Seattle Seahawks Rapid Reaction: Late Heroics Lift Seattle Past Cleveland Browns
With the game on the line inside two minutes left to play, safety Julian Love intercepted quarterback P.J. Walker and Jaxon Smith-Njigba scampered into the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown as the Seattle Seahawks held off the Cleveland Browns for a 24-20 win at Lumen Field.
Though he went through a lull in the second and third quarter for a scuffling offense with a pair of interceptions, Smith threw for 254 yards against the NFL's No. 1 defense and tossed a pair of touchdowns to Tyler Lockett and Smith-Njigba. Defensively, Boye Mafe racked up four quarterback hits and a sack while Love and Riq Woolen each recorded their first interceptions of the season to aid the winning effort.
Here are five quick takeaways from Seattle's latest win that pushed the team into first place in the NFC West:
1. Train nearly runs out of fuel, flies off the tracks before Seahawks offense comes through in the clutch.
For one quarter, the Seahawks looked poised to erupt with a breakout offensive showing against one of the NFL's top defenses. Backed by a 47-yard run by Ken Walker III, the home team quickly marched into the red zone on their opening possession and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron gave a bone to undrafted receiver Jake Bobo, calling his number on a jet sweep for a three-yard touchdown. Moments later, after Boye Mafe recovered a fumble by P.J. Walker, Smith demonstrated excellent pocket presence slipping away from a sack before lofting a 12-yard touchdown to Lockett to extend the lead to 14-0. The Browns would respond with a touchdown drive of their own, but Jason Myers split the uprights from 32 yards out to push the advantage back to 10 at the end of the quarter.
For the next two-plus quarters, however, Seattle couldn't get out of its own way, starting with Smith's self-inflicted mistakes. Following a pair of three-and-out possessions in the second quarter, the quarterback had driven his team into scoring range inside two minutes left to play in the half, only to get picked by Martin Emerson to take three points off the board. Things only got worse in the third quarter, as Seattle went three-and-out again on two of its next three possessions sandwiched around another Smith interception by defensive tackle Maurice Hurst.
Scoring on a bubble screen with less than 40 seconds to play, Jaxon Smith-Njigba played the role of hero to help the Seahawks beat the Browns at Lumen Field.
© Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Thankfully, Smith was gifted an extra opportunity by Love's interception and the quarterback delivered, ripping victory from the claws of defeat. After hooking up with DK Metcalf and Noah Fant for back-to-back first down conversions into the red zone, he dumped off a quick bubble screen to Smith-Njigba, who did the rest of the work bolting outside behind Metcalf's block to put Seattle back in front with under 40 seconds left to play.
2. Oddly, Seattle didn't stick with a ground attack that clearly was working.
While Smith wasn't crisp for most of the final three quarters and seemed to have happy feet, the Seahawks could have helped him out a bit more by leaning on an effective ground game. After Walker busted loose for his 47-yard run on the opening drive, he only rushed four more times in the entire first half, while rookie Zach Charbonnet rushed just three times for 20 yards. On multiple occasions in the third quarter, Walker or Charbonnet had a productive first down run, only for Waldron to dial up passes the next two plays with minimal success to lead to a Michael Dickson punt.
Even when Seattle's duo of backs picked up big chunks of yardage on the ground, including a 21-yard run by Charbonnet in the third quarter, the team would then turn away from the ground game with dismal results. Pass rusher Myles Garrett ended up sacking Smith moments after that run by Charbonnet, knocking the home team out of field goal range. Looking at the stats, both backs averaged more than six yards per carry and combined for 119 yards, but they only combined for 13 carries. That's far from enough, especially considering how well they each performed.
3. Offensive line deserves a lot of credit for protecting Smith, limiting Cleveland pass rush
Going against Garrett, Za'Darius Smith, and a dominant Browns pass rush, the Seahawks' front line held serve without starting right tackle Abraham Lucas or right guard Phil Haynes. From the outset, Smith was kept clean in the pocket with the offensive line doing a quality job of keeping pass rushers at bay and Waldron not dialing up too many long-developing pass plays. At the half, Garrett's name hadn't been called once and the Browns didn't have a single quarterback hit on Smith, which played a key role in building an early advantage on the scoreboard.
Rotating veteran Jason Peters in with Stone Forsythe at right tackle, Seattle limited the Browns to just three quarterback hits and a single sack. Add in the fact that the front line helped Walker and Charbonnet rush for over seven yards per carry and it was a highly successful day at the office for a line that has been under fire a bit due to injuries in the first six weeks of the season. Given the opponent, all six lineman could be in strong consideration for game ball honors winning at the line of scrimmage against a talented opponent.
4. Despite preparation, a screen-heavy Browns passing game gave the Seahawks fits.
All week long, especially with a backup in Walker set to replace Deshaun Watson, the Seahawks game planned for the Browns to run a solid dose of screens. But sometimes, preparation isn't enough and to the dismay of coach Pete Carroll, his defense got caught in some bad looks at the wrong times against a well-schemed screen plays with running backs, receivers, and tight ends all getting involved in the action. After Seattle took a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter, running backs Kareem Hunt and Pierre Strong picked up 12 and 41 yards on consecutive screen plays to move the visitors into the red zone, setting up an 18-yard touchdown pass to David Njoku and cut the lead back to seven.
Then in the third quarter, with the Seahawks nursing a slim three-point lead, Walker dumped a middle screen off to Njoku. While the Seahawks had multiple defenders in the vicinity, the athletic tight end slipped out of trouble after the catch with tons of green space and blockers in front of him, rumbling 41 yards to the Seattle 44-yard line on a drive that eventually resulted in a field goal to knot the score. In total, the Browns had four screen plays go for at least 12 yards, contributing a large chunk of Walker's 248 total passing yards for the afternoon and helping fuel a comeback from a big deficit out of the gate. Carroll's squad will have to learn from the mistakes on film, as upcoming opponents will certainly be looking to run similar plays to counter an aggressive defense.
5. Turnovers proved to be the ultimate difference maker in an inconsistent defensive performance.
If there's been anything missing during the Seahawks recent defensive surge giving up just 10 points per game over the past three games, the team has been hit and miss creating turnovers, including failing to force any turnovers in a Week 7 win over the Cardinals. But those fortunes changed in a major way against the Browns, starting with linebacker Jordyn Brooks stripping Walker on a sack after coming through the line untouched on a blitz, leading to a recovery from Mafe in opposing territory to set up Smith's touchdown toss to Lockett. Later in the half, with the Browns threatening deep in Seahawks territory, cornerback Riq Woolen snagged an overthrown third down pass off the turf for his first interception of the year, turning the visitors away without any points.
But the biggest turnover came in the closing moments. With Cleveland facing 3rd and 3 at their own 41-yard line and Seattle only having two timeouts left with the two minute warning approaching, Walker surprisingly dropped back to throw and his pass bounced off safety Jamal Adams' helmet, causing the ball to shoot into the air for what felt like an eternity. As the deflected pass crashed slowly towards the turf, Love came underneath the ball to reel in his first interception with his new team just shy of midfield, breathing new life into the sideline and the crowd. Seizing the opportunity, Smith completed his first three passes on the ensuing drive, including a 27-yard connection with Noah Fant, before Smith-Njigba sprinted into the end zone for the game winning score.
