Seahawks Week 10 MVP: Mr. drop a dime inside the 10, Michael Dickson

The Seahawks played poorly for nearly 50 minutes vs the Buccaneers. Thankfully, punter Michael Dickson did all he could to keep them in the game.

Let’s get this out of the way,12s. There just aren’t many good things to say about this game. The Seahawks were entirely stymied for the first half on offense. Although they were finally able to move the ball in the third quarter, all they had to show for their 105 yards of offense was a Jason Myers field goal and a Geno Smith fumble. Before his critical miscue, Smith was 9-12 for 90 yards on the two drives. So that’s not all bad, either.

The Hawks offense continued their rebirth in the fourth quarter. The big difference is they were able to cash in on their drives. Smith led Seattle on a 72-yard touchdown drive for their first touchdown of the game. After Cody Barton picked off Tom Brady with an extremely athletic play, number 7 took advantage of the short field and brought the Hawks within five points, 16-21. Sadly, that’s where the score stayed.

Seahawks needed more stars than punter Michael Dickson

Overall, Geno was 23-33 for 275 yards, no picks, and the two scores. But that fumble – ouch. No, he didn’t allow the Bucs to drive 87 yards to go ahead 21-3. But had the Hawks scored – and they were moving the ball well – we’re looking at a 14-10 score instead. I give Geno all the credit in the world for bouncing back and driving for two touchdowns after the play. I’m not saying he was bad, but that was a critical error.

On defense – oooo, there’s not a lot good to say about our defense. They did force three three-and-outs and got two interceptions. Had Seattle come back to win, Tariq Woolen’s pick against the hapless receiver Tom Brady would be even more fun than it is. Woolen gave up two touchdown passes though, so that’s a no-go.

Cody Barton had the other interception, and it was actually a great play, as opposed to the hand-delivered gift with a  pretty pink ribbon that Leonard Fournette tossed to Woolen. But the Seahawks got shredded by the Bucs running game over and over. Jordyn Brooks had 16 tackles, but 161 rushing yards by a team that came into the contest dead last in rushing is inexcusable.

This brings me to the Wonder from Down Under, Michael Dickson. Yes, I know it’s a terrible hackneyed cliche, but I haven’t used it yet; it’s my turn, 12s! The Hawks called his number on their first five drives. That’s how ineffective the offense was for the first 30 minutes. Seattle gained a total of just 29 yards in the first half. The fact that they were only down by 14 at the half was almost entirely due to the efforts of Dickson.

He didn’t get off to a great start by any means. His first count only traveled 41 yards and was fielded at Tampa Bay’s 41. Happily, the Bucs missed their field goal try on that drive. He fared much better on his second attempt. While it only netted 32 yards, Penny Hart downed it at the Tampa Bay 12. After a Seahawks three-and-out, Dickson hit his best to that point, dropping a 51-yarder to the 14 and forcing another fair catch.

But he was just warming up. Now down 14-0 and following a rare stretch of three straight Geno Smith incompletions, the Hawks were in trouble. With the ball at Seattle’s 28-yard-line, the man with the golden foot absolutely crushed the ball. 68 yards later, the football trickled out of bounds at the Tampa Bay four. Pinned deep in their own territory, for once the Bucs couldn’t move the ball. When the Hawks stalled on their own drive, Dickson did his thing again. 61 yards later, Dareke Young downed the ball for Seattle at the other guys’ two-yard-line.

Happily, Dickson’s work for the night was done. Those last two punts truly kept the Seahawks in the game. Starting at their own four-yard-line, the Bucs played conservatively and were forced to punt. After Dickson’s final punt, Brady simply kneeled and ran the clock out to the half. With 28 seconds and a timeout, I don’t think Brady would have been satisfied to just kneel if he’d had the ball in decent field position. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but Michael Dickson gave the Hawks the chance to hang close. He’s definitely my week 10 MVP.