Snap Reactions: Veteran defensive front gashed by Falcons

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Atlanta Falcons v <a href= — Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

The Seattle Seahawks dropped their first home game of the season Sunday, falling 27-23 to the visiting Atlanta Falcons as the defense was largely unable to slow the offensive attack of Atlanta.

The Falcons ran just 57 offensive plays in amassing 386 yards of offense, including 179 rushing yards on the back of a career high of 141 yards on the ground for Cordarrelle Patterson. The Seattle defense did force a three and out for the first time in 2022, the last team in the league to do so, but it was not enough to allow the Hawks to escape victorious.

As for how the playing time broke down for the team, here are the snap counts for the offense from Sunday.

No big surprises on the offensive side of the ball, though it would be nice to see guys on their rookie contracts like Dee Eskridge and Ken Walker play more than 21 combined snaps. For now, thought, those snaps are going to Marquise Goodwin and Rashaad Penny, both of whom are set to be free agents after the season. However, what may be more frustrating in this regard is how things are playing out on the other side of the ball.

The thing about the Seattle defense is that it was supposed to be a young group developing for the future. However, here is a look at the starting defensive front seven that was on the field for the Seahawks Sunday:

DT Quinton Jefferson, 29 year old free agent signed in March
NT Al Woods, 35 year old free agent signed in March
DT Poona Ford, 26 year old on second contract who carries highest cap hit on the roster
OLB Uchenna Nwosu, 25 year old free agent signed in March
ILB Jordyn Brooks, 24 year old first round pick in 2020
ILB Cody Barton, 25 year old third round pick in 2019
OLB Darrell Taylor, 25 year old second round pick in 2020

Of that front seven, there is not a single player in their first or second year in the league, while Ford and Barton are unsigned past this season and slated to be free agents after the year. Basically, the defensive front seven Seattle had on the field Sunday could in large part be effectively the same defensive front seven in 2023 as well.

Moving on to the special teams snaps, nothing fancy there.

Up next is a trip to the Eastern Time Zone to take on the Detroit Lions in the first of back to back 10 AM Pacific Time games.

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