Photo Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
Yesterday was another weird game for the Seattle Seahawks, and I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get tired of these. The Seahawks defeated the Carolina Panthers 27–10. Like many of our recent games, the offense started out slow and played pretty sloppy. But also like many of our recent games, the defense came to play.
This was a 3–3 game heading into halftime, which as a Seahawks fan made me a little nervous because it played right into the Panthers’ hands. Keeping games close into the second half had been a recipe for success for them. But despite an interception on their opening drive of the second half, the Seahawks started to move the ball. The defense forced a pair of turnovers, Zach Charbonnet rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns, and the Seahawks tied a franchise record by winning their 13th game of the season.
When I say this was a weird game, it really was weird from all sides. The Seahawks’ offense couldn’t get into a rhythm, and the officiating didn’t help at all. On a 3rd-and-5 in the second quarter, Sam Darnold had the ball knocked out of his hands on what looked like a forward pass. He then forced a fumble on the Panthers player who recovered it, but the Panthers pounced on the ball again to recover that fumble as well.
On Seattle’s ensuing drive, Darnold was ruled short on a quarterback sneak on 4th-and-1 after a chaotic third down, even though it appeared he picked up the first down. The referees also missed a bunch of calls, including a facemask on Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
The Seahawks tried to feed Smith-Njigba quite a bit, as he had 12 targets. He finished the game with nine catches for 72 yards. Seattle had a hard time establishing a deep passing game. Unfortunately, unless he has a record-breaking performance next week, the road to 2,000 yards and breaking Calvin Johnson’s single-season record won’t be happening.
After Kenneth Walker was the main catalyst on offense last week, Zach Charbonnet ran wild in Carolina. He took a toss on 3rd-and-15 for 25 yards and looked faster than ever before, playing with a new kind of confidence. It was his second career game rushing for over 100 yards, and his two touchdowns brought his total to 11 on the season. He became the first Seahawk since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to have double-digit rushing touchdowns in a season.
Even though the offense started out slow, the defense came to play. They held Bryce Young to just 54 passing yards; his longest completion was only eight yards. They sacked him twice, and Julian Love added an interception. Even though Young ran in for a touchdown, the Seahawks’ defense didn’t really give the Panthers much on offense.
The Panthers cut the deficit to 10 and had the Seahawks backed up facing a 3rd-and-21. Darnold dumped it off to JSN, and Jaycee Horn grabbed his facemask well short of the sticks, giving the Seahawks a fresh set of downs and killing all hopes of a Panthers comeback.
The Seahawks lost Rashid Shaheed to a concussion early in the game, and he did not return. Shaheed has been a huge spark plug for this offense since he was acquired, so if he misses any time, it would be costly for the Seahawks.
The Seahawks haven’t played a complete game in a while and have mainly been relying on their defense. The offense needs to pick things up if the Seahawks want to make a deep run. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Chicago Bears, setting up a matchup with the Seahawks on Saturday, where the winner will earn the number one seed and the NFC West title.
