It’s hard to believe the Seattle Seahawks (10-3) were tied at halftime with the Atlanta Falcons (4-9). But that’s why there’s a 2nd half, and the Seahawks went into overdrive and officially eliminated
the Falcons from playoff contention.
What was a 6-6 game at the break became a 37-9 annihilation by the end of the fourth quarter. Sam Darnold overcame a shaky start, including a bad interception on 3rd and 1 in his own territory, to throw three touchdowns after halftime. Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught a pair of those scores, while Cooper Kupp got his second TD of the season. It was a surprisingly pass-heavy approach by Klint Kubiak that didn’t look like it was working early, but shined by the end.
Seattle’s special teams also showed up huge with Nick Emmanwori blocking a field goal following Darnold’s INT, while Rashid Shaheed opened the 2nd half with a 100-yard kick return for his first Seahawks touchdown.
The defense? Well, what more can be said? Emmanwori and Devon Witherspoon both recorded interceptions, Witherspoon recovered a critical Bijan Robinson fumble early in the third quarter, Emmanwori had Seattle’s only sack of Kirk Cousins, and the Seahawks did not allow a touchdown for the second consecutive week.
This team has played its fair share of bad opposition but they are crushing bad opposition like contenders should do.
1st Half
The Falcons started on offense in front of a pretty sparse crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Bijan Robinson touched the ball on four straight plays, including a couple of first downs via pass and run. Once he went out of the game, Atlanta gained zero yards on two Kirk Cousins throws and had to punt.
Seattle’s first drive ended in a three-and-out, and it could’ve been a lot worse had Sam Darnold not stepped up just in time to avoid getting sacked in the end zone for a safety. After getting dropped at the 1, Michael Dickson had to punt from his own end zone backline and Atlanta obviously had great field position. A play-action throw to Kyle Pitts put the Falcons in the red zone, but the drive stalled from there. Raheem Morris opted to have Zane Gonzalez kick a field goal instead of go for it on 4th and 3, which is alright with me. 3-0 Falcons.
The Seahawks’ lone first quarter score came after a 27-yard run by Zach Charbonnet, who jump cut inside and then broke outside for one of his longest runs of the season. Jaxon Smith-Njigba fumbled a would-be first down out of bounds, which set up 4th and 1, and the Falcons graciously jumped offside on the A.J. Barner tush push. A possible TD to JSN was out of bounds after a great play by A.J. Terrell, and Jason Myers came on to knot things up at 3-3.
In the second quarter, Sam Darnold threw his 11th interception of the season on a ridiculous 3rd and 1 decision into tight coverage. Mike Hughes caught the deflected pass for his first INT since 2021.
Thankfully, the Falcons had a -2 yard drive and Nick Emmanwori came through with a clutch block on Zane Gonzalez’s 50-yard field goal attempt.
Seattle’s offense continued to struggle, going three-and-out after this awesome play by the rookie. The Falcons had a chance to score before halftime and appeared to have a go-ahead touchdown to Darnell Mooney. However, the officials deemed Mooney to have stepped out of bounds and he did not re-establish himself back inbounds at the time he caught the touchdown. The end result was an incomplete pass and a field goal by Zane Gonzalez to make it 6-3 Falcons.
The Seahawks leveled things up at the half in a one-minute drill. Jason Myers hit from 48 yards out to make it 6-6 at the break. Seattle took themselves out of touchdown contention early by draining a ton of time off the clock on a 3rd and 1 sneak, but otherwise managed the actual goal of getting a field goal quite well.
2nd Half
BANG! Rashid Shaheed with a 100-yard kick return to the house! First touchdown as a Seahawk! 13-6 Seahawks.
The Falcons immediately marched into Seahawks territory through Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson. On 3rd and 1, Bijan carried for a first down but lost the ball after Jarran Reed knocked it loose with his clubbed hand. Devon Witherspoon had the recovery.
The Seahawks punished Atlanta to the fullest extent. Jaxon Smith-Njigba hit two explosive plays off of play action, and he smoked A.J. Terrell for a 28-yard touchdown. It’s the first touchdown Terrell has allowed all season. 20-6 Seahawks.
PICK! Next possession leads to another turnover. Devon Witherspoon was in tight coverage on Kyle Pitts, who couldn’t bring Kirk Cousins’ pass in. Nick Emmanwori was on the spot for his first career interception.
Seattle turned this into a field goal to make it 23-6 Seahawks.
The Falcons drove into the red zone again and despite a lot of success throughout the year in the red zone, they clearly didn’t have anything for the Seahawks defense. Atlanta kicked a field goal to cut it to 23-9 Seahawks to start the fourth quarter.
Atlanta was busy kicking field goals, the Seahawks offense was busy scoring touchdowns. The Falcons kicked the ball out of bounds, gifting the ball to Seattle at the 40. It took only six plays to pay off the short field with a Darnold touchdown to Cooper Kupp on a rub route. 30-9 Seahawks.
Did someone ask for another pick? Sure, maybe the Seahawks can ‘Spoon’ one out for you!
Another short field? Another touchdown. Great throw by Darnold in a tight window and with pressure in his face. JSN beat Terrell again for the final points of the game. 37-9 Seahawks.
Kirk Cousins and company had their own great field position inside midfield following a big kick return, only to squander many Seahawks penalties and stall out for a turnover on downs. Darnell Mooney couldn’t hang on for a garbage time TD, as Ty Okada broke the pass up. Seattle ran most of the remaining clock out, with Velus Jones Jr getting a 25-yard carry after getting that practice squad call-up. It was that kind of emphatic 2nd half mauling by the Seahawks.
Complete Box Score
Next week’s opponent
The Seahawks return home to take on the Indianapolis Colts (8-5), who have not only lost four out of five, they’ve also lost Daniel Jones to an Achilles injury and will likely turn to Riley Leonard quarterback next week. CBS has the kickoff at 1:25 pm PT on Sunday, Dec. 14.
