Studs and duds from the Seattle Seahawks Week 8 comeback win over the Browns
The Seattle Seahawks changed their identity once again, as they came storming out on offense for the first few drives, then had to come back in the final seconds to overtake the Browns. While both units had serious lapses, the offense and defense saw some true studs come through in key moments.
There's a saying that's often reported as an ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." As with so many adages, that origin isn't exactly true. In fact, it's not even close - at least not according to the great site, The Quote Investigator. As can best be determined, the true originator was British statesman Joseph Chamberlain. He said this in a speech in 1898: "We are living in most interesting times...which brought us also...new objects for anxiety." Yes, I chopped it up quite a bit, but you can go read the entire quote yourself. You came here for Seahawks football, not etymology.
I bring up the phrase because - well obviously, these are very interesting times for the 12s, and often filled with anxiety. No game illustrated that more clearly than the Seattle Seahawks win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 8. The Hawks got off to an incredibly fast start, racing off to a 14-0 lead over the NFL's number-one-ranked defense. That ranking was in yardage allowed, not points, by the way. And then came the anxiety, as over the next 35 minutes and 38 seconds, Seattle managed just one field goal while allowing Cleveland to take the lead. Interesting and anxious, indeed.
The Seattle Seahawks featured about two dozen studs in this game
Seriously, it's easier to say who didn't come up with a key play in this game than single out a few star performers. Still, I have to start somewhere, so let me get rolling with a few honorable mentions. I've been quite critical of Darrell Taylor's play up until last week. Listen, when you have six tackles and zero pressures in 156 snaps, you're not exactly balling. That's what Taylor had done up until last week's fine game versus the Cardinals. He had another sack today on the Borwn's penultimate play. It was a big moment, and he deserves his props.
I'm going to add Geno Smith here. Before the final minutes of the game, I was going to list Smith as a stud for his first quarter, then a dud for the remainder of the game. Let's talk about that dud section first. He threw two picks and nearly had a third. The first interception was clearly on Smith. As Lee Vowell wrote in his quick analysis after the game, Geno locked in on DK Metcalf on the play - one the Hawks had already run at that - so it was an easy move for Browns cornerback Martin Emerson to cut off the route.
The second pick wasn't much better, as he not only threw behind his intended target Noah Fant, but somehow didn't see that 6'2", 290-pound defensive tackle Maruce Hurst was in the passing lane. Smith missed on a few other passes as well and was a big reason the Seahawks only converted one 4 of 12 third downs.
Okay, now that we have that out of the way, Seattle wouldn't have been in position for a comeback win if Geno Smith hadn't been masterful on the Hawks first two drives. He was 6 of 8 for 78 yards and just about the prettiest touchdown pass you'll ever see for the Hawks second score of the game. Smith then took most of the game off, as indicated above, until he drove the team 57 yards on five plays to win the game. Five plays, five passes, 57 yards, one win. I can't exactly say Geno Smith was a stud considering a few of his mistakes, but he certainly wasn't a dud on the Seahawks scoring drives, either.