The Seattle Seahawks flipped the script of the 2023 season in this game. They struggled on offense but did just enough to support an absolutely dominating pass rush to victory. That devastating pass rush was just part of the good news we saw from this Seattle team Monday night.
Hi there, 12! I'm addressing you, the only fan of the Seattle Seahawks who somehow doesn't know how the Hawks beat the giants - lowercase definitely deliberate - this past Monday night. Okay, fine, the Hawks beat the New York Football Giants. Belittling the losing team just makes our win less impressive anyway. The defense came through in this game as we haven't seen in years. Unlike many recent Seahawks games, this one got easier as the clock grew shorter. We'll take more of that, please.
That pass rush was certainly the top story of the good news, but it was far from the only happy tale from Monday night's 24-3 Seahawks victory. The leader of the Hawks veterans erased any doubt about his game, while a rookie established himself as a new superstar in the league. There's bad news too, but even that is tempered by the situation the Hawks find themselves in. We'll hit that first, then get to the good stuff.
The Seattle Seahawks limped through this game, especially on offense
The bad news is that the Seahawks offense sputtered far too often against the Giants. Seattle had just 13 first downs, was an unsightly 3 of 12 on third down, and scored 17 points against a defense that had given up 98 through the first three games. I mean, the Cards hung 28 on this D. New York had two sacks coming into the game - yes, for the season - and doubled that against Seattle. The Hawks held the ball for a mere 24 minutes. The Giants literally had the ball 50 percent longer than our guys.
Sounds terrible, right? Mmmm...it does until you think about the fact that the Seahawks played nearly the entire game with one starter on their offensive line. That of course was center Evan Brown, who had to move over to guard for 38 of the team's 55 snaps. So for nearly 70 percent of this game, the Hawks had zero starting offensive linemen in their regular positions. So maybe that offensive output wasn't so terrible after all. Could it be better? Of course, and it will be with more experience for rookies like Anthony Bradford and Olu Oluwatimi. It won't hurt to get starting tackles Charles Cross and Abe Lucas back, either.
Speaking of coming back, the long-awaited return of Jamal Adams was cut short after just nine plays. He took a knee to the head while bringing down Giants QB Daniel Jones, and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest. Apparently, he wasn't too pleased about that decision. I get the frustration, and I'm sure the concussion didn't help, either. Concussions can do weird things to your thinking processes and your mood. With the bye week, hopefully, Adams will have plenty of time to recover. Jarran Reed was kicked in the shin and missed almost the entire second half, but apparently, he'll be fine for week six as well. Whew, two bullets dodged there.