Seahawks Win at New England: Look Out, NFL
By Ben Renner
The Seahawks proved themselves the scariest team in the NFL by beating the Patriots 31-24 at Foxborough on Sunday Night Football.
The Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 31-24 last night in Foxborough in a game that even the most optimistic Seahawks fans (including me) circled as a loss when schedules were released over the summer. The win put the Hawks at 6-2-1, firmly entrenched in first place in the NFC West and in position to at least take the two-seed in the NFC playoff picture.
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Before we get to the turning point of this game, let’s not forget how fortunate the Seahawks were in playoff positioning before the game in New England. The Panthers, Saints, Packers, Vikings, and Falcons all lost during the afternoon. Even though the Rams and Cardinals both won, they struggled to three-point victories against terrible teams. The Cards needed a last-second field goal to even their record. At home. Against the 49ers. Even before the Seahawks’ goal line stand in the fourth quarter, they were in good shape in the conference.
The game went back and forth for four quarters until the Seahawks put together an excellent offensive drive late in the game. Russell Wilson moved the ball effectively, rookie running back C.J. Prosise made a big impression, looking like Brian Westbrook at times, avoiding tackles and catching passes to total 153 yards from scrimmage on 17 rushing attempts and seven catches. The offensive line looked like a real, professional line for once, keeping Russell upright for the most part and routinely opening holes for Prosise.
The turning point occurred when newly-returned safety Kam Chancellor wrestled the ball away from Pats’ wide receiver Julian Edelman (who had picked up an inexplicable third-and-25 conversion earlier in the game). Richard Sherman recovered the fumble and set the Seahawks up to add to their one-point lead.
Wilson was clutch on the final drive and eventually hit Doug Baldwin for his third touchdown of the game (I had Baldwin on the bench on one of my fantasy teams; still won, though). Some Seahawks fans didn’t like Pete Carroll’s two-point attempt with the Hawks leading by seven, but if they had called, I don’t know, a good play for the conversion instead of a sloppy pass attempt, they would have gone up by nine and effectively ended the game. No need for a goal line stand.
But the conversion attempt failed and the Pats responded by marching down to the one-yard line. In a bizarre twist of fate, they found themselves in a nearly identical situation to the Seahawks in the Game That Will Not Be Named two years ago. Their pass from the one yard-line didn’t work out either on fourth down. The Hawks put the NFL on notice with the road win as a result.
Seattle will take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11 at CenturyLink Field next.