Once again, a tale of two halves for the Seahawks.
With each of their Week 18 main courses within sniffing distance, the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers plopped down in your booth at Chili’s, knocked over your drink and half-apologized, ordered your least favorite appetizer for the whole table, ate it noisily, talked with their mouths full, and never stopped badgering the server for more refills. Then after halftime, they started fighting. One left the restaurant with a bloody nose, the other with a win. All in all, a pretty eventful night out.
Indeed, after a first quarter devoid of big plays and thus nearly points-free, a second quarter out there that combined the worst parts of 2000s 10 a.m. games and Pete Carroll cardiacball, the third quarter arrived just in time to restore balance to the force of nature we call the Seahawks.
Consider this: on the cusp of the New Year, nobody in the NFL has more victories than Seattle. Mike Macdonald has more wins this year (13) than Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick and Andy Reid combined (12). I would gladly type that again, were I not too busy picking up my own jaw from the floor.
Despite their unruly first half, it turns out the Seahawks were toying with us all along. Drawing out the joke, saving their killer punchline for the third quarter, when two touchdowns 3:13 apart tipped the game from toss-up to likely win. Despite one solitary competent Carolina drive that narrowed the deficit to a single score, the hosts never got the ball afterward with a chance to win or take the lead. A desperation 4th and 17 attempt in their own territory yielded nothing, Seattle took over on the 25 with under four minutes left, and rode Zach’s strapping Bach to the end zone for the clinching teeder. That topped off the scoring at 27-10 and blessed us with the rarest of treats: consecutive victory formations. The Panthers first, in surrender mode —
— and the Seahawks second, after possession transferred back to Seattle for the honorary final kneel.
On a day Sam Darnold was careless and unlucky before pivoting to tough and conservative, the Seahawks won by 17 on the road. How? 158 rushing yards helped. Holding the Panthers to zero pass plays beyond eight yards helped. Making Bryce Young’s life hell helped. Allowing just 139 total yards helped. Taking the ball away twice helped. Eliminating mistakes after half helped. That defend-every-blade-of-grass-even-on-the-road defense helped most of all.
I’m traveling today so brevity will be the mother of necessity. (Apologies for the Witherspoonerism.) Let’s hop in the DeLorean right quick and revisit those two middle two quarters. ‘Cause that’s where all the shit happened, good and bad. Have you met the Seahawks?
After a first quarter full of punts instead of points, featuring an improbable 3rd and 16 conversion on the ground from Charbs, an intentional grounding that led to 3rd and 30, and only 18 yards of offense for the Panthers on three possessions, it looked like maybe drive three might unlock things. First Ken Walker pounced for 11, then Rashid Shaheed got open to the sideline for eight more*, and Charbonnet found a first down up the middle. But the drive stalled there when Mike Jackson blew up a Jaxon Smith-Njigba screen with the same ferocity that had just knocked Shaheed out of the game with a concussion. Punt time after all.
*eight very costly yards indeed.
A rare Michael Dickson mishit meant Carolina would start at their own 25, except that Uchenna Nwosu was not having it. He’d already tipped a pass and rushed Young into a terrible overthrow (called DPI, more on that soon enough), but his biggest contribution came with a third-down TFL that brought up an obvious go-for-it situation in Seahawks territory. Which the Panthers did, only to line up offsides and lose possession.
Yes, Carolina had finally moved the ball a little, but to get even the littlest flare of mojo, they’d needed a favorable spot on fourth down and an extremely ticky-tack call on Devon Witherspoon defending an uncatchable heave. We’re 23 minutes in and the entire scoring summary is one Jason Myers field goal.
Gifted a chance to take control of the game, Seattle made its first grave-ish error of the day: Darnold dared to throw a forward pass. If you can believe it, the clip below was confirmed as a fumble after review. The broadcast tried to explain it with some nonsense about the ball coming loose before Darnold’s arm started its forward motion. No replay shows this.
The defense held, allowing a mere field goal, and although every break had seemingly broken against the Seahawks, the game remained deadlocked at three apiece. With a two-minute possession in their sights and the second half kickoff in their pocket, they embarked on what would’ve been another signature double-dip, halftime-hugging pair of scores. Four positive plays later, Seattle had 1st and 10 at the Carolina 48 despite this somehow not being a face-mask OR horse-collar.
If it’s called properly, that’s field goal range. Two plays later, this bounce off Kupp’s hands right to a Panthers defensive lineman was originally ruled an interception. Yes it’s the wrong call in real time, but notice that Derrick Brown might’ve held on if not for Jalen Sundell’s precision laser swat:
Given new life after a series of unfortunate events and barely explicable officiating blunders, surely the Seahawks would capitalize? Or, Walker would fumble a dubious reception in the flat and recover at the sticks. This near-blunder forced Macdonald to call a timeout and risk a review, or run a quick QB sneak on fourth and one. Macdonald chose the former, Darnold was stuffed, replays were inconclusive, and the most frustrating second quarter of the year closed to what we can only assume were well-rehearsed sighs of frustration across the Pacific Northwest. And anywhere people enjoy clean football.
At half, the Seattle running game was working: 15 attempts for 81 yards. Working better than Darnold, whose 8-14-56-0-0 line tells the story as good as any quarterback line ever could. Setbacks aside though, it felt like the kind of game where one good turn of fortune would breach the dam of vexation, and wouldn’t you know it, in the third quarter the Seahawks beat the Panths off their opponent.
The first good break? Poor kickoff execution placed Seattle at their own 40. 10 yards to A.J. Barner and a Charbonnet explosive good for 29 more put the visitors into scoring position. After a smart throwaway by Darnold on first down, a less smart decision materialized: lofting it into the left corner of the end zone for JSN to snatch it over Jackson. The opposite of that happened. Jackson bodied his former teammate out of the way, boxed him out Xavier McDaniel-style, and juuuuuuuust plunked a shin down in bounds to complete the end zone takeaway.
Enter the savior of mankind, if savior can be defined as “impactful free agent acquisition” and mankind as “your Seahawks.” Behold, the advent of DeMarcus Lawrence.
The Seahawks looked poised to settle for three points off the turnover until Darnold found Barner for 16 yards on third down. With a first-and-goal situation inside the five, Klint Kubiak did not get cute. Charbonnet up the middle thrice. You cannot argue with success.
The Panthers held on to the ball for two more plays this time, waiting until third down to throw it directly into Julian Love’s handsome hands.
Three Seahawks rushes (this team runs more than any in the NFL and they’re 13-3. The year is 2025. As a nerd, I say, down with the nerds.) later it was Barner time again. Darnold rolled right in the boot, Kupp hung around to lay a solid block on an unsuspecting DB, and the big tight end frisked into the promised land. 17-3 and the Panthers are dancing on the knife’s edge.
Seattle didn’t find the end zone for the first 36 minutes. Then they did twice, three minutes apart. Felt like it might be the game if the defense maintained its fury. They maintained their fury. Carolina’s too-late response possession ended with seven points, but it also erased seven minutes of precious game time. You can score against these Seahawks, but if you don’t get a single explosive you’re digging your own grave. Coupled with the following eight-minute field goal drive that put Seattle up 20-10, a full quarter of time disappeared without Carolina improving their win probability.
That brings us full circle to Charbonnet’s second touchdown, the true clincher. Send him a fruit basket if he won you a fantasy championship. The Panthers never got another first down, Young was left to lick his wounds after 40 net yards passing on 16 dropbacks, and both teams’ coaches surely started prepping for Week 18 before the clock hit zeroes.
Summarized in a short paragraph, the truth is, the Panthers were able to stay in this one for a while. As long as the turnovers and 50-50 calls were uneven in their favor, the game remained even. But as soon as the turnovers and 50-50 calls evened out, the game did not.
The victory was Seattle’s seventh by two touchdowns or more. The Seahawks have beaten five probable playoff teams and eight teams .500 or better. They have the best point differential in all of football by 23 points.
The section below will list some predators, but right now the entire team is circling unsuspecting fish in Lake Washington, picking a moment in the game to dive, and coming home with dinner.
PREDATOR
Uchenna Nwosu wrecked one drive by himself, Carolina’s third. A tipped pass, a TFL and a QB hit. This line is so deep when he’s healthy.
PREDATOR
You’ll already have guessed DeMarcus Lawrence. For the forced fumble he tried to sell into a touchdown return, of course, but also this sack that snuffed out the last sliver of a sliver of a chance the Panthers had late in the game.
PREDATOR
Mike Jackson, who produced an end zone pick, made 11 total tackles, played on the edge of dirty, and became Exhibit Number Infinity in proving revenge games are real.
PREDATOR
Julian Love. Got a pick. Two critical open-field tackles as well. He looks fresh.
Is there anything cooler to watch than when an entire defense shifts direction once they know the ball is theirs?
PREDATOR
You didn’t think I’d leave Zach Charbonnet off this list, did you? I love me some Kenneth Walker, and he was the offensive player of the game against the Rams, but there’s something inevitable about Charbonnet in the red zone. And you know what? It’s okay for one of them to be the ground weapon of choice one week, then the other the next. It’s called an embarrassment of riches. Look it up.
PREY
Jaxon Smith-Njigba goes here. No, not prey from a performance standpoint, but physically. The entire Panthers defense seemed determined to get in his head and dare the officials to call a foul on every play. (The LOB’s influence will never die.) And yet like a true predator, JSN bounced up when attacked, played through constant harassment, and didn’t whine like a little [never mind] when those beneath him went unpunished for their misdeeds. Okay screw it, he’s a predator like usual. Forget this paragraph even happened.
PREY
Bryce Young. For what feels like the 16th time in 16 games, the pressure upon a Seahawks-facing quarterback was constant, violent, unceasing, open your thesaurus. 16 dropbacks yielded 40 yards. The two sacks and five QB hits don’t relate how uncomfortable his afternoon was.
The two bookends to the Seahawks most exciting season in a decade just happen be be Niners games. I think I’d take 17 points allowed again. And the game coming down to a prayer in the end zone with Riq Woolen in coverage. And a win. I’d take a win. If the Hawks are to go, let us go with them.
Category: General Sports