The Seattle Seahawks were knocked off their NFC West Division-leading perch with a perplexing 17-12 loss to the New York Giants Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field. The loss was a head-scratcher because the Giants used the Seahawks blueprint to winning their fourth conservative game. Making big plays on both sides of the ball, staying patient with the run game, and playing hardnosed defense . Here are some hot takes from the game.
WOEFUL OFFENSIVE SECOND QUARTER
The Seahawks played their worst brand of football during the second and third quarter of the loss to the Giants. All looked well when the Seahawks offense took the opening kickoff and marched 57 yards and took the lead on a Jason Myers 31 yd field goal. Chris Carson had 27 rushing yards in the 57-yard drive. The Seahawks defense gave the ball back to the offense and that’s when the downfall began. The Seahawks offense sputtered several times in the second quarter accruing four penalties for 31 yards. Quarterback Russell Wilson lost a fumble on one drive and incurred an international grounding call that stalled another drive. The only bright spot of the quarter was a blocked punt that went out of the endzone for 2 point safety.
DEFENSE HAS ITS FORGETTABLE QUARTER
Feeling left out the Seahawks defense decided to have it an unforgettable quarter. After giving up just 32 rushing yards in the first half the Seahawks defense was gashed for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Giants running back Wayne Gallman rambled for 60 yards on a 2nd 7 from the Giants 23 yard line. Alfred Morris completed the pummeling with a four-yard run to give the Giants the 8-5 lead. A failed fourth-down try by the Seahawks offense saw the Giant’s offense back on the at the Seattle 48 yard line. Five plays later the Giants took the lead for good when quarterback Colt McCoy completed a six-yard pass to Morris for a 14-5 Giants lead.
INABILITY TO MAKE PLAYS
Wilson threw his 11th interception of the year and the Giants capitalized with a game-winning 48 yard field goal by Graham Gano. As expected, Wilson bounced back on the Seahawk’s next offensive possession and engineered an 11 play 82 yard that ended with a nifty 28 yard touchdown pass to Chris Carson. The defense stopped the Giant’s offense and gave the ball back to the offense with 1:48 left in the game. It looked like another fantastic finish when the Seahawks started the drive from their own 26 yard and moved to the Giants 46yard line with 1:04 left. Looks can and they were deceiving on this particular day. Two incomplete passes and an -8 yard sack on Wilson brought up a 4th and 18 that ended with a failed Hail Mary pass that sealed the game for the Giants.
BIGGEST TAKE AWAY
The Seahawks defense took a half step forward from last game. For the most part, the defense delivered when needed except of course the inexplainable third quarter. Carlos Dunlap was used strictly as a pass rusher due to his sore foot. The Seahawks lost containment in the third quarter and that is why the Giants were able to run the ball. Ryan Neal had another outstanding game with a blocked punt and battered pass that ended up in a Quandre Diggs hands for an interception.
The offense was severely hampered by the absence of tackle Cedric Ogbuehi. Jarmaco Jones stepped in for him but did not get enough reps with the first team during the week. Ogbuehi’s injury happened during Friday’s practice. The situation went from bad to catastrophic when Jones went down with a groin issue during the game and was replaced by Chad Wheeler. The Giants Defensive Linemen of Dalvin Tomlinson, Leonard Williams, and Dexter Lawrence were already dominating and the switch made it a day at the circus. The bottom line is the Seahawks need a healthy offensive line to protect Wilson and open holes for the running backs now that they are healthy.
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