Seahawks offensive and defensive grades from week two victory

In their 2020 primetime debut, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 35-30, in a thriller. Here we grade their performance as they improved to 2-0.

Russell Wilson improves his home primetime record to 17-3 after the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football. In an exciting game that involved a lot of back and forth between two legendary coaches, the Seahawks were able to deliver the final blow as their defense made a crucial stop on the goal line to ensure the victory for the Seahawks and 12s all over the world.

After an impressive week 1 performance, Seattle showed some slight improvements in the area of need while expanding on riding the momentum of letting “Russ Cook”. Here, we discuss and evaluate how each position group in the win over the Patriots.

Russell Wilson was once again magical. While he always shines brightly under the lights, tonight he proved on national television why he is going to be the MVP of the 2020-2021 season. After coming off an explosive start with the aerial attack on full display in last week’s game in Atlanta, Wilson carried over the momentum into tonight’s game. He finished completing 21 of 28 passes for 288 yards, 5 touchdowns, 1 interception and a rating of 132.2. Wilson also tallied up 5 rushes for 39 yards. Again, Wilson was precise in his throws, sharp in his reads and smart in knowing when to take off with the ball.

Think about this, in the first two games of the season Wilson has only had 11 incompletions, 9 touchdowns and 1 interception that was not his fault. Wilson also showed off his incredible arm talent by dropping two dimes that resulted in touchdowns. One being to DK Metcalf and the other being to David Moore. Wilsons MVP campaign is off to a great start and I expect the Seahawks to continue to “Let Russ Cook”.

The Seahawks were able to do a better job of establishing the run in tonight’s game against New England. Last week they strayed away from the run game as Wilson was on fire. Although the same can be said about his game tonight, the run game was more effective tonight in keeping the Patriots on their toes. The offensive line did a nice job of blocking for the trio of Carson, Hyde and Homer.

Carson led all backs with 17 carries for 72 yards. Carson was also once again effective in the passing game catching 3 balls for 36 yards and 1 touchdown. His backup, Hyde tugged the rock 5 times for 22 yards with Homer got 3 carries for 21 yards. All three running backs ran with aggression, bringing the physicality to the New England defenders. Most importantly, they did not fumble.

The Seahawks passing attack was on fire. New England has a solid secondary with the McCourtney twins and of course, the reigning NFL defensive player of the year, Stephon Gilmore. The Seahawks showed no fear and took plenty of deep shots down the field, most resulting in a reception. Although they started off the game sluggish with Greg Olsen dropping a ball that was then returned for a touchdown, they picked it up and were nearly flawless.

The Seahawks wide receiving core had no drops and Tyler Lockett had himself a day. With DK getting the attention from Gilmore, Lockett had 7 catches for 67 yards and 1 touchdown. DK Metcalf showed no fear in going up against Gilmore. On one run play, Metcalf and Gilmore continually were going at it even after going out of bounds which caused the Seahawks bench to come in and separate the two. Metcalf had 4 catches for 92 yards and 1 touchdown. David Moore and the rookie, Freddie Swain both had touchdowns as well.

Although the Seahawks offensive line struggled with some early penalties and an early injury scare with LT Duane Brown, they gutted it out and showed heart. Russell Wilson was sacked twice in tonight’s game. One of them was on an all-out blitz where Wilson was forced to take the sack as his first read was taken away. Other than that, they only allowed 1 tackle for loss and 8 hits on their quarterback.

Overall, they looked significantly improved from last week’s game and I expect them to continue building chemistry and getting better as the year goes on. One man to keep your eye on is G Damien Lewis, the rookie out of LSU. Seattle has spoken highly of him as he is a big body who is effective in the run game. I liked what I saw tonight from the offensive line. Another challenge awaits next week as the Dallas Cowboys are coming to town.