By Mazvita Maraire Posted on

 Jason Myers record setting field goal perfomance propells Seahawks to 18-16 win over Colts

In his post-game conference, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said that wins come in all different shapes and sizes. The Seahawks’ 18-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts was a win of a different nature. The Seahawks offense struggled early, failed to score a touchdown, and relied on the foot of Jason Myers, who kicked six field goals in the hard-fought defensive struggle with the Colts.

“You’ve got to give the Colts a lot of credit. They had a great game plan; executed it well. I’ll tell you what, our guys just fought tooth and nail to the absolute end and wins in this league come in all different shapes and sizes and great teams figure out a way to win games. That’s what we’re trying to be, so I’m proud of our effort, said Macdonald. “ There are things that we are going to learn from out of this game, red zone, time of possession, field position, defensively being able to adjust as the game goes on, which I thought we did a great job of, but that’s going to happen. Games will be like this coming down the stretch. So you’ve got to learn, figure out ways to win them, so I’m proud that we did.”

  The win sees the Seahawks keep pace with the Los Angeles Rams, who also won today. Both teams are 11-3  and will square off Thursday night at Lumen Field.  Thursday night’s game marks the second time the two teams will face off this season.  The Rams beat the Seahawks at SoFi Stadium earlier this season, and a second straight win would put them in the driver’s seat to win the NFC West. As bad as the win was for the Seahawks, it allowed them to play for the Division lead on  Thursday. Before looking at Thursday’s game, the Seahawks are aware they need to make some quick adjustments on offense.

ANOTHER SLOW START FOR THE OFFENSE


 Going into the Colts game, the  Seahawks offense was ranked second in scoring, averaging  29.8 points a game. In their last three wins the Seahawks have yet to score a touchdown in the first half. The last time the Seahawks scored a touchdown in the first half was in their 30-24 win over the Titans in Week 12.

“ I think for us we just got to start faster as an offense, finish in the red zone. I feel like it’s becoming a theme the in the last few weeks, and we got get it figured out. I feel like our defense is playing really, really good football. But, yeah next we just got step it up a little bit as an offense. You know, that starts with me,” said Sam  Darnold.” But we just got to play better. Like I said, we got to be better on third downs, better in the red zone, and we will be better. We’ll look at the tape and get better. It’s a quick turnaround for Thursday night against L.A. that we’ll be ready for.”

DEFENSE CONTINUES TO PLAY WITH CONSISTENCY

One of the key pre-game matchups was between the Seahawks’ 4th-ranked run defense and the Colts’ 6th-ranked run offense. The winner of that match-up would have a significant impact on the Colts’ passing game. Early in the game, it was the Colts who won the battle of the trenches.   NFL  rushing leader Jonathan Taylor rushed for 57 yards on 16 carries in the first half.  After some halftime adjustments, Taylor had  30 yards in the second half and finished the game with 87 rushing yards on 25 carries.

 “That was big. We knew coming in, they were going to try to lean on his arm, the whole game. We knew they were going to try to use him a bunch. So, we knew coming in that we just had to make sure we stopped him. If anything, all 11 heads to the ball, and let’s strike him,’ said Ernest Jones IV. Once the Seahawks were able to stop Jones and the Colts’ run game,  they focused their attentions on Philip Rivers

“When they came out, of course, we didn’t know what they were going to do. We didn’t know what Philip (Rivers) had. So, we were just out there trying to play our style, play our game. We noticed that there were some things that they were purposely trying to do to just get us out of our element. So, we just went in at halftime, made a few smaller tweaks, realized what type of game we were in, and we were able to come out and stop them,” added Jones.

HAD MORE POINTS THAN THE COLTS

Despite the offensive struggles, the Seahawks offense punted just once in the second half and saved its best drive for last.  Rivers engineered a seven-play 26-yard drive that saw the Colts take a 16-15 lead with  47seconds left in the game. A 28-yard kickoff return by  Rasheed Shahid gave Darnold and the offense the jump start they needed. Darnold led the Seahawks on a five-play 25-yard drive that set up  Myers for the game-winning field goal with   22 seconds left in the game.  Myers had no hesitation when his 56-yard kick split the uprights for the game winner.

“You’re trying to make every kick the same. You just gotta trust that, trust the work and preparation you’ve put in, and just stick to that. If you try to make it bigger than it is, then when things kind of speed up. I just try to stick to my routine, hit my cues, and attack the ball,’ said Myers. 

 Safety Coby Bryant sealed the  win when he intercepted Rivers on the Colts’ next offensive possession with 11 seconds left in the game. “I guess I’d say I’m living right, but obviously, Spoon (Devon Witherspoon) made a great play as well by tipping the ball. All I had to do was focus and catch it. Coach (Jeff) Howard literally said, ‘Once the ball is in the air, just relax and catch the ball.’ So, that’s what I did,’ said Bryant. As for how the 44-year-old Rivers played in his first game in five years, Bryant was complimentary.

 “He actually played pretty well. They got the ball out fast, we knew that, screens, and we knew about the run game as well. So, we’ve got to respect everything and play our ball.”

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