Seahawks beat Falcons: Full highlights from week one

The Seahawks defeated the Falcons in week one of the 2020 season in a game with many highlights.

After months of speculation revolving the 2020-21 season, it finally arrived this past week and on Sunday morning the Seattle Seahawks kicked off their Super Bowl campaign with a dominant 38-25 win over the Atlanta Falcons in an empty Mercedes Benz stadium.

Sunday’s season opener marked two new eras for the Seahawks, it was the start of the #LetRussCook era and the debut of highly touted safety Jamal Adams.

All summer long, The 12’s had begged the coaching staff to let Russell Wilson, well, be Russell Wilson.

The first offensive play of the new era for Seattle ended in a sack and I’m sure every Seahawk fan let out a groan from their couches. However, those groans grew silent after the ‘Hawks raced out to a 14-3 first-quarter lead with both of the scores coming from the arm of Wilson. Heading into the second quarter, Russ was 9-9 for 86 yards and the two scores after just two possessions.

Meanwhile, Jamal Adams made his debut for the good guys, and quite frankly there is not much to say about his performance that wasn’t evident on Sunday. The former LSU Tiger was just simply moving quicker than everyone else on the field as he racked up 12 tackles with 2 resulting in a loss of yards and 1 being a sack.

The start of the season was exciting, but it was certainly not flawless.

The defense still has some work to do

The defensive line for the Seahawks was a topic of discussion leading up to week one, the main focus was on the defensive line and their ability to rush the passer and stop the run.

The defensive line was not great on Sunday but they certainly were not terrible. Former Los Angeles Ram and familiar foe Todd Gurley only ran for 56 yards on 14 carries. I’ll consider that a win for Seattle.

Atlanta did their damage through the air as Matt Ryan had his way with the Seahawk secondary, firing off 450 yards, two touchdowns but threw an interception to Quandre Diggs late in the final quarter to put an end to any attempts at a miraculous comeback.

Ryan completed 37/54 of his throws but was sacked twice for a loss of 16 yards.

Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, and Russell Gage each caught 9 passes and totaled over 100 yards receiving.

The 12’s have been raving about the potential of the defensive backs unit after Seattle went and made deals to acquire Adams and Quinton Dunbar but Rome, like the L.O.B didn’t become great overnight so Ryan’s big game is no reason to be worried, yet.

Mr. Unlimited

Great things happen when Russ has the ball in his hands. It’s simple.

If offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer continues a pass-heavy approach, there is no reason why Russ shouldn’t win his first MVP award this year. In the season opener, Russell Wilson erupted for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns while completing 31/35 of his passes.

Wilson and the offense were not only surgical but aggressive too.

His third touchdown pass came by way of a 38 touchdown that he floated to a wide-open DK Metcalf on 4th and short which showed that perhaps times are changing in Seattle.

The Seahawks leading pass catchers were DK Metcalf who caught 4 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, Tyler Lockett who caught 8 balls for 92 yards, and Chris Carson who caught 6 passes for 45 yards and two touchdowns. Russell’s final touchdown went to Greg Olsen, another player making his debut for the ‘Hawks.

Overall, Wilson connected with nine different receivers and that’s without the services of Phillip Dorsett and Josh Gordon.

By the numbers

The Seahawks recorded 22 first downs. 15 of those were through the air and 6 came off of carries. They were only 3-9 on third down but 1-1 on fourth down.

The offense had 383 totals yards on 58 plays and 11 drives. Through 58 players they did not turn the ball over once. They scored on every red zone trip, going 4-4 and had a time of possession of 30:31.

On the defensive end, Seattle allowed 28 first downs, 23 came through the air and 4 came on the ground. The Falcons were 7-14 on third down but 0-4 on fourth.

Seattle gave up 506 yards on 77 plays through 12 drives but the defense also had two takeaways via a fumble and an interception. The Falcons went 3-4 in the red zone and had a time of possession of 29:29.

Next up

A fanless CenturyLink Field will be the host of Seattle’s Week 2 matchup against Cam Newton and the New England Patriots who are 1-0 after a 21-11 victory over the Miami Dolphins. The matchup with the Pats will be televised on NBC’s Sunday Night football.

1-0.