For perhaps the first time in his meteoric rookie season, Grey Zabel felt “humbled.”
That was the Seahawks’ left guard’s and first-round draft choice’s word Sunday describing trying to block Tennessee Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons.
Seattle (8-3) beat the Titans (1-10) in Nashville. Zabel and Simmons took turns beating each other all day in a battle royale along the line of scrimmage.
In the Seahawks’ 30-24 victory, Zabel again did not allow a sack in quarterback Sam Darnold’s 27 drop backs to pass. That’s even though Zabel was surprising his team by playing on basically one good leg.
Seven days earlier, he was face-down on the turf at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles with a serious-looking knee injury late in Seattle’s loss at the Rams.
“I’ll tell you what, this guy is unbelievable,” coach Mike Macdonald said in Nashville of Zabel, even playing against the Titans.
Zabel hasn’t allowed a sack all season through 11 games. He’s the best in the NFL among all guards in that.
He did have two penalties against Tennessee, for a false start and for holding. That’s as many flags as he had all season entering Sunday.
Yes, Zabel has played 660 snaps as an NFL rookie yet has allowed zero sacks and had only three accepted penalties against him. That’s darn near perfect.
Yet he felt far from that against Simmons.
The titan of all Titans had just two tackles and one hit on Darnold against Seattle. But afterward, Zabel sounded like Simmons had beaten him.
“Ninety-eight is a pretty good ball player. And he humbled me, pretty quickly,” Zabel said inside another loud, joyous Seahawks postgame locker room in Nashville. “He’s a good player.”
Simmons lined up over Seahawks center Olu Oluwatimi. He lined up on Zabel. He went at left tackle Charles Cross. He was all over the line, and all into Seattle’s.
Asked what in particular about the 6-4, 305-pound Simmons challenged him, Zabel sighed. Then he chuckled.
“How long do you want to be here for?” Zabel said.
“He’s an All-Pro player. I mean, as a rookie, you just try to go out there and stay in front of him. We are going to go back, watch the film. I’m going to learn a lot from it today.”
That’s the perfectionist in Zabel. It’s another of the traits his team loves in him.
What did his coach think of Zabel’s performance against Simmons?
“Simmons is a premier player in the league, and anytime you are going against a guy like that he’s going to get his plays,” Macdonald said.
“But it’s a matter of competing and fighting. And I thought Grey, considering that, played a great game.”
As he has all season, on two good legs before Sunday, Zabel again often blocked two defenders on one play. He got to a lineman plus a linebacker or defensive back on levels down the field on running plays for backs Kenneth Walker (11 carries, 71 yards) and Zach Charbonnet (six rushes, 35 yards, his team-leading seventh rushing touchdown).
On Seattle’s first offensive play, Zabel and center Olu Oluwatimi double-teamed Tennessee defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat for the seal block that sent Walker on a 10-yard run outside Zabel to the left.
Even when Zabel faltered, he and the Seahawks won. He flinched before the snap on a third and 1 that was going to be a quarterback sneak by Darnold early in the second quarter.
All that did was set up the game’s biggest play. On the resulting third and 6, Zabel blocked Titans edge rusher Jihad Ward 11 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Darnold used that huge pocket to wait for Jaxon Smith-Njigba to run a 40-yard pattern from left across the field to the right and catch a 63-yard touchdown pass. Seattle took its first lead — and led the rest of the game.
In the third quarter, with the Seahawks up 23-10, Zabel stood up Simmons in a stalemate on the play side on Charbonnet’s run off left tackle. Macdonald cited that as the block that keyed Charbonnet’s bounce out to a 5-yard touchdown and 30-10 lead.
“There were some plays where Grey’s able to sustain a block, or was in a combination block on Simmons, that really helped us spring a run. I’m thinking of the run for ‘Charbs’ down in the red zone.
“So just really proud of his effort and his competitiveness. I mean, the guy’s not backing down to anybody. He wanted the opportunity to go against him, and it’s a great experience for him, too.
“Probably to Grey’s point, this is about as good as the NFL has to offer. And it’s a good measuring stick for where his game is.”
And where is Zabel’s game against the world’s very best defensive linemen?
“I don’t want to, like, put a grade on where his game is,” Macdonald said. “But I think it shows you where he can go.
“You know that the progress and the growth that’s available to him, and knowing Grey and how he works, and seeing how he operates up to this point, I don’t expect anything less for him to keep growing to premier guard in our league.”
Eleven games into his career, Zabel’s already there.
Starters’ injury status
Macdonald’s defense was missing middle linebacker and signal caller Ernest Jones, Pro Bowl safety Julian Love and inside linebacker Tyrice Knight at Tennessee. Then the Seahawks lost Ty Okada, who was starting for Love, to an oblique injury in the first half Sunday.
Jones injured his knee Nov. 2 at Washington. He has missed two of the last three games, returning only to play against his former Rams. Macdonald said he’s “hopeful” Jones can play Sunday against Minnesota (4-7), adding his veteran is “itching to play.”
The team thinks Knight will return from his concussion to practice this week and hopefully play against the Vikings.
Love and tight end Eric Saubert are eligible to return to practice this week off injured reserve.
Okada plus special-teams players George Holani (hamstring) and Chazz Surratt (ankle) got hurt against the Titans. Macdonald said going on injured reserve “is part of the equation” with each of them. He said they’d all have “to make a turn” positively to play against Minnesota.
If Love remains out and Okada is out, the Seahawks will be thin at safety next to Coby Bryant against the Vikings. Their immediate options are D’Anthony Bell, a special-teams player who was on defense for 42 snaps, mostly in the second half at Tennessee, or playing do-it-all, hybrid rookie Nick Emmanwori back at conventional safety more.
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