It may have taken them 10 quarters, but the Seattle Seahawks finally played a brand of football recognizable by the 12s. While there wasn't much bad news in their win over the Panthers, most of that resulted in good news for the team. And there was a lot of good news in the 37-27 victory.
Good news, 12s. Your favorite team won a game without going into overtime. The running game got on track and they stuffed the run. Best of all, the Seahawks played better as the game went on. Yes, they still have some things to work - boy do they ever- but there's even more good news regarding that. So let's dive in.
As I said at the start, it took the Hawks some time to look like the team we all expected to see this year. They moved the ball well against the Panthers in the first half, rolling up 207 yards of offense on four scoring drives. That's the good news. The bad news is they couldn't get the ball into the end zone once. The Hawks were an abysmal one for eight on third down conversions, although they did convert on fourth down on one of those drives. Man, that's already a lot of bad news; I don't know if I can take any more. But there's good news coming, so cheer up.
The Seattle Seahawks turned bad news into good news
Yes, that third down rate was terrible alright, The good news is that they were able to turn to Jason Myers to salvage something out of those drives. While Seattle had to punt on their first drive, and another failed third down resulted in the game's only turnover, the other four drives all resulted in field goals. Yeah, I agree, I'd like to see more than 12 points on the scoreboard from 200-plus yards of offense, but Myers kept the Hawks in the game. After the kicking team had a couple of misses against the Lions, it was great to see Mr. Reliable bounce back.
Seattle trailed Carolina 13-12 at the half, but they had mounted four scoring drives and only punted once, that on the first series of the game. Yes, Geno Smith threw his first interception of the season. But he shook it off and went right back to work on the very next drive, leading to another field goal. A touchdown would have been nice, sure, but it was important to get back on the scoreboard, and the Hawks did just that.
Meanwhile, the Seattle defense forced Carolina to punt three times and settle for two field goals. Yes, the Hawks gave up a touchdown on one big play. Make that a huge play, as the Hawks blew coverage on D.J. Chark, who scored from 47 yards out.
Yes, the pass defense gave up far too many yards, 334 for the entire game. But they also forced the Panthers to punt five times in all and got the ball back on downs on another play. That made twelve drives for the Carolina Kitties and six scores. On the other side of the ball, the Hawks had 13 drives and scored on eight of those. Factor in that two of those "drives" closed out the two halves of the game, and Seattle scored on eight of eleven opportunities. That's a decent formula for winning football.
Geno Smith took control in the second half
You know what's not a winning formula, 12s? Four field goals, a punt, and an interception. Geno Smith was just 11-23 in the first half, had zero touchdowns, and threw that first pick of the season. That is not the definition of a good game in anyone's book, and certainly not in Smith's lexicon. On Seattle's first three drives, Smith connected on eight of eleven passes. On the next three possessions, he was just three for twelve. That's a far cry from the quarterback who routinely completes 70 percent of his passes in a game.
The good news is we saw that guy in the second half. For all those Geno Smith haters, you're right. He didn't do much in the second half. I mean, I think completing 12 of 13 passes is pretty good myself, but obviously, I'm wrong. Sure, the first play of the half stalled, and Jason Myers hit his fifth field goal of the game. Smith had to throw the ball away on third and three, but that was the last pass he'd miss. And even that wasn't an actual attempt to complete a pass. But the Seahawks took the lead on Myers' kick, a lead they would only increase as the game went on.
After that, Smith carved up the Panthers secondary with surgical precision. Five of his last eight passes were for more than 10 yards, but the final pass was probably his best of the game. Make that definitely his best. The Seahawks had just scored to go ahead 35-20, but Pete Carroll wisely wanted to make it a three-score lead. I mean, Andy Dalton had a hot hand, so it made sense. Relax, 12s, I'll get back to that scoring play.
So, two-point conversion time. Geno was under heavy pressure, spun away from the rush, scrambled to his left, then around to his right. He was now at least five yards outside of the right hashmark at his own 22-yard line. Uh-oh, we've seen this before, right 12s? Except this time, Smith makes the play. He found Tyler Lockett on the NFL logo in the left corner of the end zone to extend the lead to 37-20. That, my friends, was very good news indeed.
The Hawks can run the ball, and run the ball, and run the ball
After the Seahawks only got 82 yards rushing against the Lions, there was some concern about the running game in Seattle. It wasn't so much that there was doubt in Kenneth Walker III. It just seemed like he had to run a dozen yards to gain three on every play. A lot of that was ont he patchwork offensive line, sure. But a bit of that was on Walker, too. He seemed a bit hesitant at times, looking for holes that weren't there, or waiting for gaps to develop that were never going to appear.
He found those gaps against the Panthers. Okay, he still had to run a dozen yards at times to make three, but more often, he'd shift a couple of feet to make 12 yards. Or more. After being bottled up by his own coaching staff in the second half against the Rams, then a stout Lions rush defense, Walker exploded versus the Panthers. Whether he ran up the gut or sprinted around the end, K-9 was piling up the yards. He ran for 97 yards in all and scored twice. This was the Kenneth Walker was saw last season.
The good news for the running game didn't stop there, either. Remember how Pete Carroll kept telling us how hard Zach Charbonnet was running, how he was a real force? Remember how we kept waiting to see more than just a flash of that? Well, the wait is over, 12s. Charbonnet had nine carries, exactly half of Walker's, but he made the most of them. The Seahawks clearly trust him to produce, and did he ever? The rookie added 46 yards to the Hawks winning total, none sweeter than his longest run of the day. Panthers safety Sam Franklin will remember that hit when he's in his eighties.
No running in the halls of Seattle, children
Remember ninth grade, 12s? You had to run from one class to the next, and manage to get to your locker to get your World History book for the calls after next because it was on the other end of the building? And there's always some jerk senior with bad skin and worse breath playing traffic cop, telling you there was no running in the halls? Man, hall monitors are the worst.
Well, they are unless they wear College Navy, Wolf Gray and Action Green. The Seahawks got their run defense into high gear Sunday, allowing just 44 yards on the ground. Consider that 11 of those yards came on Miles Sanders best run and another 10 on an Andy Dalton scramble. I mean, who knew the guy could walk, let alone run? That's it, those were the two big running plays for the Panthers. On the other 12 running plays, Carolina managed just 23 yards. That is outstanding football.
No one was more responsible for this performance than Jarran Reed. As the off-season drew closer to the preseason contests, there was more than a little worry about the Seahawks nose tackle position. As in, they didn't have one. Al Woods and Poona Ford were gone, Bryan Mone was injured, and Seattle didn't seem to be in the market for a free agent.
Then Pete Carroll announced they already had their guy, that Jarran Reed could not only fill the position but fill it well. Yeah, Pete, I guess you were right. Reed is not only stuffing the run, and eating blockers like popcorn, but he's getting to the quarterback, too. I'd say the return of Reed in itself is some pretty good news.
Special teams were more than special for the Seahawks
We already mentioned Jason Myers, but I really want to emphasize just how good the news is about him. Well, not just him but the kicking unit. His two misses last week were just as much on the long snapper as Myers. The snaps weren't bad, but they weren't the best, either.
No offense to Chris Stoll - especially since he locked his game down this week - but there's a reason we made sure to mention former Hawks long snapper Tyler Ott every once in a while. You never, and I mean never, heard his name called during a game. When the only time your name would be called is for a mistake, that's a good thing. So we appreciate the good news, not only from Myers but from Stoll as well.
Michael Dickson is the holder on those kicks, of course, so kudos to him as well. Other than those holds, he practically got the week off versus the Panthers as he only had to punt twice. He didn't do much on his punts, though. He just averaged 46. 5 yards and allowed returns of zero and minus three yards. Yeah, that's not much, just an easy day for Dickson. His value to this team cannot be overstated in any way, ever. And we saw great coverage by the punt team, obviously, with another highlight from Jerrick Reed II. This time it was a shoe-string tackle instead of a soul removal. But hey, a three-yard loss is still good.
Finally, let's talk about the Seahawks own return team. Running back Deejay Dallas is in the final year of his contract. When rookie Kenny McIntosh returns, Dallas may very well be the fourth man in the rotation. Dallas is playing like he has every intention of returning to Seattle next year. Or at least getting a sweet payday somewhere else. The way he's playing now, I'd love to see the Hawks bring him back.
Dallas is handling kick and punt returns, and doing a superb job of it. Yes, a few months ago I did write the Hawks made a big mistake in letting return specialist Godwin Igwebuike go in free agency. To be more specific, I said that I hoped they didn't get burned by the decision.
Happily, the only burning going on in Seattle is Deejay Dallas torching the other team. No, he hasn't broken a return for a touchdown, and I doubt that he will. Yes, it would be great if he does, but frankly, he doesn't need to. He averaged 27.5 yards on his two kickoff returns and an excellent 13.7 yards on his three punt returns. His best play by far was fielding a punt with two Panthers practically inside his jersey, yet still getting away for a solid return. Dallas energizes the team every time he touches the ball on these plays. And that, 12s, is very good news indeed.