Seahawks Halftime Observations: Red-Hot Geno Smith Leads 'Hawks to 13-7 Advantage vs. Rams
Getting off to a quick start on the road, Geno Smith engineered a seven-plus minute scoring drive that culminated in an eight-yard touchdown to DK Metcalf as the Seattle Seahawks built a 13-7 lead at halftime over the Los Angeles Rams.
Here are three quick observations from Sofi Stadium:
1. Back in a familiar road venue, Geno Smith looks right at home in Sofi.
In two games playing in Los Angeles last year, Smith completed north of 70 percent of his passes with five touchdowns as Seattle captured a pair of wins. Back in a comfortable road environment, the veteran quarterback came out firing on all cylinders, completing seven of his first eight passes for 50 yards and connecting with Metcalf for an eight-yard touchdown in the red zone. On that possession, he made two clutch third down throws to Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a new set of downs, including staring down an oncoming Aaron Donald on the latter throw to fire a dart to the rookie on a crosser.
While Smith did get flagged for intentional grounding after Seattle had advanced the ball into the red zone on a 53-yard bomb to Metcalf and two promising drives stalled in enemy territory in part due to penalties, he mostly played a perfect first half. Two of his five incompletions easily could have been first downs, as Smith-Njigba couldn't get both feet down inbounds on a deep ball along the sideline on the Seahawks first drive and Metcalf had a perfect throw on a dig route bounce off his chest on the next possession. Overall, he completed 13 out of 18 passes for 150 yards and a healthy 8.3 yards per attempt.
2. Aside from penalties, Seattle's defense dominated for most of the first half.
Starting the game on defense after winning the coin toss, the Seahawks wasted little time getting after Matthew Stafford, something they struggled to do in the opener. Only two plays into action, Boye Mafe generated initial pressure off the right side that forced the quarterback to step up in the pocket, allowing a blitzing Devon Witherspoon to wrap him up for a five-yard loss, setting up a three-and-out and punt by the Rams. They later forced another quick three-and-out behind stellar plays from Julian Love, who had a first down pass breakup and forced a third down incompletion pressuring Stafford on a blitz.
However, Love got flagged for an unnecessary defensive pass interference penalty covering speedy receiver Tutu Atwell late in the first quarter on a pass that wasn't going to be caught. The penalty resulted in a 45-yard gain and the Rams drove down inside the five thanks to defensive pass interference called on Riq Woolen on a third down incompletion. But the Seahawks held firm, stuffing three straight run plays before Tre Brown had perfect coverage on Atwell in the back of the end zone to force a turnover on downs.
Unfortunately, the defense bent in the final two minutes as Stafford found a groove primarily on bootleg play action, leading the Rams 75 yards on nine plays and capping off the possession with a short touchdown pass to Puka Nacua inside 10 seconds to play in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to six points before halftime.
3. Jason Myers keeps performing like a dynamic special teams weapon.
Picking up where he left off as the reigning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week with five field goals made in a win over the Commanders, Myers booted a 54-yard field goal through the uprights that may have been good from 10 yards further, passing over the crossbar with plenty of room to spare. He later would tack on another 42-yard field goal to extend Seattle's advantage to 12 points. In another close game, the Seahawks should have no shortage of confidence in the Pro Bowl kicker being able to contribute to a winning cause down the stretch with his range being as deep as any kicker in the league right now.
