[Dubow] Jaxon Smith-Njigba has 46.9% of Seahawks receiving yards this season. Only players with a larger share for full season since 1948:
[Dubow] Jaxon Smith-Njigba has 46.9% of Seahawks receiving yards this season. Only players with a larger share for full season since 1948:
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Elbie Nickel was carried by Joe Geri and Bobby Gage and I’ll be damned if anyone wants to say otherwise
I do worry about this. It’s not sustainable especially in playoff games to rely on one guy. But I love watching it.
I do have this little lingering worry that if teams just go bracket coverage on him and we have to rely on the rest of the team that we might be a bit in trouble. Like if Darnold is too focused on him. I think we really need Horton back, Shaheed is fun but I don’t quite feel the same about him as I do Horton.
My hot take is that this isn’t really a bad thing given JSN’s extraordinary play and the current construction of the offense. Darnold and the offense as a whole has been at its best when he has continued to target JSN at a high level.
JSN is the league’s best WR and is accomplishing historic things, despite being keyed on, and continues to find ways to be incredibly efficient.
The inconvenient truth is that Cooper Kupp, even though we love his leadership and other attributes, neither has the suddenness to generate separation consistently anymore nor the catch radius to make up for that lack of separation. It feels disrespectful to say about such a great player who is working so hard, but it’s what has been happening on the field.
We’ve seen multiple incompletions and interceptions result from attempts to force the ball to a well covered Kupp. Even against the Titans, the ball that bounced off Kupp into the air over the middle could have been intercepted in less fortunate circumstances. He’s found ways to contribute in other ways and has made a few tough catches in critical situations.
Rookie Tory Horton was looking like the #2 WR we needed to take advantage of how JSN will be covered, but unfortunately Horton had to be placed on IR last Saturday due to a shin injury. Horton has had to battle through a lot of injuries throughout his career.
Rashid Shaheed has that kind of speed to give Darnold a second deep threat, but his route running has left a lot to be desired as he has adjusted to his new team. There seems to be a lack of connection or confidence between Shaheed and Darnold so far that will hopefully improve over the next few games. That’s something we need to avoid forcing, but maybe there are different vertical routes, go routes, seams, etc. that they can utilize to get Shaheed more one on one chances to burn a corner down the field.
Apart from the struggles of the receivers other than JSN to get separation, getting the backs and tight ends more involved in the passing game seems the most obvious opportunity for more playmaking. Kubiak has mentioned wanting to get Barner and the other tight ends more targets and how that can be difficult. Macdonald credited the offense for using Walker more as a receiver out of the backfield, which creates another potential explosive threat in space.
They have to continue to utilize JSN as the offensive focal point, without forcing things, while taking advantage of their tight ends and backs more in the passing game. But it feels pretty damn good to have the best receiver in football wearing a Seahawks uniform.
Well damn. Never heard of any of them, must be pretenders.
/s
As long as they keep moving him around it will be hard to double him but other guys need to step up