The Seahawks faced a lot of frustration during their 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, leading to a confrontation between two players on the sidelines.
After linebacker Derick Hall received a 15-yard penalty for a late hit on Josh Allen, defensive end Jarran Reed confronted him on the field. This penalty occurred on a third-and-15 play when Allen threw an incomplete pass, but the Bills were awarded a first down and later scored a touchdown.
On the sidelines, Hall and Reed continued to argue, pushing and grabbing each other’s face masks until they were pulled apart. This moment highlighted the team’s disappointing performance at home.
“There’s some frustration there,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “Look, our guys are connected and they have each other’s back, but they are emotional and there’s going to be flare-ups and stuff.
It seems like it calmed down, but it wasn’t a smart penalty. That’s not how we train our guys to attack quarterbacks. And so that wasn’t a smart move.”
This incident was just one of many mistakes made by the Seahawks. They struggled with fumbles, interceptions, penalties, and personal fouls.
“That’s the result of a good football team that outplayed us in three phases,” Macdonald said. “And then it gets out of hand when you’re doing the things we did today.
We didn’t help ourselves as well. It’s a laundry list of things, we could go line item by line item if you want, but the long and short of it is, we got outplayed, we got outcoached, and we’ve got to go make it right.”
The troubles started in the second quarter when the Seahawks had a second-and-goal situation at the 3-yard line and a chance to tie the game. However, center Connor Williams snapped the ball over quarterback Geno Smith’s head. Seattle recovered the fumble but lost a lot of yards on the play and ended up settling for a field goal.
On Seattle’s next possession, Smith fell down after Williams accidentally stepped on his foot during a fourth-and-goal play from the 1-yard line. Hall was penalized on Buffalo’s following drive. After the game, he seemed to get why Reed was so upset.
“He’s the leader of our group, and when things get tough, you have to rely on those guys. Maybe we both could have handled things better, but he just wants me to go out and play smart, play fast, play physical,” Hall said. “And that was basically his message in that moment.”
In the third quarter, Smith threw an interception that ended a 25-yard drive for the Seahawks, and he received a taunting penalty on the next drive. Later in the fourth quarter, Dee Williams dropped a punt, which Buffalo’s Mack Hollins recovered.
The Seahawks fumbled the ball three times, losing one, and were penalized 11 times for a total of 82 yards.
“I thought we prepared really well this week, and I thought the guys were focused. I thought we had great energy, but that didn’t show on game day today,” Smith said. “We had too many self-inflicted wounds. That’s been our story this season.”
