Guarded as expected, Macdonald provided no guarantees on Jobe’s status, and he certainly wasn’t going to announce him as a starter two weeks before Seattle’s next game at San Francisco. It’s time to not rush to judgments and the teardown of the film in the coming days will be part of the equation.

But Macdonald did reward players who earn reps on the training field a priority, evidenced by the fact that Jobe has started ahead of Brown each of the last two weeks, despite the latter being active and dressed. Although Brown’s health was cited as a reason for this, the fact that he did not play a single game in the previous two games proves that Jobe has earned the trust of the coaching staff and thus given himself more chances of playing.

“You have to earn it every day in training. That’s the message,” Macdonald said Monday. “The guys that do it every day and show up to practices and games and help us win, they’re going to play. If you take a step back, then you have to be responsible.”

With these opportunities, even though he hasn’t been perfect and allowed a few explosive receptions in a Week 8 loss to the Bills, it’s safe to say that Jobe not only showed up, but also exceeded expectations, making the task much more difficult for Macdonald and his team to return Brown to his previous starting spot. Or, from a half-glass-full mindset, it’s easier to wait things out and make sure Brown is fully healthy.

In three starts, Jobe has allowed just seven catches on 16 targets, including one reception on four targets for 16 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Rams. Those receptions turned into 129 yards and north of 18 yards per reception, but he didn’t give up a touchdown, picked off Josh Allen two weeks ago on a near defensive touchdown and had three pass breakups , producing an excellent passer rating of 46.1. on the cover.

Even considering a still small sample size with 108 snaps covered so far, according to Pro Football Focus rankings, Jobe ranks second in passer rating allowed behind Bears star Jaylon Johnson. He also ranks fifth in completion percentage (43.8 percent) and 14th in forced incompletion rate (19 percent). Despite playing in less than half the games of his peers at cornerback, he also has the same number of assists as Woolen and Devon Witherspoon.

Of course, context is important and should be considered in conjunction with raw statistics. On one of the incompletions thrown in Jobe’s direction yesterday, Rams receiver Tutu Atwell reportedly had a first down along the sideline, only to drop a well-thrown ball by Matthew Stafford. He also assessed a pass interference penalty on Cooper Kupp in the red zone, which led to a touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson to open the third quarter.

Still, Brown wasn’t exactly tearing it up before injuring his ankle in a loss to the Giants in Week 5, yielding a 136.6 passer rating in coverage with two touchdowns and 15.4 yards per reception allowed. This could partly explain why the Seahawks were hesitant to put him back in action in the first place.

If Macdonald truly wants to run a ship where players earn opportunities based on merit and not predisposed status, sending Jobe to the bench when he has played quite well in place of Brown would be counterintuitive to that. message and could potentially have a negative impact on Seattle’s locker room.

Losing five of their previous six games, the Seahawks have no shortage of concerns that need to be addressed by the coaching staff as well as the front office over the coming days. On the plus side, Jobe’s remarkable play has created a positive dilemma to resolve, and it will be interesting to see if Macdonald continues to back up his words by giving him a starting job he rightfully earned and sticking to the less at the hot post. hand for now.

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