Winners and Losers from Seahawks 37, Lions 31

What a game! What a win!

The Seattle Seahawks looked like they had a win in their sights in regulation when they were up 31-21 on the Detroit Lions. Then it looked like the game was lost when Geno Smith took that farcical sack, and then the Seahawks won the coin toss. The rest, as they say, is history.

A big-time 37-31 OT road win against (what we think is) a playoff-caliber team despite injuries coming into the game and during the game to key players. Dare I say it’s a season-saver? Let’s get to Winners and Losers!

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Stone Forsythe and Jake Curhan

Yes, they are the biggest winners. As much as that emergency outing was a horror show against the Los Angeles Rams, those two had a week to prepare alongside the first-team offense, and other than the silly sack that Geno Smith took, it was a clean scorecard. Not a lot of pressures that I saw given up by either one of them, which was a major success when you consider how many dropbacks the Seahawks had. Kudos to both men for their performances.

Geno Smith

Yes, the sack was bad and almost game-losing. He nearly threw a pick-6 on what luckily turned into a field goal drive. Just about everything else was damn good if not great. Geno was 32/41 for 328 yards, 2 touchdowns, no turnovers, and just generally sound decision making and accurate passing. I had someone reply to me on Twitter/X call for Drew Lock at halftime and I was confused as hell. Well I guess Lock should be a winner since he won the coin toss to set up Geno, who overcame that poor decision on the sack to deliver in the clutch!

Tyler Lockett

One of the great Seahawks receivers of all-time did it again. No big plays in terms of deep shots, but just the epitome of clutch in the form of 8 catches for 59 yards and two go-ahead touchdowns, one of which was go-ahead for good! It’s a privilege to watch him play and his name ought to be in the Seahawks Ring of Honor whenever his career ends.

DK Metcalf

I don’t think Metcalf gets enough credit for fighting through injury. Yes, he has his issues with penalties and consistency winning contested catches, but 6 catches on 6 targets for 75 yards is a great day. That’s efficient productivity from No. 14 through some rib pain.

The tight end triumvirate

Noah Fant: 4 catches (on 4 targets) for 56 yards
Will Dissly: 3 catches (on 3 targets) for 35 yards
Colby Parkinson: 2 catches (on 3 targets) for 41 yards

Doesn’t get much better than that! Great to see them all involved in a really big way.

Tre Brown

Not ideal circumstances when you lose your starting spot for the day and then have to replace Riq Woolen. Not only did Brown have a forced fumble (which made up for getting beaten on the final play of the 1st half by Amon-Ra St. Brown), he had the first sack of the season and then a subsequent pick-6 for his first interception. Yes, Brown gave up a touchdown later on but in emergency duty he had two huge plays and that should take some heat off of him. Well done, Tre!

Kenneth Walker III

His numbers are not impressive (17 carries for 43 yards) but he didn’t have a lot of rushing lanes and made the most out of little daylight. He still got a couple of touchdowns in his return to Michigan as a Michigan State alum. There will be better days (and hopefully better run blocking) ahead for the dynamic back.

Uchenna Nwosu

The Tre Brown pick probably doesn’t happen without his pressure, and he had the forced fumble on David Montgomery to start the 2nd half. Essentially Nwosu had involvement in two turnovers and he’s continuing to show why he’s one of the most important players on the defense.

Jerrick Reed II

He had a huge hit on a punt return and then did some trolling post-game. I like him already!

Pete Carroll

Happy belated birthday, Pete! Was I annoyed as hell that you punted on 4th and short in Detroit territory? Yes. Was I delighted you went for it on 4th and 1 in your own territory later in the game? Yes! And what better way to celebrate your 72nd birthday than a win?

Shane Waldron and Andy Dickerson

I still cannot believe they opted not to run the ball to force timeout usage on the last regulation possession, and I’m still terrified any time a screen pass is called, but all things considered he had a solid gameplan and adjusted to the run game sputtering. We saw more play-action, more tight end involvement, and more under center snaps than last week. Also gotta shout out OL coach Andy Dickerson for how well this group performed in pass protection.

Jordyn Brooks

I thought Brooks was really good in coverage and he had a key blitz that led to a 4th down stop of Jared Goff. He looks fully up to speed in just two games, which is remarkable considering the ACL tear in January.

Losers

Jason Myers

That big contract extension is obviously a problem because we’ve got odd year Jason Myers again. He missed two field goals and he’s now 3/6 of the year. Myers had a couple of shaky kicks and two misses in the last couple of regular season games in 2022, so he’s in a bit of a rut and he’ll have to play his way out of it. Otherwise the Seahawks are in a terrible spot at place kicker.

Darrell Taylor

He actually had a couple of run stops that caught my eye, but he was washed out badly by Sam LaPorta on David Montgomery’s touchdown run and committed that unreal roughing the passer penalty when he thought Jared Goff still had the ball. Yeah it’s a pass in the loosest sense of the word but I have never seen that happen. He’s just not consistent enough for me to warrant regular playing time, at this point.

Julian Love

It’s two games but he’s not looking like an upgrade over Ryan Neal. Got beaten in coverage multiple times including on the opening Lions touchdown. I’ll still give it some time, more specifically when Jamal Adams returns, which is probably very soon.

Coby Bryant

Another tough day for Bryant in coverage. Slot corner is an unforgiving job but you have to wonder how much longer he’ll be keeping his starting spot when he doesn’t force incompletions and is not a consistent tackler. Artie Burns even got some run at nickel again and he only has one more practice squad elevation left.

Referee Alex Kemp

The Lions will take issue with the non-call on a possible holding penalty on Jake Curhan when Geno threw the winner to Lockett. That’s fine. The intentional grounding penalty on Geno Smith?! Not correct and not within the spirit of the rule. You should be able to tell what is a desperation throwaway and what’s a miscommunication, and the latter is clearly what happened.

“I’m talking to America here.” is something I’d normally laugh at but I was as pissed as Pete. I don’t think this was a well officiated game, but it wasn’t necessarily one-sided.

Final Notes

• Mario Edwards Jr was impactful against the run, and Jarran Reed had a couple of QB hits plus a fumble recovery. Dre’Mont Jones also had a pressure on the only punt the Seahawks forced, so the defensive line I thought generally grew into the game and were decent against the run.
• Hopefully Riq Woolen is okay because as much as Brown fared well in his absence, the secondary will suffer if his shoulder injury is anything serious.
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 5 catches for 34 yards including a 3rd down conversion, but I hope as the season progresses he is not used so close to the line of scrimmage.
• Devon Witherspoon is neither a winner nor a loser, but if you make me choose I say winner. Both of the 4th down stops involved him in coverage, and he had a good tackle for a short gain on a run play. The bad? Biting on a flea-flicker and giving up a long touchdown, and he got beaten on a couple of other plays as well but I’m not that bothered. For a debut, it was not perfect, but his positives were really encouraging.
• There has to be someone better than DeeJay Dallas on punt returns. Or returns in general.
• I can’t be the only one who thought Dam Campbell mismanaged the clock, right? They took their sweet time on their last touchdown drive and then at midfield with all three timeouts, somehow they didn’t even get into the red zone. Very little urgency and it cost them in the end. I’ll take it!
• That was a statement win. They didn’t fold like last week and the offense that pretty much had to score a lot in order to pull off the upset did just that. Any away win is a good win and especially in a hostile environment, the Seahawks had a lot of adversity and overcame it all. Credit to everyone involved for making this happen. You just can’t beat this Seahawks team off!

• No video this week because of personal scheduling but you will get an Enemy Reaction! You know I’m not delaying that.