Field Gulls
Whew! The Seattle Seahawks (11-3) needed six field goals to beat the Philip Rivers led Indianapolis Colts (8-6) in a game that was way too close for comfort. Seattle did not get into the end zone but didn’t need to, as Jason Myers became the first Seahawks kicker to make six field goals in a game. His 56-yarder with :18 left gave the Seahawks a dramatic 18-16 win, less than a minute after Colts kicker Blake Grupe made a miraculous 60-yard field goal that looked to give Indy a shocking win on the road.
Philip Rivers tried his darnedest at 44 years old but dadgummit his defense let him down at the end.
The Colts and Philip Rivers got the ball first, getting a couple of first downs along the way. Rivers completed just one of four passes and Seattle forced a punt. The Seahawks were backed up in their own territory and went three-and-out following two ineffective runs and a throw short of the sticks to Cooper Kupp (with a penalty negating any successful play). Indianapolis put together an 11-play, 41-yard drive with Ameer Abdullah getting involved over Jonathan Taylor. Blake Grupe kicked a field goal to make it 3-0 Colts.
Two passes by Darnold to Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed immediately put Seattle into field goal range, but two more ineffective runs led to the end of the drive. Anthony Bradford tried to pull on 3rd and 4 and Kenneth Walker tripped over him. Jason Myers banged one through from 47 to make it 3-3 to end the opening quarter.
Following a Colts punt, a rare Jaxon Smith-Njigba drop and then a sloppy offside penalty on A.J. Barner wrecked the next Seahawks drive. Sam Darnold was sacked by Laiatu Latu after a bad pass pro rep by Zach Charbonnet, and a weak Michael Dickson punt gifted the Colts a short field. On 4th and 1 in field goal range, the Colts went for it and Jonathan Taylor was stuffed… but the Colts false started. Indy opted for a long Blake Grupe field goal and he drilled it from 57. 6-3 Colts.
As the Seahawks offense struggled, the Colts were able to extend the lead to stun the Lumen Field crowd some more. Philip Rivers hit a nice seam pass to Tyler Warren and continued to eat up the Seahawks with short stuff. Jonathan Taylor didn’t hit explosive runs but had positive yards on virtually every touch. A 3rd down throw to Josh Downs across the middle beat Josh Jobe and resulted in a touchdown. 13-3 Colts.
Seattle was able to score before halftime in the two-minute drill, just like last week against the Atlanta Falcons. Some curious officiating saw Jaxon Smith-Njigba not get a pass interference call in his favor and then the Colts seemingly got away with delay of game as they kept trying to force a fumble after the play was over. Nevertheless, Jason Myers still kicked a field goal to make the...
