Suffocating Seahawks Shut Down Giants' Run Game, Earn Hard-Fought 27-13 Win
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Keeping their stranglehold on the NFC West and winning their third straight game in impressive fashion, the Seahawks used two fourth quarter touchdowns to put away the Giants for a 27-13 victory at Lumen Field.
Turning in another stellar performance, Geno Smith completed 23 out of 34 passes for 212 yards and threw touchdown passes to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, who each battled through injury to help Seattle secure the home win. Uchenna Nwosu sacked Daniel Jones twice amid a pass-rushing onslaught as the team got to the quarterback five times and limited running back Saquon Barkley to less than 60 rushing yards in a smothering defensive effort.
Here are five quick takeaways from the Seahawks statement Week 8 win:
1. Geno Smith continues his march towards MVP contention one dime at a time.
Statistically, Smith didn't necessarily have one of his best games of the season. But he still was impressively efficient, completing nearly 68 percent of his passes despite having a touchdown dropped by Tyler Lockett and having several other quality throws slip through the grasps of his receivers. Most notably, with the game on the line, the veteran quarterback came through when the Seahawks needed him to most. After the Giants tied the game up at 13, he promptly completed his first three passes to push his team past midfield. On the ensuing 2nd and 4, he found Lockett for a 12-yard reception. Staying poised in the pocket, he finished off a perfect drive by moving the defense with his eyes and then lofting a perfect 33-yard touchdown to Lockett in the right front corner of the end zone. Completing all five of his throws for 75 yards and a score, it was the type of signature drive MVP candidates make to put their team over the top and should vault him further into the discussion.
2. Tyler Lockett goes from goat to savior by orchestrating a rapid redemptive arc in the fourth quarter.
Playing through multiple injuries after being a game-time decision on whether or not he'd even play on Sunday, Lockett made a series of uncharacteristic mistakes in the first three quarters that put Seattle in a major bind. Midway through the second quarter, after New York pinned the home team at its own two-yard line on a punt, the normally sure-handed wideout lost the football after catching a dump off from Lockett, allowing cornerback Adoree Jackson to recover inside the five-yard line. Two plays later, Saquon Barkley punched it in from a yard out to tie the game at seven apiece and capitalize on the costly turnover. Then late in the third quarter, Smith dropped a perfect deep ball into Lockett's bread basket, only for the pass to hit off his face mask and fall incomplete. But after teammate Quandre Diggs could be seen assuring his long-time friend on the sideline, the former All-Pro redeemed himself and then some, shaking and baking his way to a 12-yard first down reception before catching a near-identical pass from Smith to put the Seahawks back in front for good.
3. Bottling up Barkley and Daniel Jones, Seahawks' run defense rises to the occasion.
Coming off back-to-back impressive outings holding the Cardinals and Chargers' running backs to under 3.5 yards per carry, the Seahawks faced their toughest test in weeks dealing with a dynamic back in Barkley and one of the best running quarterbacks in Jones. Proving their recent turnaround deploying a more aggressive defense up front isn't a fluke, they stymied both runners from start to finish, holding Barkley to just 53 rushing yards and 2.7 yards per attempt and Jones to 20 yards on six attempts. Overall, the Giants, who entered the game with the sixth-best rushing offense in the NFL, mustered just 78 rushing yards and a meager 2.8 yards per carry, preventing their offense from every truly finding a rhythm in a hostile road environment. Without the run game to complement him, Jones threw for just 158 yards and completed less than 60 percent of his pass attempts.
4. Negative plays set Seattle up for consistent success on defense all afternoon long.
If there was one key that helped the Seahawks stop Barkley and Jones, it was their ability to constantly wreak havoc in the backfield on early downs. For the game, Clint Hurtt's defense generated eight tackles for loss and five sacks on Jones, persistently putting the Giants in uncomfortable situations behind the sticks without a semblance of a passing game to counter. Leading the charge, safety Ryan Neal tripped up Barkley for a four-yard loss on the second drive of the game and finished with two stops in the backfield. Linebacker Bruce Irvin also turned in a crucial stop in the third quarter when he flung Jones into Barkley after a handoff like he was a bowling ball, knocking over the pin for an eight-yard loss that forced the Giants to settle for three points. By the end of the game, after Walker's touchdown all but sealed the outcome, rushers were able to tee off on Jones with Nwosu registering his second sack and Poona Ford ending the game with a sack on the final play of regulation.
5. Led by a surprising contributor, special teams brings the hammer with two crucial forced fumbles and recoveries.
For most of the 2022 season, special teams have been an area of contention and inconsistency for the Seahawks. But on Sunday, the punt coverage team came through with two pivotal turnovers that may have swung the outcome into the home team's favor with an unlikely source taking center stage. Moments after Lockett's turnover gave the Giants three points and the Seahawks subsequently were forced to punt, tight end Will Dissly threw his shoulder into return specialist Richie James, knocking the ball out of his hands and allowing Joey Blount to recover deep in opposing territory. Moments later, Jason Myers connected on a short field goal to answer Barkley's touchdown and Seattle recaptured the lead 10-7. Then in the fourth quarter, while nursing a seven-point lead, running back Travis Homer blasted James while he was in the grasp of another defender and punched the ball loose, only for Dissly to recover the fumble at the Giants 32-yard line. Two plays later, Walker bounced a run outside to his left and somehow defeated gravity maintaining his balance when he looked like he was falling to the turf, staying upright and breaking a tackle before racing past the goal line for a game-icing touchdown.
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