Field Gulls
A season doesn’t end at 0-2, but there’s only one way to get to 0-3, and that’s by passing through, well, a Week 2 loss. The Seattle Seahawks spent 30 minutes Sunday morning in Pittsburgh looking like they were gonna choose Door 0-2, and in the process confirm every negative narrative floating in the aether.
They chose differently. When the clock hit zeroes, the Seahawks had outrun, out-passed, out-defended, out-executed and outsmarted a decent team on the road. Bad teams don’t tend to dominate NFL opposition. Mandatory disclaimer: there’s a lot of season left, and even the 2009 Jim Mora Seahawks shut out the Rams and Jaguars before Halloween. Fine, I’ll rephrase: a mentally weak, poorly coached team doesn’t win in every phase; instead they luck into victories.
This win wasn’t luck. It was season-undefining, in that it forced all pessimistic onlookers (raises hand) to recalibrate what is and isn’t possible. Now of course, we should’ve known better, because Week 1 , you guys. The Detroit Lions, everyone’s chic pique to win the NFC, stumbled their way to 13 points in the opener, then dropped a Week 2 fiftyburger on the Bears. The Jets traveled from Week 1 ecstasy to Week 2 reality; a familiar path for them, but still. You get the point. A lot of wonky games take place first weekend, every year. Why would the Seahawks be exempt?
Not gonna lie, though, this game felt like a lost cause early. Save for the beginning, when the Seahawks did an exceptionally abnormal normal thing: they scored an opening-drive touchdown. For the first time since the Gerald Ford administration. (December 2023 actually, but that’s the same thing in football years.) Seattle, and specifically Sam-Jaxon Darnold-Smith-Njigba, converted two third and longs to sustain the drive. All of that set the stage for rookie Tory Horton, he of zero career receptions entering the game.
First catch, first score. But not the first time a fifth-rounder has made an quick impact here.
The Steelers answered with a ten-play field goal jaunt, which you’ll take, because now it’s time to get back to business and throw the ball downfield to Cooper Kupp on first down and wait no no no he’s not at all open and why is Jalen Ramsey in front of him and shit that’s picked off. Let’s be honest, too, that pass deserved to be taken away.
If I’d told you at that point that Kupp would earn his game check, given his body of work thus far in a Seahawks uniform, neither of us would’ve believed it. This sentence will be copy-pasted.
Dropped right back into duty at their own 44, Seattle’s defense held well enough to force a field goal attempt, which left them in the driver’s seat. Quickly on the next drive, Kupp and Elijah Arroyo hauled in first-down catches, helping to set up a fourth and one at the edge of the red zone.
It’s roughly the same spot where Mike McDonald faced a fourth down...
