Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks (8-3) took care of the Tennessee Titans (1-10), but perhaps not as easily as fans or maybe Mike Macdonald would’ve liked.
Leads of 23-3 and 30-10 became a 30-24 victory in Nashville. While the last touchdown came with little time remaining and an unsuccessful onside kick, the Seahawks could’ve definitely made life easier for themselves with better 4th down defense, better 4th quarter offense, and better special teams punt return coverage.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba once again dominated, recording 8 catches for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns to continue his all-time great season. He’s now Seattle’s all-time single-season leader in receiving yards, having surpassed DK Metcalf’s 1,303 yards. Zach Charbonnet scored Seattle’s final touchdown, while Jason Myers banged home three field goals.
The defense sacked Cam Ward four times and shut down the run game, but there were many heads-up plays by Ward that explain why he was the No. 1 overall pick this year. He escaped would-be sacks and repeatedly made impressive plays in the face of huge pressure. Alas, it wasn’t enough but he was valiant in defeat. Seattle’s defense only allowed 17 points, with the other 7 coming on a punt return score.
Hey, there were no turnovers by the Seahawks. I guess that’s good! But the bad? Injuries to Ty Okada, Chazz Surratt, and George Holani, all of whom were ruled out for the game by halftime. There were also way too many penalties, with 21 accepted (11 on Seattle, 10 on Tennessee) combined.
By the way, the trend continues. Nine games between the Seahawks and the modern day Titans, nine games decided by one possession.
The Titans hadn’t scored an opening drive touchdown all season, but they came very close this week. Cam Ward made a couple of plays with his legs on scrambles, as well as turn a certain sack into a terrific throw to Chig Okonkwo for 10 yards and a first down. Ward got the Titans into a goal-to-go, only for DeMarcus Lawrence to drill Tyjae Spears for a big loss that set Tennessee back. Cam took a sack on 3rd and goal and the Titans kicked a chip shot 22-yard field goal. 3-0 Titans.
Seattle found itself in Titans territory after one play, with Kenneth Walker running for nine yards behind Charles Cross and Grey Zabel blocks. A personal foul penalty added another 15 to make it net 24 yards. Seattle methodically moved into field goal range before Sam Darnold was nearly picked off on a throw to Kenneth Walker. It would’ve easily been a touchdown had it been caught by Marcus Harris. Jason Myers tied things up at 3-3.
After a Titans punt, the Seahawks got good field position off of a 20-yard Rashid Shaheed punt return. On 3rd and 1, the Seahawks committed a false start on a sneak. No problem, for the next play was a touchdown for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Darnold to JSN for 63 yards!
Tennessee went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, with...
