Seahawks 27 49ers 24: Winners and Losers from a crazy Monday night in Santa Clara

What a night.

I turned 26 years old last week and thanks to being a Seattle Seahawks fan, I know I’m not going to live long. They are pure entertainment if you’re a neutral and the most stressful television viewing imaginable if you’re partisan.

We’re going to winners and losers after the Seattle Seahawks handed the San Francisco 49ers their first loss of the season in front of a nationally televised audience on Monday Night Football. I’ve not got time for detailed intro paragraphs or any of that stuff.

Winners

Jadeveon Clowney

Game. Wrecker. THAT is the game that we needed out of Clowney, and why the Seahawks traded for him. Five tackles, a strip sack, a fumble return touchdown, numerous pressures and stops on run defense. He was the best defensive player on the field if not the best player on the field outright on both teams. Clowney was the difference.

Jarran Reed

Reed had been quiet on the pass rushing front, but it was his strip sack that led to Clowney’s touchdown, and he was his usual outstanding self in the trenches.

Poona Ford

He continues to be a beast as a run stopper and he split a sack with Jarran Reed, along with a fumble recovery. Poona is a destroyer of worlds.

Shaquill Griffin

The arguably play of the 2nd half was his breakup of Jimmy Garoppolo’s deep ball to Deebo Samuel that could’ve seen him go off to the races and into the end zone for the game-ending touchdown. Griffin soared through the air and went all out to bat the ball away. That was clutch, and it gave Seattle the ball back.

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Quandre Diggs

Wow! What a debut. The hard-hitting safety delivered hard hits, picked off Garoppolo, and was everything that Tedric Thompson frankly wasn’t prior to his season-ending injury. This is looking like a midseason steal for the Seahawks, courtesy of everyone’s favorite bandit, John Schneider.

Jason Myers

Redemption. Go-ahead field goal in the 4th quarter AND he had to make the game-winning field goal in overtime twice. That’s how you bounce back from a horrible game (and frankly an underwhelming season).

Jacob Hollister

What a find he’s been as a receiving TE! Replacing Will Dissly, Hollister was an overtime hero last week, could’ve been one this week had Russell Wilson not underthrown him on the wheel route, but he still had 8 catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. Schotty knows how to scheme tight ends into the passing game.

Josh Gordon

Two targets, two catches for 27 yards, both successful third down conversions, one of them against Richard Sherman. I cannot wait to see Gordon’s impact in the offense once he has a full grasp of the playbook.

Malik Turner

I am blown away by that 3rd and 16 conversion. Turner did an excellent job on the scramble drill to get open against a top-flight nickel corner in K’Waun Williams, and he put the defense in the spin cycle to get the Seahawks into scoring position in overtime. Did they come away with nothing? Yeah, but Turner seems to be good for one “wow” play per week this season.

Duane Brown

For preventing that interception by Dre Greenlaw from being a pick-six. Critical tackle by the tackle on a play in which seemingly no one wanted to tackle Greenlaw. He also held Nick Bosa to no sacks.

Russell Wilson

He would not have been a winner if the Seahawks had lost because of that interception, but he got extra chances. You do not give Russell Wilson another chance to win a game. His QBR was 41.1 and I could not give a quarter of a shit. He made several clutch plays when the team needed it most, including the 3rd down scramble on the final possession of overtime. Wilson is reluctant to run and clearly his speed is no longer what it used to be, but you still have to respect him as a dual-threat. Five game-winning drives should keep your ass in the MVP lead, especially when this one came against arguably the NFL’s best defense.

Losers

Rashaad Penny

You barely get on the field these days and you fumble. Chris Carson seems to have a lengthy leash despite his ridiculously long laundry list of fumbles this year, but Penny? Not so much, I suspect.

Germain Ifedi

Dude really thought he could gain yards out of that fumble recovery on the Wilson strip sack? That was the time to fall down and end the play, and instead we got a rare double fumble.

Joey Hunt

Really, just for this play. Poor dude got bulldozed on live TV.

Jamar Taylor

He almost clawed his way back into a non-loser with a much better 2nd half, but wow was that 1st half about as awful as possible. Taylor committed a penalty to nullify a Shaquill Griffin interception. He was getting beaten badly and missing tackles on Kendrick Bourne, including for a touchdown. That was not a good game and should be acknowledged as such. I will credit him with a couple of nice plays in the 2nd half, including a pass defensed on a 3rd down stop.

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Alex Kemp and his awful officiating crew

Wilson got facemasked on the strip-sack touchdown. Uncalled. There was an attempted head shot as he slid to the ground. Uncalled. Tre Flowers had some fictitious DPI called on him. Chris Carson got away with the most blatant false start on his touchdown run. Uncalled. The 3rd and 1 failed run by Chris Carson late in the 4th quarter was a delay of game. Uncalled. Jadeveon Clowney is allowed to be held and have hands shoved right up in his face without penalty. That stupid f-ing “in the grasp” shit that resulted in Wilson getting sacked on a play that similarly screwed over DeShaun Watson earlier in the year. What an incompetent officiating crew that ESPN felt the need to pump up all night.

Other Notes

• DK Metcalf didn’t have a great game. A couple of drops on catchable passes, a fumble near the goal-line that was really just a phenomenal play by Jaquiski Tartt... and yet he still had 6 catches for 70 yards. The best is yet to come.
• Al Woods’ sack was Jadeveon Clowney’s sack. Clowney disrupted Garoppolo’s throwing lane and Woods did the rest. The little things help you win.
• Chris Carson has to, has to, fix his fumbling issues. That’s yet another game with a fumble. He finished with 25 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown, but ball security has to be cleaned up. And he was terrible at picking up blitzes or chipping in protection.
• I’ve been calling for Ken Norton’s firing a for a couple of weeks. The 2nd quarter-overtime was enough to stave off his dismissal. If that’s the Seahawks defense we see the rest of this year, then I’ll be content.
• I am happy to see Shaquem Griffin get some defensive snaps. Ziggy Ansah offered up nothing and Shaquem as a pass rusher was a great tryout, even though I don’t recall too many standout moments.
• Jaron Brown being a healthy scratch could be the end of his run in Seattle. They aren’t keeping 7 WRs for the sake of it.
• Pete Carroll badly mismanaged the clock at the end of the 4th quarter. I’m not in a mood to rant about it. His approach to timeouts is just something we’ll have to live with, and after a game like that I sure as hell won’t be fixating on that.
• Hopefully Tyler Lockett does not have a super serious injury, as that would be a devastating loss. It looks like it’s a lower leg contusion but the severity of it remains to be seen.
• It feels damn good when you win a close one against a great team instead of squeaking past a bad team. This is one of the great victories of the Russell Wilson era, and it has the Seahawks in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot. We’re not here for a playoff spot, we’re here to see them win the division.
• 5-0 on the road for the first time in franchise history. Feels good, doesn’t it?
• I am exhausted and am running out of things to say. What a win, good night everyone!