Seahawks Outlast Ravens 22-17

The Seahawks managed the unexpected, capitalizing on a few key special teams miscues by the Ravens and five Steven Hauschka field goals to hold on for a 22-17 win. The Hawks weathered injuries to John Moffitt (knee injury), Doug Baldwin (concussion), Sidney Rice (concussion), Kam Chancellor (concussion), and Anthony Hargrove (hamstring), and the seemingly endless injury list is a good indication of how hard fought the game was for both sides. 

Ravens' kick returner David Reed fumbled twice deep in the Seahawks end in the first half and this helped the Seahawks march into halftime with a 19-7 lead. The Hawks added another field goal in the third quarter and survived a Baltimore comeback attempt late in the game.

Quick Thoughts:

- Marshawn Lynch set the tone for the game early on, and on the Seahawks' second drive was responsible for 50 yards through the air on and on the ground to cap off their 6-play, 60 yard drive. He finished with 109 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries and 5 receptions for 58 yards. Late in the game, when the Hawks were trying to put the game away, Lynch had two huge plays - one catch and one carry - for first downs to extend the drive and hold onto the Hawks tenuous five-point lead.  

- Tarvaris Jackson played well, completing 17-of-27 for 217 yards, no touchdowns and no picks. He made some pretty throws, including an absolute dime to Doug Baldwin as he drifted to his left and that reception went for 50 yards. He had several more well-thrown balls into the endzone that were very close to completions for touchdowns.

- The injuries piled up on offense, as I said above, but the Hawks depth held strong. Lemuel Jeanpierre replaced John Moffitt early and did a fine job in protection and run blocking. Tarvaris Jackson was only sacked once. Throughout the game, Doug Baldwin and Sidney Rice both went out with concussions and Ben Obomanu and Golden Tate stepped in nicely.

- Speaking of Golden Tate, he had himself a nice game, picking up 3 receptions for 46 yards, and two of those catches were for big first downs. 

- The penalties again showed up today in force for the Seahawks. They were penalized 13 times for 100 yards lost. Yeesh. 

- The Hawks offense finished with 327 yards of total offense - 119 on the ground and 208 through the air. They ran the ball 42 times to 27 throws, running often and effectively enough to preserve the lead. The Hawks won the time of possession game 35 to 25. Again, the three Ravens' turnovers helped immensely in this, but the Hawks picked up first downs when they needed and grinded the clock well. 

- The Hawks did what they had set out to do - that is, they forced Joe Flacco to beat them through the air and took Ray Rice out of it for the most part. The Ravens only ran the ball 12 times to Flacco's 52 pass attempts. He completed 29 of those passes for 255 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Ray Rice actually threw a one-yard touchdown pass on a nice little trick play in the first half. 

- The Ravens targeted their running backs and tight ends A LOT; .35 of those 52 attempts were targeting those guys on dumpoffs and up the seam. Anquan Boldin had two catches for 11 yards and Torrey Smith had three catches for 28 yards. This is a testament to Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner at taking away the Ravens' top two receiving threats. (Flacco also over/underthrew them several times, which helped too).

- Overall, the defense played well. They made the Ravens one-dimensional for the most part, and held when it mattered. Roy Lewis had a rough game and when I see the Hawks in their dime or nickel packages it makes me a little nervous. Nonetheless, they did enough to get the Hawks a win. 

Much more coming this week but right now, what do you guys and gals think?