Field Gulls
It’s hard to believe the Seattle Seahawks (10-3) were tied at halftime with the Atlanta Falcons (4-9). But that’s why there’s a 2nd half, and the Seahawks went into overdrive and officially eliminated the Falcons from playoff contention.
What was a 6-6 game at the break became a 37-9 annihilation by the end of the fourth quarter. Sam Darnold overcame a shaky start, including a bad interception on 3rd and 1 in his own territory, to throw three touchdowns after halftime. Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught a pair of those scores, while Cooper Kupp got his second TD of the season. It was a surprisingly pass-heavy approach by Klint Kubiak that didn’t look like it was working early, but shined by the end.
Seattle’s special teams also showed up huge with Nick Emmanwori blocking a field goal following Darnold’s INT, while Rashid Shaheed opened the 2nd half with a 100-yard kick return for his first Seahawks touchdown.
The defense? Well, what more can be said? Emmanwori and Devon Witherspoon both recorded interceptions, Witherspoon recovered a critical Bijan Robinson fumble early in the third quarter, Emmanwori had Seattle’s only sack of Kirk Cousins, and the Seahawks did not allow a touchdown for the second consecutive week.
This team has played its fair share of bad opposition but they are crushing bad opposition like contenders should do.
The Falcons started on offense in front of a pretty sparse crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Bijan Robinson touched the ball on four straight plays, including a couple of first downs via pass and run. Once he went out of the game, Atlanta gained zero yards on two Kirk Cousins throws and had to punt.
Seattle’s first drive ended in a three-and-out, and it could’ve been a lot worse had Sam Darnold not stepped up just in time to avoid getting sacked in the end zone for a safety. After getting dropped at the 1, Michael Dickson had to punt from his own end zone backline and Atlanta obviously had great field position. A play-action throw to Kyle Pitts put the Falcons in the red zone, but the drive stalled from there. Raheem Morris opted to have Zane Gonzalez kick a field goal instead of go for it on 4th and 3, which is alright with me. 3-0 Falcons.
The Seahawks’ lone first quarter score came after a 27-yard run by Zach Charbonnet, who jump cut inside and then broke outside for one of his longest runs of the season. Jaxon Smith-Njigba fumbled a would-be first down out of bounds, which set up 4th and 1, and the Falcons graciously jumped offside on the A.J. Barner tush push. A possible TD to JSN was out of bounds after a great play by A.J. Terrell, and Jason Myers came on to knot things up at 3-3.
In the second quarter, Sam Darnold threw his 11th interception of the season on a ridiculous 3rd and 1 decision into tight coverage. Mike Hughes caught the deflected pass...
