Seattle Seahawks Give New York Giants Taste of Own Medicine In Record-Setting Performance
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - With the New York Giants advancing past midfield in a scoreless game midway through the first quarter and facing 2nd and 4, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon looked to be following receiver Darius Slayton in man coverage from the slot.
But right before quarterback Daniel Jones took the shotgun snap, Witherspoon took off with a running start on a blitz, shooting into the backfield as if he was shot out of a cannon and gun powder flew off the turf instead of rubber pellets. With New York failing to check protection to account for him, the dynamic rookie rocketed into the pocket and registered his first sack in the blink of an eye, energizing the 12s and a somewhat surprisingly bi-partisan crowd at MetLife Stadium.
As it turned out, on a night where the Seahawks battled injuries and endured an off night on offense, Witherspoon's sack jump-started a performance for the ages on Monday Night Football. From the outset, defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt took a page out of Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale's playbook, sending a flurry of blitzers after a helpless Jones all night to tie a franchise record with 11 sacks in a dominant 24-3 victory.
"This was a great night for Clint and the guys on defense," coach Pete Carroll said of Seattle's pass rush after the game. "The mixes and the changeups, the variety of ways that we came after them, we used everybody on the field just about, hitting the calls at the right time so the guys could create some explosive plays out of it. You’ve got to give Clint a ton of credit. Pass rush isn’t just the guys up front; everybody contributes to it. Coverage, and that's where the backers play a role as well, and it was a great illustration of that tonight."
Playing his first extensive game action at nickel cornerback due to injuries sidelining Coby Bryant and Artie Burns, Witherspoon led the charge with his aggressive, relentless play. Despite being only 185 pounds, playing a position Carroll has called natural to him inside, he wreaked havoc early and often blitzing off the edge, setting the tone for the rest of his teammates.
Along with disguising his blitz well on his first sack, Witherspoon later demonstrated his elite instincts snuffing out an attempted trick play by the Giants, bringing down receiver Parris Campbell after he caught a lateral from Jones and tried to pass for his second sack of the night. On six pass rush attempts, he generated four pressures, two sacks, and three quarterback hits, posting an impressive 67 percent pressure rate.
After the game, Witherspoon was all smiles, calling the first two-sack performance of his football career "lit" and relishing the opportunity presented to him to attack the opposing quarterback.
"That's a lot of fun for me, man," Witherspoon said of Hurtt cutting him loose as a blitzer. "Especially when I see the defensive line do that, I want some of that. Let me get some of that!"
But Witherspoon wasn't the only non-defensive lineman to get in on the act battering Jones to a pulp behind a beleaguered New York offensive line. Throughout the game, Hurtt mixed and matched different blitz packages out of different personnel groupings with remarkable efficiency, sending extra defenders from all levels of the defense and consistently hitting the right buttons time and time again.
At the linebacker position, Bobby Wagner blitzed six times on Monday night and turned those rush attempts into a pair of second half sacks and three pressures. Jordyn Brooks wasn't going to let his teammate get the upper hand either, as he also registered a pair of sacks and two pressures on five blitzing opportunities, devouring Jones in the backfield once each half as he actively participated in the blitzkrieg.
Abusing Daniel Jones from the opening snap, the Seahawks recorded a team-record 11 sacks and posted 36 pressures for a second consecutive week thanks to a blitz-heavy game plan.
: © Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Concerned about Jones' mobility and scrambling ability as a runner, Wagner said the Seahawks went into the game wanting to "apply a bit more pressure" on him to prevent him from escaping the pocket and doing damage with his legs. While the athletic quarterback did rush for 66 yards and got away from pressure a few times, the game plan worked to perfection.
"I think we needed it," Wagner commented. "Each game defensively, we've been getting better, we've been doing a good job stopping the run. But the one thing that was just applying pressure. Last game we had a lot of pressures, but not as many sacks, so I felt we did a good job this game turning those pressures into sacks."
Capping off a historic effort, as Witherspoon, Wagner, and Brooks racked up sacks in bunches, a hungry defensive line made sure not to go back to the Pacific Northwest empty handed either. With the Giants unable to run the ball conventionally minus an injured Saquon Barkley, Uchenna Nwosu and company pinned their ears back and made life miserable for Jones throughout the night.
Setting up Seattle's first touchdown, Nwosu forced Jones to vacate the pocket late in the first quarter and defensive tackle Mario Edwards caught him from behind to knock the ball out on a strip sack. Brooks recovered the fumble inside New York's 10-yard line and two plays later, Geno Smith connected with DK Metcalf on a seven-yard touchdown to put the visitors on top 7-0.
When it rains, it pours, and after the Seahawks got to Jones for four sacks in the first half, things snowballed for the Giants as they fell further behind in the final two quarters with the defensive line taking over. Notching his first sacks of the season, Nwosu brought down Jones twice in the fourth quarter and made history as the fourth Seahawk to record multiple sacks in the same game for the first time ever, forcing a fumble on the second one that was unfortunately recovered by tackle Joshua Ezeudu.
Exploding past Evan Neal on a speed rush, Boye Mafe also got in on the fun with his second sack of the season, while defensive tackle Myles Adams chased down Jones for the first sack in his NFL career in the final period. Putting an exclamation point on an extraordinary night, Nwosu's second sack in the closing moments knotted up a 36-year old record when Seattle amassed 11 sacks against the Los Angeles Raiders in 1986.
Under the presumption they slowed down the run to create more pass rushing opportunities, Nwosu expected the onslaught after the Seahawks recorded 36 pressures as a team in a win over the Panthers one week prior. By taking away the ground game and bringing extra heat to overwhelm an offensive line missing multiple starters, the goal was to put everything on Jones' plate and force him to beat them with his arm.
Racking up 36 pressures for a second straight week and giving up just 248 total yards and three points, it's safe to say Seattle accomplished that mission with plenty of style points sending Witherspoon, Wagner, and others in a creative game plan. Beginning to see on-field production match the talent at all three levels of the defense, Nwosu can't wait to see where the team will go from here riding a three-game winning streak rolling into a much-needed bye week.
"We have a lot of talented guys up front and the linebacker position that can blitz, corner position that can blitz, nickel position that can blitz, so we knew if we stopped the run, we'd have fun today. That's exactly what we did."
