Seahawks vs. Chiefs: Postgame Grades, Notes and Quotes for Seattle

The Seattle Seahawks were once again a Jekyll-and-Hyde conundrum Friday night in a 14-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Though the Legion of Boom has yet to take the field together this preseason, Seattle's pseudo-boomers have done a fine job in their stead. 

Dion Bailey and Steven Terrell were flying around the field like actual birds of prey, breaking up passes and levying crushing hits on Chiefs players, while Cary Williams appears to have acclimated well to his new place in Seattle. 

Plenty of 'Hawks made themselves right at home in the Chiefs' backfield, with K.J. Wright (6 TKL, 2 TFL), Michael Bennett (4 TKL, 1 SK, 1 TFL) and Brandon Mebane (1 SK, 1 TFL) proving especially difficult for Kansas City to deal with early on.

Head coach Pete Carroll went on to heap praise upon his two linebackers, Wright and Bobby Wagner, following the game: "[They] were all over the place for us. They were running and flying around getting themselves ready to play NFL football."

Seattle totaled three sacks, nine tackles for loss and five quarterback hits. In other words, it was the type of line you'd expect from any regular-season Seahawks game.  

The Seahawks defense was its typical aggressive, dominating self in Kansas City, but the offense was once again an uninspiring tale.

Carroll allowed the first-team offense to play the entire first quarter, but Russell Wilson was only able to lead his team to a 39-yard field goal, the result of a 14-play, seven-minute drive that stalled at the Kansas City 21-yard line. 

Seattle's only touchdown came from Wagner, who played Alex Smith like a fool, jumping the route to steal a pass intended for wide receiver Jason Avant. Wagner jaunted into the end zone unimpeded, doing something that only one Seattle offensive player (Thomas Rawls) has done this preseason.

And while Seattle's defense was stout enough to keep the team in the game, penalties (11 for 105 yards) ultimately doomed Carroll's squad.

"It was just too much to overcome the way we were playing," Carroll said.

All statistics courtesy of ESPN.com.

All quotes courtesy of Seahawks.com.

Russell Wilson (9-of-15, 78 YDS, 73.8 RTG) and R.J. Archer (9-of-14, 83 YDS, 80.4 RTG) were the very definition of solid, yet unspectacular. 

Neither was able to connect on a big play, even when they did have some time in the pocket. Russell appeared to establish a bit of a rapport with new tight end Jimmy Graham, connecting on all three attempts to the former Saint for 39 yards, but aside from that connection, Russell was uninspiring. 

The running game was dreadful. No Marshawn Lynch obviously plays a role in that, but tonight's starting back, Robert Turbin, averaged a paltry 0.7 yards on six carries. The offensive line was never able to secure enough space for Seattle's backs to truly get going, but, when producing 78 yards on 25 carries, blame has to lay with both parties.

The wide receivers didn't do a ton to distinguish themselves tonight. Doug Baldwin led all receivers with four receptions, but churned out just 28 yards.

Of all the Seahawks receivers on the field tonight, rookie and return specialist Tyler Lockett did the most to stand out. He looked quick and decisive in his cuts, notably on his 25-yard reception from Archer, who hit him perfectly in stride up the middle following a pretty little in-and-out cut. 

Graham, as noted above, had a nice outing, but Luke Willson was a non-factor in the passing game and was flagged for a 10-yard holding penalty that pushed Seattle out of Kansas City territory. Willson is still expected to play a solid role in this offense even with Graham in town, but he didn't do much with his opportunities tonight.

The defense, as a whole, was tremendous.

Kansas City averaged just 3.8 yards per play, the result of constant pressure up front and strong secondary play to cut off most big plays. 

Jeremy Maclin was able to easily break open for a touchdown with Bruce Irvin covering (or attempting to) him, but a linebacker is never going to stand a chance against a receiver with that type of speed and catching chops. 

Really, aside from Maclin's three-yard touchdown reception, the Seattle defense looked as dangerous as ever. The grades all could have been higher had the team been able to cut down on penalties, but even so, it was an outstanding performance from top to bottom here. 

Kansas City did its best to keep as many kickoffs and punts away from Lockett as possible, and generally succeeded in doing so. Lockett returned just one kickoff for 19 yards and two punts for 20 yards, though his stellar offensive outing helped negate some of his expected special teams help.

B.J. Daniels also had a nice 27-yard kickoff return, while Steven Hauschka nailed both of his short field goals with ease. Punter Jon Ryan had himself a nice game as well, pinning Kansas City inside its own 20 on two of his five attempts, with one blast going for 64 yards. 

Carroll and the coaching staff's moves, especially on the offensive line, seemed to help this week, though the problem is far from solved. The offense also lacked some imagination, with several longer drives stalling out (though those penalties also had a hand in that).

The Seahawks' starting offense—sans starting running back and resident beast, Marshawn Lynch—played the entire first half but entered the locker room with little to show for it. 

Seattle finished the first half with just six first downs and 108 total yards (78 passing, 30 rushing). The Seahawks racked up 15 more yards in penalties than they did on the ground, not a desirable recipe for winning football. 

Russell Wilson found himself with a bit more open space this week, yet Seattle simply couldn't pull together consistently enough to wear the defense down and expose miscues and lapses in judgement for big plays. 

Starting running back Robert Turbin found nothing but dead ends and massive arms at every cut and turn. He finished with just four yards on six carries, another unfortunate victim of Kansas City's potent defensive friend.

Jermaine Kearse, who had been drawing rave reviews at training camp, was a ghost in the Missouri night. His two targets resulted in zero receptions, and he never really looked to be winning his individual matchup at any point throughout the contest.

With a team of Seattle's pedigree, there isn't usually a reason to hit the panic button during preseason, but the starting offense has produced nothing but field goals, while the reserves haven't fared much better.

Until the offensive line can consistently, steadily provide quality protection, both of the run and pass variety, these issues will continue to linger right into the regular season.

Tonight's effort from the offensive line was a marked improvement over last week's bomb against the Denver Broncos, in which Seattle quarterbacks were sacked four times and hit seven, per Pro Football Focus.

Offensive line coach Tom Cable and Carroll moved their chess pieces around during this week's training camp sessions, positioning Justin Britt at left guard and elevating Garry Gilliam from a reserve role to take Britt's place at right tackle. 

Drew Nowak was also given the start at center over Lemuel Jeanpierre, who started last week and has been locked in a battle with Nowak for Max Unger's departed role all summer. 

The unit looked far from cohesive, and several members suffered from some bouts of poor pre-snap judgement leading to some killer beats by the Kansas City defense.

Granted, the Chiefs defense is special. It's going to be one of the better units in the NFL this season, and expecting an unproven, unfamiliar offensive line to easily hold its own against such a defensive monstrosity is a bit naive. 

Still, the line was was unable to open many holes for the typically successful running game, aside from a nice 12-yard burst by Christine Michael.

This unit has more time to form a cohesive bond before the start of the regular season, but it's a bit troubling to see so much shuffling just weeks before real play begins. 

For a team as entrenched among the NFL hierarchy as Seattle, the most important thing in preseason contests is avoiding major injury.

Tonight, the Seahawks starters and key backups all left the field intact—forget the final score, that's the real win in these games.

But Seattle wasn't entirely without some fallen friends.

Rookie guard Kona Schwenke was carted off the field in the fourth quarter with what looked like a right leg injury. There's no update on the severity of the injury, but a player unable to leave under his own power is typically an indication of something more than minor.

Backup defensive tackle D'Anthony Smith went down with an apparent rib injury in the third quarter, but it isn't expected to be too serious.

Injuries are never ideal, but it looks like Seattle escaped this game without any real injury-related worries going forward.

Pete Carroll isn't a master of panic. He's an old pro with a Super Bowl ring; he knows what requires worry and what requires maneuvering. 

Seattle's running game, well its entire offense, has been unable to find any rhythm this preseason.

Carroll isn't quite ready to pin these running woes on his backs, though.

Carroll pinned the ground struggles to his offensive line. "We just didn't get the kind of movement that we need," he said, per the Seattle Times' Bob Condotta.

Seattle's head coach also made sure to mention the fact that there is one man yet to be seen in action who might be able to fix the situation a bit.

Carroll expressed his (wise) belief that things "might change a little when 24 [Marshawn Lynch] gets in there," per the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Stephen Cohen.

I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment to make.

Russell Wilson has never had someone to throw to like Jimmy Graham.

Well, few people in the world have ever had anyone like Jimmy Graham to throw to, but pair him with a Super Bowl-winning quarterback still waiting to enter his prime and you have a truly blissful match.

Wilson was a perfect three-of-three targeting Graham tonight, which Carroll sees as the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

"You can see that he's going to fit really nicely with us," Carroll said following the game, per Seahawks.com.

Wilson has yet to find the big target in the end zone, but this already has the makings of one of the best quarterback-to-tight end connections in recent memory.

While Seattle was busy down in Kansas City, an interesting face was reportedly seen roaming the roads of Seattle by CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora. 

Reports began to surface that Mathis, an All-Pro in 2013 and Pro-Bowler in 2013 and 2014, was scheduled to meet with the Seahawks this weekend. 

Carroll confirmed at least that much following the game, confirming that "he's coming in for a physical," per Seahawks.com.

Obviously, the offensive line has been a main talking point for Seattle throughout the preseason. Perhaps Carroll doesn't see enough viable options in house to deal with this pressing concern, or maybe Carroll is just intrigued by a guard who ranks far above any others available, per Pro Football Focus.

Nothing is certain right now, but Mathis, at 33, still seems to have plenty of passion left for the game. He could be an excellent fit in Seattle and would greatly help alleviate some of these offensive line pains. It's certainly a situation to monitor over the coming days, as Seattle is far from the only suitor courting Mathis for his services, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com noted.