Ryan Neal not as badly injured as Seahawks feared; a missed block may have cost them a win

A key injury that contributed to the Seahawks losing their second straight game might not affect their next one.

Coach Pete Carroll said Monday starting strong safety Ryan Neal’s badly bruised elbow on top of an injured shoulder are better than the team first feared when he got hurt in overtime of the Seattle’s 40-34 loss to Las Vegas on Sunday.

“His elbow is the lead concern, but he did bang his shoulder as well, so we will be taking care of both. They think he’s going to be OK,” Carroll said.

The coach said it’s possible Neal isn’t absent for more than the one defensive snap he missed against the Raiders. Neal may be able to start Sunday when Seattle (6-5) tries to end a two-game losing streak at the reeling Los Angeles Rams (3-8).

“He might miss a couple of days here, but I think he will have a chance to play this weekend,” Carroll said.

“That’s really good news for what it looked like. We were concerned that it might be more than that.”

Neal missed Josh Jacobs’ winning run

The only play of the 77 on defense Neal missed Sunday was a crusher.

Neal bruised his elbow on a third down on Las Vegas’ opening possession of overtime. Daniel Carlson missed a 56-yard field goal on the next play.

After a Seahawks punt, Josh Jones replaced the injured Neal at strong safety. On Jones’ first play, he was the last Seahawk with any chance to stop Raiders running back Josh Jacobs on a straight-ahead sprint through the entire defense. Jones was like his 10 other teammates. He didn’t touch Jacobs on his 86-yard touchdown run that ended the game — and sent Seattle from first place in the NFC West to outside the entire conference playoff picture in a span of seven days.

The Seahawks’ breakdowns on Jacobs’ run were all over. Defensive lineman Poona Ford got turned away from Jacobs with a block at the point of attack. Linebacker Cody Barton ran straight into getting blocked away on the opposite side of the lane through which Jacobs galloped.

Carroll said he wished Jones and Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs had bailed out the rest of the defense, and team, by stopping Jacobs from winning the game.

“We hit the line of scrimmage and when the ball broke, the two deep safeties have to help us, clean it up, and make the tackle. We have to get him down,” Carroll said, unusually bluntly singling out players. “The ball did break the line of scrimmage, it got through, so the guys have to bring him down.”

Carroll also said, as he did Sunday evening after the loss, that the Seahawks’ game plan focusing on mixing coverages and match-ups with Raiders elite receiver Davante Adams burned Seattle in Las Vegas rushing for 283 yards and Jacobs for 229.

Including on the game-ending play.

“We were in a coverage situation looking for something,” Carroll said, “and it was one of the plays in my mind that we weren’t well-situated against the run. We just didn’t make the play. If the ball breaks, we expect him to make eight to 10 yards or something like that. Not the whole thing.”

More Seahawks mistakes

The Seahawks’ lone offensive possession of overtime ended after just three plays.

The last one was a third-down pass on which running back Travis Homer was in the clear running across midfield toward the right sideline, likely to roll free so far beyond the line to gain Seattle could have been in range for a game-winning field goal by Jason Myers.

Quarterback Geno Smith never had a chance to throw accurately to the wide-open Homer.

Raiders premier sack man Maxx Crosby steamed into Smith and forced a throw that barely made it out of Smith’s hand incomplete. The Seahawks had to punt. Jacobs scored on the next play.

Crosby stormed past Seahawks rookie right tackle Abe Lucas, who was beaten multiple times in a game for the first time in his 11-game career Sunday. Lucas was expecting help he never got.

Tight end Noah Fant was supposed to “chip” block Crosby, hit him and slow him before releasing on a short pass route. Lucas was checking pass rushers inside expecting Fant to be blocking Crosby, then was going to release outside to pick up the slowed Crosby.

That was the plan. Not the execution.

Fant barely put his hands on Crosby before releasing to his pass route. He didn’t slow him at all, let along block Crosby.

A small fundamental such as that is why the Seahawks are 6-5 instead of 7-4.

“We were there to chip him, but we didn’t get it done,” Carroll said. “They were counting on that coordination. But it just wasn’t as clean as it needed to be, and he took advantage of it.”