Ten Takes: Seahawks Stave Off Washington

LANDOVER, Md. - The Seattle Seahawks clinched an NFL Playoffs spot (again!) and ended the Washington Football Team's four-game streak, 20-15, at FedExField. But it did not come easy.

Seattle hung on for dear life with their explosive passing game rendered ineffective by Washington's defense, but in the end, it was the Seahawks defense that came up large.

Here's our 10 Takes on a disappointing day for the burgundy and gold.

1. Dwayne Haskins saved his career here in Washington (at least temporarily) by engineering two effective and long scoring drives, the first one for 96 yards, when the WFT were down 20-3. Haskins appeared to get into a good rhythm at times earlier in the game but then would make a bad mistake.

2. "I got mad," Haskins said, after the game, on how his mindset changed following a second interception of the contest to D.J. Reed. He appeared to completely stare down his intended target and Reed easily jumped the pass. That was fairly easy to see from a hundred or so yards away in the press box.

Dwayne Haskins said "I got mad" after the 2nd interception.

Asked what happened to get him into a rhythm. #WashingtonFootball
— Commander Country (@CommandersFN) December 20, 2020

3. Coach Ron Rivera's team once again showed two things. Resiliency ... and a terrible, sluggish start-of-game habit. Certainly a lot of that goes on the quarterback.

"The second half,'' Rivera said of young Haskins, who was subbing for the injured Alex Smith, "I thought he distributed the ball a little better. One thing you did see is he waited a little longer to distribute the routes and develop a little more downfield.

"Early on in the second half, he was getting the ball out a little quick underneath instead of allowing the routes down the field to develop a little better. Once he started doing that, he started finding those guys that were a little deep in the second level."

Haskins finished the day 38-of-55 for 295 yards, a touchdown pass and two interceptions plus four sacks, the last two absolute killers.

4. Speaking of those last two takedowns, it appeared that on the second-down play, Haskins took a very quick, short and choppy seven-step drop which may have helped Seattle get home. Much of the game, it appeared that Haskins was getting the ball out quicker (as Rivera mentioned) and on more three- and five-step drops.

L.J. Collier, the left defensive end, was in on that sack and on third down, it was Carlos Dunlap. It appeared that Morgan Moses, who had just come back in to the game after being evaluated in the locker room, was at least partially responsible for both sacks.

5. The Seahawks ran the ball for 181 yards against a Washington defense that had done a much better job against the run in the four-game streak. Russell Wilson had a 38-yard scramble and run, in which a defender slipped and possibly could have had him.

On Carlos Hyde's 50-yard scoring rumble, it looked like safety Jeremy Reaves slipped on the play to at least contribute.

READ MORE: A Chance is a Chance

6. On the flip side, Washington's pass defense only allowed Wilson and the explosive Seattle passing offense 121 yards through the air and one short touchdown to tight end, Jacob Hollister, who beat Jon Bostic in coverage.

Wilson was never sacked and threw one interception, a batted ball up in the air by Montez Sweat that was picked off by Daron Payne.

Washington was gashed on the ground but held the powerful DK Metcalf to just 43 yards on five catches.

7. Part of stopping the run is gap- and crease-control. Everyone knows it. Rivera has pounded this message home. I don't know much, but I know this play by Sweat wasn't good, on Hyde's touchdown. Watch No. 90 in the middle.

Carlos Hyde.
50 yards.
GONE.

📺: #SEAvsWAS on FOX
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— NFL (@NFL) December 20, 2020

That can't possibly be the way they wanted that executed.

8. There were some encouraging signs on the defense besides the pass coverage. Rookie Khaleke Hudson seemed to be very active and around the ball, finishing with five tackles. Shaun Dion Hamilton made a couple of nice plays in run defense before leaving the game with an elbow injury. On one play in the red zone, there was complete confusion and it looked like Thomas Davis Sr. was the guilty party. He ran off late out of a timeout and it appeared one of the coaches was not thrilled.

"I'd like to believe our guys stepped up and played much better in the second half because of what we were doing defensively," Rivera said about the entire operation.

9. Dustin Hopkins missed his second extra-point attempt of the year and it cost Washington that one point to make it 20-10 but also they were forced to go for a two-point conversion on the next scoring drive down 20-15 after the score ... and came up woefully short.

If Hopkins makes the first kick, Rivera goes for the extra-point attempt on the next score and it's likely 20-17 instead of the final 20-15.

"We started playing catch-up," Rivera said. He's right.

10. Logan Thomas continues his evolution. He was targeted 15 times and came away with 13 catches for 101 yards. It was his first 100-yard game in his career and the first time he was targeted more than 10 times.

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