Seahawks-Chargers Final Score: Seahawks offense sputters, lose 25-17 to Chargers

The Seattle Seahawks (4-4) tried to rally against the Los Angeles Chargers (6-2) after a poor offensive performance, but a David Moore drop with no time left denied them a miraculous opportunity to comeback and force overtime. Russell Wilson struggled, missed throws, and the offense as a whole suffered with disappointing offensive line play, injury to Chris Carson, and awful clock management. The defense gave up 19 points in the 1st half, slowed down Phillip Rivers and the Chargers in the 2nd half, but a pick-six thrown by Russell Wilson to Desmond King proved vital in the final scoreline.

1st Half

A very efficient, run-based opening drive saw Chris Carson, Mike Davis, and Rashaad Penny all get carries. Carson converted on three third-down conversions, and they burned half the quarter on their way to a glorious Jaron Brown touchdown grab in the back of the end zone. Russell Wilson had all kinds of time and made a great throw, while Brown made a better catch. 7-0 Seahawks.

A disastrous fumbled kick return pinned the Chargers at their own 5 to start their first series. No worries for them, as Keenan Allen ran for 29 yards on the jet sweep. They picked apart the Seahawks defense with clever, quick plays in the pass and run game, then Phillip Rivers hooked up with Tyrell Williams on 3rd down for a spectacular throw-and-catch, as Williams beat Tre Flowers and was able to get his knee down before his shoulder out of bounds. Caleb Sturgis missed the PAT, so 7-6 Seahawks.

Seattle proceeded to go three-and-out after a Mike Davis blitz pickup went horribly wrong and he gave up a sack. Phillip Rivers torched Shaquill Griffin and Tedric Thompson on a 3rd and 15 bomb to Keenan Allen, then Melvin Gordon galloped for 34 yards and a touchdown on the next play. They missed the two-point conversion, so 12-7 Chargers.

After each team went three-and-out, Russell Wilson punished the Chargers secondary with a 43-yard deep shot to Doug Baldwin, beating cornerback Trevor Williams. Unfortunately a ridiculous OPI call on David Moore took away a third-down conversion to Baldwin, and the subsequent 51-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski went off the upright and no good. The Chargers again went three-and-out, thanks to Tedric Thompson’s clutch deep ball pass break-up on 3rd down and long. Seattle only managed one first-down, then a ticky-tack roughness call on DJ Fluker killed another Seahawks drive.

Rivers carved up the Seattle secondary, and Tre Flowers was beaten for a touchdown by Mike Williams, which should’ve never stood, but it did. 19-7 Chargers.

Seattle went to work in a two-minute drill, with all three timeouts in possession. With the aid of a Derwin James helmet-to-helmet penalty. They made a mess of things by wasting those timeouts quickly and then committing a false start, thus a ten-second runoff. They set up for a field goal for Janikowski, which split the uprights. 19-10 Chargers at halftime.

2nd Half

The Chargers punted on their first possession to begin the half, and likewise for the Seahawks, as Wilson missed a wide open Jaron Brown on 3rd down. A big run by Melvin Gordon and a couple of good throws by Phillip Rivers again put the Chargers in business, but Tre Flowers denied Rivers a touchdown pass to Tyrell Williams thanks to a last-ditch pass break-up. Caleb Sturgis hooked his 42-yard field goal wide left, keeping the score at 19-10. Seattle drove into Charger territory, only for a sack to kill chances of scoring.

After another Charger punt, Wilson took another sack, causing a cut on his elbow. The Chargers sought to run the clock out, as Gordon gashed the Seahawks defense again. However, a failed jet sweep, a Frank Clark sack, and a Bobby Wagner pass defensed led to a punt. Russell Wilson threw a pick-six to Desmond King, who easily jumped the telegraph pass. Sturgis missed another PAT and presumably we won’t see him in the NFL much longer. 25-10 Chargers.

Wilson took multiple sacks, threw a lot of short passes, they ran it multiple times, and burned an obscene amount of clock. Nick Vannett caught a 4th and goal touchdown pass with 1:50 to go. 25-17 Chargers.

After a piss-poor onside kick, Seattle’s defense needed to make a stop and get the ball back. They had all three timeouts left, used the first two after holding Gordon to only 3 yards. Rivers got sacked on 3rd down by Jarran Reed, giving the Seahawks life.

With 1:24 left and 78 yards to go, Wilson had no timeouts to work with in order to lead a tying touchdown drive. First pass was incomplete, the second pass was caught for 10 yards by Nick Vannett. The next pass was caught by Lockett for 11 yards, plus 15 yards for roughing the passer on Melvin Ingram, putting Seattle into Chargers territory. Wilson scrambled for 16 yards to the Chargers 29 with 35 seconds and counting. He spiked it with :30 to go. The next play was a fumbled snap and a throw away. Next play gained 9 yards but clock was ticking. The 4th down Hail Mary to Lockett was pass interference with NO TIME LEFT, putting the Seahawks at the 1 with an untimed down. So with that final play... that second chance... they false started. So final play at the 6.... dropped by David Moore. Game over. 25-17 Chargers final.

Seahawks injury report

RB Chris Carson had his leg wrapped up in the quad area and did not return for the 2nd half.

SS Bradley McDougald was seen limping during the game and Delano Hill started the 2nd half. He returned when Tedric Thompson came off the field.

FS Tedric Thompson suffered an apparent arm injury in the 4th quarter, and missed only one play.

RG DJ Fluker suffered an injury to his lower leg in the 4th quarter and was replaced by Joey Hunt.

Next week’s opponent

The Seahawks are back on the road against the Los Angeles Rams (8-1) on Sunday, November 11th at 1:25 PM PT on CBS.