Jake Curhan, Stone Forsythe Deliver in 'Consistent Fashion' as Seahawks Edge Lions

Stepping up to the plate in a big way for the Seattle Seahawks, Jake Curhan and Stone Forsythe led the charge as the offensive line kept Geno Smith clean all day long, helping secure a 37-31 overtime victory in a hostile environment.

DETROIT, Mich. - Facing 3rd and 2 from the opposing six-yard line on the first possession of overtime in a hard-fought battle against the Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith took the shotgun snap and immediately found himself under duress.

With star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson beating right tackle Jake Curhan to quickly collapse the pocket, Smith initially looked to be in trouble, only to escape the pocket to his right and somehow evade the pressure. Coming free as the safety valve on an out route, receiver Tyler Lockett snagged a quick pass from the scrambling signal caller and called game, match, point, successfully extending the ball inside the pylon to cap off a thrilling 37-31 overtime win and silence a sellout crowd at Ford Field.

But while Smith and Lockett were the heroes on the box score with a pair of touchdown connections after halftime, they weren't the players coach Pete Carroll wanted to celebrate with first as he entered the victorious locker room. After being doubted all week replacing injured starters Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, he couldn't have been more ecstatic about the performances Seattle received from Stone Forsythe and Curhan at the tackle spots.

"There’s a lot of people that wrote us off because they didn’t think that Stone [Forsythe] could get it done and Jake [Curhan] could get it done, but they did," Carroll said during the opening statement of his post-game press conference. "They did a phenomenal job today. They held up their end of it, stepped up just like we ask guys to do and came through in a huge way."

Facing a feisty Lions defensive line headlined by Hutchinson, one of the NFL's best young pass rushers, the Seahawks entered Sunday's road opener as a 4.5-point underdog in large part due to their offensive woes after Cross and Lucas exited against the Rams in Week 1. With Curhan and Forsythe in the lineup, the team produced 12 total yards in the second half of a 30-13 defeat and Smith seemed to get ambushed every time he dropped back to pass.

Given those struggles a week ago, including four pressures allowed by Curhan on just nine pass blocking snaps, few expected Seattle to be able to fly into Detroit and capture a signature road win without Cross or Lucas available.

But from the opening kickoff on Sunday, with the coaching staff implementing a quality game plan mixing in multi-tight end sets to provide blocking support when needed, Forsythe and Curhan surpassed all expectations at the bookend spots for the Seahawks. Locking down Hutchinson, Charles Harris, and the rest of the Lions talented edge rushers, they took on starring roles as the offensive line didn't allow a single quarterback hit on Smith in the first three quarters of play.

“We felt great about the pass pro. We really did," Carroll said. "Once we got going the game, we went in with the concepts that we needed. I don’t know how much it really strayed from where we were early, but we could block them and so, we did. And Geno [Smith] has a huge day because of it.”

In fact, the only hit Smith took all day long came after the quarterback inexplicably tried to extend a broken play late in regulation and took a 17-yard sack deep in Seattle territory. Even on that play, protection generally was decent with Curhan and Forsythe holding their own and the pressure coming more due to quality coverage than anything else.

For the game, Curhan and Forsythe allowed three combined pressures and no quarterback hits, turning in dominant outings and playing the best football of their young NFL careers.

Starting in place of Abraham Lucas, Jake Curhan held his own against Lions star Aidan Hutchinson with no sacks or quarterback hits allowed, helping the Seahawks score an upset road win

Meanwhile, in the run game, Curhan made a critical block on a 4th and 1 conversion when running back Ken Walker III powered behind him for a three-yard gain to move the chains in the third quarter. The conversion ended up leading to a Jason Myers field goal, moving Seattle within 21-17 on the scoreboard.

Understanding how crucial Curhan and Forsythe's efforts were to Smith's big 328-yard performance and the Seahawks stealing a road win in a hostile environment against an ascending NFC contender, all the normally chatty Carroll could do was huge them once he found them in the locker room.

“Oh, man. I didn’t have words," Carroll smiled. "I was so proud and so fired up for them. Just amazed by that. They came through in such a consistent fashion all day long... They’ve played before, they’ve been out there, and they just did what they do, and they did a great job to battle all day long against a great player and a terrific group on the other side."

As Carroll pointed out, Forsythe and Curhan didn't go into Sunday's contest as complete unknowns. Forsythe played admirably in a spot start replacing Lucas in a Week 17 win over the Jets last January, while Curhan started the final five games of the 2021 season as an undrafted rookie at right tackle and helped former running back Rashaad Penny lead the league in rushing yards during that span.

Though results have been somewhat mixed when both young tackles have been thrust into action off the bench, Smith told reporters after the game that he and his teammates didn't expect anything less from Forsythe and Curhan. Making the most of their latest opportunity against a quality opponent, they each proved themselves as capable NFL tackles who can hold down the fort on each side of the line.

That's great news for Smith and the Seahawks, who now can feel more comfortable about Forsythe and Curhan filling in while Cross and Lucas fully recover from their respective injuries. After benefiting from their protection up front all afternoon long, as someone who knows the value of not writing back, the veteran quarterback hopes their sensational play makes critics eat crow.

“They both played a lot of games for us and stepped up big time in a bunch of games, so we know who they are. Also, they’re not out there alone. They’ve got other guys out there, nine other guys out there playing with them and I’m just so happy for those guys to see what they did today. They were a big part of this offense, a big part of the reason why we scored the points we did and I think they may have silenced some people.”