Carlos Hyde, Seattle Seahawks.
The Seattle Seahawks came out like gangbusters against The Washington Football Team (WFT). Taking a quick look at the scoreboard, you might disagree, but Seattle’s defense, especially in the first half, was just awesome to watch. It was vintage Seahawks defense. Bending but not breaking and making life miserable for Dwayne Haskins.
Seattle went into the half up 13–3. It looked like this week’s game would be a repeat of last week’s game when the Seahawks manhandled New York’s AFC team. After scoring a touchdown only four plays into the third quarter that extended their lead to 17, Seattle went into cruise control. Or Washington went into overdrive, depending on what side someone is pulling for.
Washington Football Team’s mid-season resurgence is led by the defense. They held the Seahawks to 16 first downs.
Washington got 16 first downs from pass plays alone and 26 total. File this under bizarre but true, WFT also had the edge in time of possession while gaining more total yards than the Seahawks. It would have been so bad had Seattle played the second half as they did in the first, on both sides of the ball.
WFT quarterback Haskins, who up until Sunday’s second half looked like he couldn’t lead a bunch of thirsty men toward the drink aisle in Walmart, marched his team down the field several times. Washington scored a pair of second half touchdowns, which made this game close. Had they converted both point-after attempts, Washington would have had a chance at a game-tying 45-yard field goal in the final minute.
The more minor of the gripes has to do with spotting the football. This might not be entirely their fault because camera angles skew perspective. But all game, their spots seemed off.
That’s not the big issue. What an absolutely awful call for unnecessary roughness in the fourth quarter against the Seahawks. Linebacker K.J. Wright drew a flag for his tackle on Washington receiver Terry McLaurin just before the two-minute warning.
To sum up, on third and 11, Haskins threw a low pass about nine-yard to McLaurin. Wright, who was breaking to the ball, hit the receiver shoulder to shoulder as McLaurin went down to catch it. Nevertheless, Wright was called for hitting a defenseless receiver.
Trailing by five points, the penalty gave WFT a first down on Seattle’s 39-yard line with 2:17 remaining. Fortunately, a pair of sacks stopped Washington cold a minute later. The Seahawks were fortunate that the bad call didn’t come back to bite them in the scoreboard.
During the first half, Seattle played a tight, aggressive defense. They held Washington to a total of 123 yards and three points. The scheme worked well. Whatever adjustments Seattle Seahawks Defensive Coordinator Ken Norton Jr. made at the half should be written down on a piece of paper and burned.
There are many out there why only know “death by a thousand cuts” as a Taylor Swift Song. It’s actually an ancient Chinese punishment and torture called Lingchi that lasted almost 1,000 years before it was outlawed in 1905. Without going into graphic detail, Lingchi worked by inflicting a series of small wounds over days and weeks, which caused the subject great pain and agony until they eventually died.
In a nutshell, that was the Seahawks’ second half defense. Coverage was very loose by Seattle’s linebackers and defensive backs. So Washington took what was given and threw underneath. They were able to carve up the defense by taking small pieces of the field and combining them into sustained drives.
On a day when the Seattle Seahawks’ offense was adequate, and their defense played half a game, punter Michael Dickson was on point. He averaged 50.5 yards per kick. Although the Aussie only booted the ball away four times, it sure felt like more when the offense bogged down in the second half.
Punting inside the opponent’s 20-yard line is a benchmark stat. All four of Dickson’s kicks went inside the 15. His ability to flip the field was a big reason why the Seahawks won this game.
To opposing offenses, Jamal Adams‘ presence must be like the odor at a landfill. It surrounds you and permeates everything in the area. Even when you leave, the smell lingers.
Adams once again was everywhere. The white jersey with college navy and action green numerals was always around the ball. He made plays on both sides of the field, in the secondary and the backfield. In the first quarter, Adams increased his record of most sacks by a defensive back in a season to 9.5 when he brought Haskins down behind the line of scrimmage.
Lost in the Hype of “Let Russ Cook” is the fact that the Seattle Seahawks, when healthy, has a potent running attack. Sunday, Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde combined for 132 yards on 21 touches. While Washington was worried about D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett (which they should have been), the Seahawks running backs managed to chew up yards at 6.3 per clip.
The highlight was Hyde’s 50-yard touchdown run, four plays into the second half. He found daylight through the line, cut right, and take off down the sideline. Even without the big gain, Seattle’s thoroughbreds averaged 4.25 yards per rush. Numbers like that win football games.
Next week, the Seattle Seahawks are back home to face the Los Angeles Rams. Winner takes a one game lead in the NFC West.