Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett suffered a broken bone in his hand during Thursday's 21-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Head coach Pete Carroll told reporters about Lockett's injury after the game.

"I can't fathom playing without Tyler," the Seattle coach said.

Lockett finished the game with a team-high 68 yards on seven receptions against San Francisco. The 30-year-old has only missed two games in his NFL career. He suffered a fractured tibia and fibula in Week 15 of the 2016 season and missed Week 14 in 2021 due to Covid-19.

The 49ers' victory over their division rival clinched the NFC West title. The Seahawks have lost four of their past five games, but they remain alive in the wild-card race with a 7-7 record.

The Washington Commanders and New York Giants own the final two playoff spots in the NFC with identical 7-5-1 records. The Seahawks can make up ground on Sunday when the Commanders and Giants play head-to-head, unless they tie again.

If Lockett has to miss time, the Seahawks' final three games of the regular season are against the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets and Los Angeles Rams.

The Seahawks have D.K. Metcalf as their go-to receiver. Marquise Goodwin will likely be elevated to the starting lineup if Lockett is unable to play in Week 15.

Lockett leads the team in receiving yards (964) and touchdowns (eight). He ranks second in targets (108) and receptions (78). The Kansas State alum has surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in each of the previous three seasons.

The Seattle Seahawks are far removed from the good ol' days of the Legion of Boom defense, but it's still somewhat surprising to see a Pete Carroll-coached team struggle so mightily to stop the ball.

Unfortunately, that trend continued as the Seahawks suffered a 21-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football in front of their home fans at Lumen Field.

Facing a rookie quarterback would usually be an advantage for the Seattle defense, but 49ers signal-caller Brock Purdy didn't seem phased. He engineered a nine-play, 86-yard touchdown drive on San Francisco's second possession, and he found George Kittle for a 54-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the third quarter.

When Seattle's defense managed to get stops, the team's offense failed to do its job. Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith was under pressure throughout most of the game and couldn't develop a rhythm, finishing with 238 passing yards and a touchdown that didn't come until late in the fourth quarter.

NFL Twitter was not happy with the effort shown by the Seahawks on defense, but fans also didn't let the offense off the hook for failing to show up as well:

The Seahawks entered Thursday ranked 28th in total defense, allowing 378.7 yards per game. It's a far cry from the team that terrorized opposing offenses in the early 2010s.

After falling to 7-7, Seattle remains on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. Things will not get easier next week when the Seahawks take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Eve, so the defense will have to take advantage of the extra days of preparation to avoid another subpar showing.

Geno Smith spent the previous seven years in the NFL as a journeyman backup quarterback for the New York Jets, New York Giants, Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks.

But when asked on Thursday if that time was frustrating for him, he instead offered some perspective.

"My tough times would be a dream to someone else," he told reporters.

Smith has been a revelation in the 2022 season, throwing for 3,169 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing a league-leading 72.7 percent of his passes. The Seahawks, in turn, are 7-5 and in the hunt for a playoff berth.

The 32-year-old has faced his fair share of adversity to get to this point. But he's trying to keep it all in perspective.

The NFL denied Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf's appeal of a $30,000 fine he received for allegedly arguing with a referee during a Week 10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

According to that report, "Metcalf was said to ask the official if a play was pass interference, and the official was said to respond, 'Did I throw a flag?'"

During the game, cameras caught Metcalf speaking with a ref and then pointing at him before running away. As he ran off, he was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and later fined by the NFL.

"You've gotta ask the $30,000 ref that got it said to him," Metcalf told reporters last week when asked what he said to incur the penalty and fine. "I don't think it was that big of a deal in my opinion."

"I mean, it's the NFL, so I'm not tripping," he added of the fine.

Cameras then showed Metcalf and head coach Pete Carroll having a conversation after the situation.

"I know he's got my back, and he's always gonna have my best interests at heart," Metcalf said of Carroll. "And you know, he's looking to win. So just for him to come over there and talk to me so I can calm down and he could get the full story on my end and from the official, that really just shows the trust and the relationship that we have."

Metcalf, 24, has had a solid season, catching 59 passes for 671 yards and four touchdowns. The one-time Pro Bowler has never dipped below 900 receiving yards for a season and has posted double-digit touchdowns in each of his last two campaigns.

While he's on pace for his second-ever 1,000-yard receiving season, he would need a strong close to the year to hit double-digit scores.

The 6-5 Seahawks, one of the biggest surprises in football behind the impressive and resurgent performance of quarterback Geno Smith, will be hoping to see Metcalf find the end zone with more consistency as they seek a potential division title and playoff berth.

Most times, the enthusiasm of Seattle Seahawks fans creates a massive home-field advantage.

On Sunday, it backfired.

Raiders running back Josh Jacobs credited one overzealous Seattle fan with helping motivate him before Las Vegas' 40-34 victory over the Seahawks.

“It all started before the game,” Jacobs told Peter King of NBC Sports. “This fan, when we came out of the tunnel, held up a sign: ‘3-7. NOT BAD FOR A TEAM WITH NO TALENT.’ And he was screaming at us, all this bad stuff. I just looked up at him and said, ‘Thank you for that. I needed that today. You turnt me up.’”

Jacobs rushed for 229 yards and two touchdowns, including an 86-yard scamper in overtime to seal the win. The monster performance allowed Jacobs to take over the NFL's rushing lead with 1,159 yards on the season. Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry is in second place, but he's a whopping 111 yards behind Jacobs.

It's been a trying season in Las Vegas, with six of the Raiders' seven losses coming by one score. They actually have a better point differential than the 6-5 Chargers, who will travel to Las Vegas next Sunday.

Now winners of two straight games, the Raiders may have one specific fan in Seattle to thank if they turn things around in the final stretch of the season.

Longtime safety Earl Thomas remains a free agent despite expressing his desire to play football again this season, which suggests his NFL career has likely come to a close.

The 33-year-old former University of Texas standout spoke with ESPN's Adam Schefter in April about trying to get back on a roster for the first time since 2020.

"I'm ready," Thomas said. "I'm in shape. My timing is on point—I'm proud of that."

The seven-time Pro Bowl selection didn't get signed during the offseason, however, and he hasn't caught on with a team as injuries have grown around the league.

His last game came in the 2019 playoffs with the Baltimore Ravens, who released him in August 2020 following a training-camp altercation with teammate Chuck Clark.

The question now is whether he did enough before that unceremonious exit to warrant strong consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Along with the Pro Bowl appearances, Thomas was voted an All-Pro five times (three first-team and two second-team) and captured the Super Bowl XLVIII title as a member of the Seattle Seahawks. He also earned a place on the NFL's 2010s All-Decade Team.

Most of his success came as a member of the Hawks' famed Legion of Boom secondary, which also featured fellow safety Kam Chancellor and a group of cornerbacks led by Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Brandon Browner, Walter Thurmond and Byron Maxwell.

If the Pro Football Hall of Fame was like the WWE Hall of Fame, which allows for group enshrinements along with individual inductions, the Legion of Boom would absolutely warrant a spot in Canton together.

That said, Thomas probably falls a little short on a personal basis. The Pro Football Reference Hall of Fame Monitor gives him a score of 78.53, which is well below the 99.46 average for defensive backs who are enshrined.

Whether or not he eventually lands in Canton, the Texas native still put together a high-impact career that included 713 total tackles, 71 passes defended, 30 interceptions, 12 forced fumbles and two defensive touchdowns across 140 games.

Thomas will be eligible for Hall of Fame voting in 2025 unless he eventually signs with a new team to reset the five-year waiting period.

The Seattle Seahawks are reportedly expected to make quarterback Geno Smith a long-term contract offer this offseason.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the Seahawks want Smith to remain as their starter "into the future" after most expected him to be a stopgap for the 2022 season. Smith has instead been the 2022 season's most surprising breakout player, throwing for 2,199 yards and 15 touchdowns against four interceptions.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll credited Smith's relationship with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron as a big reason for the quarterback's success—all while throwing shade in Russell Wilson's direction in the process.

"He's getting everything he can get out of Shane," Carroll said on 710 ESPN Seattle. "That's a really important part of it. Shane helps him all the way through to the 15-second point (when communication from the sideline stops). ... They're just communicating to get it done and there's this conversation that goes on, so they work it out, and Geno (is) taking advantage of all of that.

"If you notice, Geno's going off the wristband, and that's a big help. It's smoothed things out, sped things up, cleaned things up. And that's part of it, too. We never did that before. There was resistance to that, so we didn't do that before."

A 2013 second-round pick, Smith struggled mightily early in his career with the New York Jets before eventually settling in as a career backup. He went from the Jets to the Giants and the Chargers before finally settling in behind Wilson in 2019. When Seattle traded Wilson to Denver in March, many expected the Seahawks to acquire a higher-profile option as a replacement.

Instead, Carroll expressed confidence in Smith, and he's looked great so far this season. Seattle is a surprising 6-3 and leads the NFC West despite nearly all experts predicting a last-place finish. Smith is garnering MVP support after many pegged him as the NFL's worst starting quarterback coming into the season.

While the Seahawks have gotten a little bit of good luck this season—they've only outscored their opponents by 21 points—there's no doubt Smith has done enough to be back next season with a contract befitting of a starter.