The Seattle Seahawks win over the Atlanta Falcons was a microcosm of the team’s first half of the season. The Seahawks displayed a dominating first half and jumped out to a 24-0 first half lead get out scored 20-3 in the second half and rely on some ball hawking defense for the win.
The Seahawks finished the first half of the season with an unconventional 6-2 record. Number 2 in the NFC West and a perfect 4-0 road record is a notable achieving without a doubt. The unconventionalism for the Seahawks has been losing two games at home in the first half. On Sunday the Seahawks were able to gather themselves and keep their unblemished road record. The 4 road wins make for a positive vibe heading into the second half of the season.
BOBBY WAGNER IS A PRO-FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME WHEN HE RETIRES
Wagner recorded 6 tackles in the game giving him 989 career tackles which is a mew Seahawks record and surpassed the previous record of 984 which was held by Eugene Robinson. Wagner also picked up his 8th career fumble recovery and had a crucial pass defense at the goal line during the Falcons attempted 2 point try in the fourth quarter. Wagner had one of the Seahawks two quarterbacks’ sacks in the game.
“ The fact that Bobby [Wagner] set an all-time [franchise] record [in tackles] I think is really worth noting right off the top. He’s got plenty of years left. I don’t know how anybody could ever break that record. I think he’s going to own that forever. That’s amazing that he’s there already. Just a tribute to the unbelievable player that he is and his discipline, his toughness, his work ethic, everything.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll on Wagner setting the franchise record for tackles.
DEFENSIVE LINE TOOK A SMALL STEP FORWARD
The Seahawks much maligned defensive line took a small step forward with Jadeveon Clowney recording 4 quarterback hits, a sack and a forced fumble. Ziggy Ansah had one quarterback hit and a fumble recovery while Jarran Reed had a combined tackle and a quarterback hit. In summation the defensive line had six of the teams seven quarterback hits. Against the Browns the Seahawks had no sacks and no quarterback hits.
SNAKE BITTEN AT OFFENSIVE LINE
The Seattle Seahawks offensive line took another major blow with Center Justin Britt having to leave the game in the first half with a serious knee injury. Joey Hunt filled in for Britt and looks to be answer while Britt knee injury is diagnosed and treated. While he was uncertain about the seriousness of the injury Head coach Peter Carroll was certain it was a knee injury. Carroll was quoted saying ,
” It looks like an ACL and Acts like it.”
This was a unit that saw the return of Duane Brown who had missed two games due to a bicep injury.
PETE CARROLL POST GAME QUOTES
“John Schneider wanted me to say to get this thing started right: that this was really a tale of two halves. That’s for John. It couldn’t have been more obvious. We have been saying for a long time you can’t win a game in the first half, man, and that’s just what that was. So clearly illustrated.
We had a great first half, everybody did everything exactly the way we wanted to do it, functioned like crazy, and then it just didn’t go that way after halftime and we have to do obviously a much better job on that. But I was really pleased on a number of counts. Winning four straight on the road first time in somebody said 39 years. Is that right? Holy cow. Holy cow. That’s good. We like that.
On the Seahawks’ second half:
“No, it shouldn’t be at all. That’s lousy on our part that that happened. It should not happen like that. Really, I didn’t do a good enough job in the transition from first half to second half. Obviously. My guys went out there and we got knocked all over place so I got to do a better job of making sense of the situation and all that and getting them to play better.”
On what he attributes their second half to:
“I didn’t do a good enough job. Obviously they went out there and we looked like we were a totally different team, so I don’t know. There are a lot of things. I’m not going to go into it, but there’s a lot of things that take place when you don’t play well and I just got to do a better job making sure that that doesn’t happen.”
On the running game in the second half:
“We made some mistakes and had penalties and stuff like that. We just, it just got real sloppy. We just didn’t maintain the focus that it takes to keep going like we were going.”
On whether or not he liked Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny as a rushing duo:
“Absolutely. We loved seeing that happen. Those guys both looked great. That’s, it’s what we picture us looking like with those two guys.”
On how he felt the offensive line functioned with Joey Hunt in:
“I thought they did fine. Joey did really well. Joey has always done well when he plays. He absolutely knows our stuff cold. He’s a great communicator. He’s different, totally different style player and athlete and all that, but he always gets the job done and he will. He’ll do a fine job for us.”
On whether he and the team ‘took their foot off the gas’:
“It looked like it. Looked like it. No, we didn’t, mentally, I don’t know. We didn’t do that, but it looked like it, so I have to figure that part out.”
On Bradley McDougald subbing in:
“He was the emergency guy for us because he just barely made it back on Friday, so we didn’t want to play him. Marquise [Blair] had some cramps and he had to come out for a little bit and so that’s why that happened.”
On Marquise Blair’s hit and the forced fumble at the goal line:
“Yeah, just going after the football. He’s tough, man. He showed his hitting ability. Really every game he’s played he’s made some hits that he jumps out. That’s what we loved about him when we drafted him and he continues to show that. He’s got a real knack for knocking the fire out of people and we love the style.”
On whether or not the defensive rotations are injury-related:
“No. Guys are just deserving an opportunity to get in the game. And if we have a chance to not overwork guys we’re trying to do that. It’s a long haul. Just halfway through, so just trying to make good decisions to get that done.”
On Tre Flowers’ injury status:
“Yeah, he [Flowers] had a stinger in the game last week. He practiced all week long, but he didn’t, we kept him from hitting anybody. I just didn’t feel like we could put him out there. He wasn’t quite ready yet. So he, physically he can run around and do everything, but we just didn’t want to put him where he might get hit again. If we could get by, we did. I should mention that Akeem [King] played and Neiko [Thorpe] played and got the job done out there.”
On Tyler Lockett’s performance:
“He made unbelievable plays again. He just continues to be great. He’s an incredible player. You can just keep lauding all of the things that he does so well, but so much of it is instinctive and feel and he’s just a marvelous football player.”
On Tyler Lockett:
“He [Lockett] has a knack. He knows how to do it. He has such great focus and concentration and all that and he’s got the play-making mentality. He knows how it find his way to the ball when other guys don’t do it as well and he continues to be great and it’s incredible to watch.”
GAME NOTES
Russell Wilson passed for 2 TDs with no INTs and posted a 131.7 rating. It was his NFL record eighth-straight road game with at least 1 TD pass and no interceptions passing Tom Brady (7 in 2010) and Nick Foles (7 in 2012-13). Dating back to week 8 of the 2018 season, Wilson has 18 TD passes and no INTs in his last 8 road starts.
Wilson now has a streak of 9 road starts with a passer rating of 110.0 or higher. That is also an NFL record.
Wilson improved his record following an in-season loss to 30-7, best record by a QB since the 1970 merger.
Wilson joins Drew Brees (2018) as the only players since the 1970 merger to throw 17+ TDs and 1 or fewer INTs over their first eight games of a season. (@NFLResearch)
