both used as pass-catchers at or behind the line of scrimmage as well with a combined 21 catches for 157 yards and a touchdown.

The main receivers for the Seahawks are DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Tyler Lockett. Through the first month of the season, Smith-Njigba has emerged as the true No. 2 option over Lockett.

Metcalf lines up almost exclusively as an outside receiver and has been the deep threat for the offense. Smith-Njigba has the most targets and catches out of the slot so far this season, with the Giants’ Wan’Dale Robinson being second in the NFL.

Tight end Noah Fant hasn’t been productive in the passing game, but so far in 2024, very few tight ends not named Travis Kelce have been across the league.

Fant has elite athletic traits and size but hasn’t been used frequently and has been kept in to pass protect with Smith being one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the NFL.

The Seahawks offensive line has dealt with some injuries since the start of the year but pass protection has been the true area of concern for the entire offense.

Stone Forsythe has been the starting right tackle but has given up the most pressures in the NFL with 20. Left tackle Charles Cross has allowed 13, tenth-most in the NFL.

According to NextGen Stats, the Seahawks have the second-most dropbacks this season (behind league leader Cleveland), and the third-highest pass percentage. 

While at the University of Washington, Grubb was the offensive coordinator for the most explosive passing game in the country as the runner-ups to Michigan. There were questions about the ability for Grubb to make the transition to the pro game but so far he’s been leading the offense that has the tenth-most points-per-game in the league.

The passing attack focuses on getting the ball out quickly to create opportunities for running after the catch with the shortest time to pass in the NFL. The Seahawks have the second-most yards after catch in the NFL (601).

One area where the Seahawks’ offense is too static is that after the snap, the play-action passing game is massively underutilized. No team uses play-action less than the Seahawks. The offense operates almost exclusively out of 11 (one running back, one tight end) and 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends).

The run game for the Seahawks has been very boom-or-bust so far with explosive runs coming but also having the sixth-highest stuff rate in the league.

Schematically, the rushing attack is built around both inside and outside zone with some gap runs mixed into the plan as well.

The Seahawks offense is a dangerous combination of explosive, dynamic, and easy for the quarterback.

Defensively, the Giants’ pass rush has to consistently generate pressure, and the secondary must come up and make stops.

With the Giants taking a “bend, don’t break” approach and the Seahawks taking a “we’ll take the underneath” approach, there should be sustained drives that the Giants need to force punts on.