3 winners and 2 losers from Seahawks overtime Week 2 victory over the Patriots

The Seahawks returned to their nail-biting ways against the Patriots, But in the end, they had more than enough winners to pull out an overtime win and take sole possession of first place in the division. Yes, I know it's early, but first place is first place!

Seattle seems to really enjoy pushing the buttons of the 12s, don't they? After mounting a solid defensive game in the season opener, the Hawks seemed to take a few plays off today. For one thing,
there were far too many missed tackles. The Patriots ate up yardage on the ground like they were playing 11 on 7, Oh, and their tight end was picking up yards like it was Rob Gronkowski against the not-so-great Tedric Thompson.

Happily, the Hawks addressed those issues by the end of the game. Well, some of them. Patriots tight end Hunter Henry had seven catches for 98 yards in the first half. He had just one catch for 11 yards in the second half. Unfortunately, New England picked up most of their rushing yardage in the second half, as they rambled for 137 yards after halftime. But in the end, especially in overtime, the Seahawks' defense came through.

The Seattle Seahawks had far more winners than losers

Winner: Jason Myers

Seattle's special teams came up big all day, but kicker Jason Myers was the star. He made a 44-yard field goal with just four seconds left in the first half to extend Seattle's lead to 17-13. He knotted the score at 20 all with 58 seconds left in regulation with a 38-yarder. Then he put a 31-yard kick through the uprights for the winning points in overtime.

Punter Michael Dickson had kind of a boring game. At least, I imagine it was boring for him, as he does this stuff every week. He had five punts and averaged 53.8 yards. The Patriots only returned two for a total of 24 yards. I can't forget Julian Love, who blocked a Pats field goal that would have given them a six-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Loser: Anthony Bradford

The entire offensive line was pretty suspect in this game - again. Yes, Seattle put up 358 yards against a pretty stout defense. But it was in spite of their line, not because of it. Geno Smith was sacked three times and was under pressure for almost the entire game. While I have to think that Kenneth Walker would have been able to make something out of nothing, Zach Charbonnet could not, as he only gained 38 yards on 14 carries.

But right guard Anthony Bradford was truly bad. For the second week in a row, he was called for two penalties. When he wasn't called for holding, he was giving Pats linemen free passes to the Seahawks backfield. Christian Haynes needs to develop, and fast.

Winner: Leonard Williams

Seattle's defensive line bears much of the blame for the success of New England's run game in the second half. That is, almost everyone, except for Leonard Williams. Week after week, he's proved just how important the trade that brought him to the Hawks was. Does anyone doubt he was worth a second-round pick and a fifth next year?

The Seahawks had three sacks and eight QB hits today on Jacoby Brissett. Williams had half of the sacks and half of the hits. When you account for fifty percent of your team's defensive plays on the quarterback, you're playing grown-man football, as Jarran Reed would say. Without Williams, there is no way Seattle wins this game.

Loser: Mike Macdonald

Now before everyone blows a gasket, hear me out. Far too many Hawks defenders failed to make tackles in this game. Boye Mafe whiffed on a tackle in the fourth quarter that turned into a spectacular 45-yard run by Antonio Gibson. While Julian Love had the spectacular blocked kick in the fourth quarter, he also had a rare mistake earlier in the game when he hit Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson, but didn't wrap him up.

And who's responsible for the Seattle defense? Mike Macdonald. Sure, Aden Durde is the defensive coordinator, so he has to share some of the blame as well. But the Hawks' run defense was shredded in the second half, largely on second and third-effort runs by Stevenson and Gibson. Macdonald acknowledged after the game that they have to clean up their tackling. 137 yards in one half is inexcusable, and Macdonald has to fix that.

Winner: Geno Smith

Yes, I truly wonder where all the Geno haters are tonight. Perhaps huddled in a closet, crying softly, hugging their favorite blanky? Smith was brilliant in the Seattle victory. As Bob Condotta pointed out in his grades of the game for The Seattle Times, Smith had five passes dropped. Despite that, he was still 33 of 44 for 327 yards and a touchdown.

As our own Lee Vowell pointed out, Noah Fant dropped a pass that would have likely been a second touchdown catch. DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba dropped two passes each. With virtually no running game and five dropped passes, Smith still drove his team to victory. Go ahead and hate the man. Geno Smith still ain't write back.

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