Field Gulls
To ease the pain of all Mariners fans, the Seattle Seahawks came out flying on Monday Night Football in the first 20 minutes, before trying everything possible to give the game to the Houston Texans. Despite their efforts, the Seahawks held on for a 27-19 win, climbing to 5-2 on the season.
I won’t say that the home game blues have been cured, but it was nice to see this team get back to .500 at home, as being good at home will be crucial when teams like the Rams and Colts come to down when the season will be on the line.
Overall, this was one of the weirdest games I can remember, from the timing of the game, to the stadium being glued to their phones watching the heartbreak in Toronto, to how well and equally poor this team played.Let’s break it all down.
I truly believe this. Is everything working? No, but there’s a lot that is, and what is working, is absolutely elite. The Seahawks continue to absolutely ball out on defense, despite the fact that they have not had Derick Hall, Devon Witherspoon, and Julian Love for multiple weeks.
On Monday, the defense arguably looked the best they have all year, if not for multiple takeaways and safeties that were ripped away from them, or the offense turning the ball over four times. The secondary depth has clearly come around after the Baker Mayfield debacle (more on that later), while Tank Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu have provided the edge spark this team needed.
Offensively, there may not be a better duo than what we’re seeing from Sam Darnold and Jaxson Smith-Njigba. The Seahawks have a ‘98 Rams or ‘08 Cardinals version of Kurt Warner rolling with Darnold right now, while JSN looks like the co-favorite with Jonathan Taylor for Offensive Player of the Year.
The running game is making baby steps, but the pass protection continues to hold up overall, which gives me belief that this run can be sustainable. When you consider that the NFC continues to be a bloodbath of mediocrity, a division title could lead to multiple home playoff games and a real shot for the Seahawks to become the best team in the NFC, and perhaps the whole league.
I truly believe this. Despite all that has gone wrong, and how efficient and dominant this team appears the majority of the time, they also have these absolutely brutal moments of dumb decisions or horrible luck.
Week one, it was Abe Lucas’s butt fumbling the game-winning touchdown from Darnold and Seattle. Against Tampa Bay, it was unbelievably bad injury luck, combined with a rare deflection off a Bucs helmet to ruin a perfect game from Darnold, and a potentially 7-0 start by Seattle.
Injuries and flukey things happen, but it’s the boneheaded moments by...
