By Khalid Bennett, The Seattle Medium
The Seattle Seahawks got it on under the lights for a primetime Monday Night Football match up against the New Orleans Saints. On a night when former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselback was being inducted into the Ring of Honor, Seattle was once again without their field general Russell Wilson for the second straight game. Backup quarterback Geno Smith would get his second start for Seattle as Wilson continues nurse a finger injury he suffered in their week 5 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Although Wilson has been a key factor to the success of the Seahawks over the past decade, the defense was always the strength of the team. That is up until the past two seasons when Seattle has given up a historical amount of yards in the first five weeks of the season. New Orleans came into the game with the top rushing defense in the NFC and Seattle is a team that loves running the football. Defensively, the Seahawks would need to shut down New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara, who has accounted for the bulk of the Saints offense throughout the early portion of the season.
The Seahawks were able to take advantage of the strength of the New Orleans defense in the first quarter when they scored the first points of the game. Seattle used a two tight end set to bring the New Orleans’ safeties closer to the line of scrimmage creating a one-on-one match up for wide receiver DK Metcalf down the sideline. Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith found Metcalf with the long ball for an 84-yard touchdown pass putting the Seahawks up 7-0 early in the first quarter. The Seahawks’ defense answered the call to action after coming into the game giving up a league worst 433 yard per game, as they were able to keep New Orleans to just 40 total yards in the first quarter.
New Orleans was able to get on the scoreboard in the second quarter after an 86-yard drive that took over 10 minutes off the clock. Even though the Seahawks were able to prevent New Orleans quarterback Jameis Winston from going downfield, a long 19 play drive ended in a field goal making the score 7-3 Seattle. However, on the drive the Saints found their answer on offense in Kamara. Kamara did what he’s done best throughout his career, which is putting pressure on the defense in the passing game. Winston was able to find his safety net on numerous occasions in the second half and he was able to find the end zone on a botched screen pass giving New Orleans a 10-7 lead going into the half.
In the third quarter, the Seahawks were able to hold the Saints on their first drive and the offense moved into field goal range with the help of a few penalties. The drive came up empty though as Seahawks’ kicker Jason Meyers missed a game tying field goal from 44 yards out. After having issues protecting Smith, the Seattle offense went back to trying to establish the running game. Running back Alex Collins found a little bit of success, but not enough for the Seahawk offense to keep the chains moving. Defensively, Seattle did their job to stop the run, but Kamara in the passing game continued to be a problem for them. Luckily the defense was able to force a turnover when linebacker Jordan Brooks scooped up a fumble caused by a defensive back Ugo Amani on the Saints 36-yard line that set up a 50-yard field goal by Meyers tying the game at 10 going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Smith began taking advantage of the one-on-one matchups that the Saints were giving them. In an attempt to stop the Seahawks’ run game, Smith found Metcalf on a big third down conversion and receiver Freddy Swain on another big pass play for 23 yards. A sack pushed Seattle back and forced them to attempt a 54-tard field goal that was wide left by Meyers, his second missed field goal of the day. With the score tied, New Orleans wanted to run down the clock and get the last possession to put them in a game winning situation. Considering that they had a drive earlier in the game that took over 10 minutes, the Seahawks’ defense had their work cut out for them to try and get the ball back to their offense with a chance to win the game. New Orleans took the 13 play drive all the way to the two-minute warning and finished it with a field goal to give the Saints a 13-10 lead with just under two minutes left in the game. With a chance to lead his team on a two-minute drive for the third time in a row, Smith took two sacks and had two incomplete passes that ended the game on a turnover on downs. Final score New Orleans 13, Seattle 10. The Seahawks drop to 2-5 on the season with their playoff hopes looking very bleak at this point. Next week Jacksonville comes into Lumen Field on Halloween as the Seahawks try to snap a 3-game winning streak.
