While the scoreboard showed the Seahawks defeated the Giants this past Sunday, your favorite team had to defeat more than the G-Men.
Actually, it’s a bit unfair to say the Seahawks defeated the Giants. Other than one player, the team from New York didn’t even show. Luckily that one player, Mr. Evan Engram, wasn’t a key to the game, as I’d written earlier. If even a few other Giants had turned in performances like his, he could have been that key. Happily, Seattle shut down virtually everyone else in blue.
The one team the Seahawks couldn’t stop was the group in black and white. To be fair, some of the 238 penalties called on Seattle were deserved. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration – but only slight. Seattle was penalized 15 times for 110 yards. New York was penalized less than half as often, seven times, for almost exactly one fourth the total, 28 yards.
Seahawks overcome the almighty Zebras
Let’s put those numbers into perspective. The Giants gained just 177 total net yards. Their offense managed only eight first downs. The Zebras gave New York an additional six first downs. Many of the penalties on Seattle were on the offense, that’s true. There were about 37 false starts called on Germain Ifedi alone, and then we had the terrible awful not-at-all-good offensive pass interference call on Tyler Lockett’s touchdown catch. Whether it was yards given to the Giants on offense, or yards taken from the Seahawks to benefit the reeling New York Defense, a total of 110 yards was gifted to Big Blue. Seven calls were on offense, seven on defense. Just to be extra nice, the refs threw in the fifteenth penalty on Seattle’s special teams.
On offense, the Giants were miserable. They were two of twelve on third down conversions. As noted, six of their fourteen first downs were handed to them by the refs. Yes, seven penalties were called on Seattle’s defense, and six resulted in first downs. New York only controlled the ball for 24:34. Other than Mr. Engram – yes, I’ll get to him – they were awful on offense.
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The refs played an awesome game, but it wasn’t enough
Despite the seven penalties called against them on offense, the Seahawks amassed 425 yards. Russell Wilson was sacked just once, wasn’t intercepted, and even the running game managed to break the 100 yard mark. The team that throttled the Denver Broncos just the week before couldn’t do much at all against the Seahawks. The referees, now, they managed to make it a game. And did they ever play a balanced game. Just look at their stat sheet!
Seriously, look at the stats. The Giants gained just 177 yards. They were given six first downs and another 47 yards by the referees. They gave up 425 yards on defense. The refs docked Seattle 58 more yards, and a touchdown. If not for the mighty Zebras, the Seahawks would have been the first team to hang 30+ on the Giants. They may be just 1-6, but three of their losses are by a combined 10 points. They’re much better than their record. Or would be, if they still had any receivers besides the guy on the next page.
Seahawks contain the red-hot rookie Evan Engram
The Giants did have one player who came to play, as the kids like to say. Rookie tight end Evan Engram was a relative monster against the Hawks. Six catches for sixty yards and one touchdown isn’t headline news, to be sure. But in the context of the absolute chokehold the Seahawks put on the rest of the Giants, Engram had a huge game. He had their only score. He accounted for 44 percent of their air attack, and just over a third of their entire offensive output. And it would have been more than double that if the refs hadn’t called him for running off the field for a pastrami during his route.
Engram accounted for almost two-thirds of the Giants receiving yards versus Denver. He accounted for their only offensive touchdown in that game, too. The Legion of Boom knew he was coming, and the rookie still got his.
Don’t fret, 12s, I’m not knocking our excellent defense. The team that rolled for over 300 yards on the ground in their past two games managed just 46 yards against Seattle. Just giving a young player his due, as everyone knew he was New York’s only weapon, and he still delivered some offense.
Related Story: Gameday grades for the Seahawks win over the Giants
In the end, it was a very satisfying win for the Seahawks. It sure didn’t start out that way. After the first quarter, I thought Twitter would have to employ about a hundred therapists. All keying on hashtag NotAgainNotAgain.