The Seattle Seahawks didn't play the prettiest of games in Week 12, but a win is a win in the NFL, right? The team led 30-10 and held on. That isn't how you want to beat a team that has struggled as much as the Tennessee Titans have. Still, a complete meltdown would have been much worse.
Now, Seattle is 8-3 with several winnable games the rest of the season. If the team can steal a victory against the Los Angeles Rams or San Francisco 49ers, everything is golden. Did Seattle play like a Super Bowl-winning team in Nashville? No, but a lesser team would have caved.
One reason that the Titans got within striking distance at the end was that they scored on a punt return that got the game to 30-17. The Seahawks' special teams have mostly been terrific this season, but the play proved that one play can change the scope of a game, which can, of course, change the scope of a season.
Mike Macdonald sums up a play that could have crippled the Seattle Seahawks' playoff hopes
After the game, Macdonald was asked about the play and whether he saw anything that could have been done differently. The head coach didn't hesitate.
Macdonald deadpanned, "Yeah, I saw something that happened. But we gotta play better. Have a (punt returner) that likes to go around the edge, and we had no edge. That's the gunner's responsibility."
He was obviously correct. The punt coverage played the return as if there was no sense of urgency. In the NFL, there should always be a sense of urgency. Any team is capable of coming back against another, no matter what each team's record looks like.
The return might help the Seattle Seahawks moving forward. A 30-10 lead against a team with one victory should feel like it is enough to take some plays off. Had the Titans recovered an onside kick late in the fourth quarter, they would have had the ball with a chance to win. The Seahawks would have been a laughingstock.
Thankfully, that didn't happen, but the game was still far too close at the end. Next week, the Seahawks take on the Minnesota Vikings, who are now 4-7 and falling apart. Should Seattle get up early in the game, there can be no let-up. NFL teams will take advantage of anything, and Seattle potentially has the playoffs to look forward to, and cannot afford careless losses.