The Seahawks didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in their 9-point outing against the Chiefs, but there was a clear bright spot buried in the mess: pass protection.
That mattered more than usual because this wasn’t a routine quarterback setup. Protecting Sam Darnold or Drew Lock is one thing.
Protecting Jalen Milroe is a different animal entirely. Milroe moves, scrambles, and tends to hang onto the ball longer, which puts a much bigger strain on the blockers in front of him.
He also doesn’t bring the same veteran feel as those two, and that can lead to more mistakes and unnecessary pressure.
Even with that in mind, the Seahawks kept Milroe upright for the most part. He was sacked once, and considering he played the whole game, that was a pretty solid outcome.
There were multiple snaps where he held the ball for a long stretch before finally letting it fly, and the protection was good enough to buy him time. In a few cases, that extra time turned into chunk plays through the air.
Pro Football Focus came away impressed too. By its numbers, Milroe faced pressure on nine of his 33 dropbacks, but only three of those pressures were charged to the blocking.
Two went to Bryce Cabeldue, and one went to Nick Vannett. The rest were on Milroe.
The grades told the same story. Every Seahawks player who logged at least one pass-blocking snap received a pass-block grade of at least 65.
Three players cleared 81, and all three were offensive linemen who played at least 20 snaps. Only one lineman finished below 71.
By the numbers, it was a clean night for the whole group.
The wrinkle, of course, is that none of the starters were on the field. Of the three best pass-blocking linemen from the game, two have little shot at making the final roster and would be lucky to land on the practice squad. Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens turning in strong performances is nice to see, but if things go according to plan, neither is expected to be part of the Seahawks’ offense this season.
Still, the performance says something about the direction this team wants to go and the job the coaches are doing. If this staff can teach sound pass-protection basics to third- and fourth-string players, that points to real coaching competency. For a team that has struggled with that kind of consistency for a long time, that’s no small thing.
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