Seahawks defeat Packers in a game of perfect Seattle-ness

The Seahawks defeated the Packers on Thursday to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. It was ugly and beautiful all the same.

I am not new to watching the Seahawks. Things with the Seattle football team play out in their own strange way many times. In Seattle’s 27-24 win over the Packers on Thursday, Seattle won in perfect Seattle style. The game was beautiful and ugly at the same time.

Russell Wilson was awful in the first half to begin with. Wilson’s numbers look good in 2018 but he isn’t nearly as good as he was in the last two seasons. He misses throws and makes bad decisions. It seems as if he is trying too hard like he has had to do in the last three seasons but this year he doesn’t need to.

The reason for that is that Wilson finally has a running game behind him. On Thursday, the Seahawks ran for 173 yards and average 4.9 yards per carry. Seattle can run the ball well against everyone. The team just needs Wilson to guide them.

But for a long time on Thursday, it seemed as if Wilson might actually keep Seattle from winning. He overthrew a wide open Doug Baldwin in the first quarter when Baldwin was alone in the end zone. Wilson caught a batted pass inside his own 10 yard line and was tackled for an 11 yard loss. Near the end of the first half, Wilson tried to throw a backwards pass to Nick Vannett but instead threw it forward which cost Seattle 10 seconds.

But then Wilson did what Wilson does and was great in the fourth quarter. On the Seahawks touchdown drive that put them ahead for good, Wilson was 4 for 5 before throwing this touchdown pass to tight end Ed Dickson.

And on the other side, Aaron Rodgers was struggling in the second half. When he wasn’t throwing to Davante Adams (who had 10 catches for 166 yards), he was having issues. And Rodgers made an awful throw on 3rd and 2 on the Packers final drive. The throw wasn’t intercepted because it couldn’t have been. Rodgers basically threw it straight to the ground.

Rodger’s numbers were solid with 332 yards passing, two touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 128.8. But he wasn’t worthy of those good numbers when it mattered. The Packers scored just 3 points in the second half.

And Seattle finished with five sacks, two by Frank Clark who now has 10 for the season. Clark needs an extension and needs it now. Important to note is that rookies Rasheem Green and Jacob Martin each has a sack too.

Seattle’s secondary was far from perfect. Corner Shaquill Griffin got beat deep on a long third down for the Packers in the second half. The drive resulted in a field goal but that would be the only points for Green Bay in the second half.

So why did Seattle win? Who knows? This is something 12s might be asking themselves a lot over the last seven seasons. The team doesn’t always look great but finds the moments late in games to take advantage and win.

The Seahawks are now 5-5 and while the playoffs might be still a long-shot there is still a chance that Seattle gets to the postseason. That would be an accomplishment for this team. As far as the Packers go, their season is basically cooked. 12s can be happy they aren’t Green Bay fans tonight.