Seahawks versus Falcons final: Seattle crushes Atlanta week one

The Seahawks began 2020 with a solid victory over the Falcons.

The Seattle Seahawks began the 2020 season with a win over the Atlanta Falcons 38-25. The game wasn’t even that close. Seattle led 38-18 with less than a minute left in the game. Seattle led at halftime and controlled the game from the outset.

There were a lot of good things for the Seahawks in the game. Offseason acquisition Jamal Adams was an absolute beast. Adams had a sack and 12 tackles and 2 tackles-for-loss. Early in the game, he was clearly the best defensive player for Seattle, even better than Bobby Wagner. Thankfully, later in the game when there was a lot of fluff statistics happening, Adams’ presence was not as important.

For instance, Atlanta outgained Seattle 506 to 383. Matt Ryan of the Falcons outthrew Russell Wilson 434 to 299. But Ryan also threw Wilson 54 passes to 35. Russell Wilson completed 31 of 35 passes for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns. Ryan has 2 touchdown passes, but one was very lat and meaningless.

Seattle also only ran the ball 20 times but for 84 yards. Atlanta ran 21 times for just 72 yards and this was after a strong start. Seattle’s run defense settled in and did a decent job.

The Falcons had 3 sacks while the Seahawks pass rush seemed slow, especially at the beginning of the game. Sure, Ryan dropped back 56 times and was sacked only twice but Seattle did have 8 quarterback hits. The Seattle defensive line had four of them.

Seahawks control the game

The bottom line is this was in many ways a classic Seahawks game. If one looks only at the statistics, one might think Seattle was lucky to win. They weren’t. Seattle controlled the game mostly from the beginning.

Wilson’s QBR was 143.1. Ryan’s was 98.5. Atlanta has three receivers go over 100 yards receiving. None of them had a yards-per-catch as good as the Seahawks D.K. Metcalf (23.8).

My point is that you can’t judge this game by stats. Seattle was really good, came out strong and were the better team. If the same Seahawks team shows up every week, they will win 12 games and possibly a Super Bowl. Fans of the Falcons are looking for answers. 12s are looking forward to many wins to come in 2020.