Halftime Observations: Seahawks Take Control in Wacky First Half, Build 20-6 Lead vs. Chargers
SEATTLE, Wash. - In the aftermath of arguably the longest first quarter in the history of football, the Seattle Seahawks used a pair of touchdowns from Emanuel Wilson and a 28-yard rushing touchdown from Rashid Shaheed along with suffocating defense to take a 20-6 halftime lead over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Three quick observations from a wild, wild first two quarters at Lumen Field:
1. A wild start features two interceptions in two plays as Seahawks failed to capitalize on their turnover…
Protecting the football remains paramount for every NFL team, but Sunday’s battle featured a historic start that both quarterbacks quickly will want to forget. A sellout crowd erupted mere seconds into the action, as Justin Herbert telegraphed a throw over the middle and Thomas initially bobbled the ball off a deflection, managing to re-secure it for an interception before toppling to the ground. This set up the Seahawks with fantastic starting field position in opposing territory past midfield, providing a chance to score quick take an early lead.
However, Seattle didn’t have the ball any longer than Los Angeles on its first possession. Coming off a play fake, Darnold tried to squeeze a ball into Wilson coming out of the backfield, and the two weren’t on the same page with the running back not getting a good read tracking the football. The pass flew past him and right into the hands of defensive end Tuli Tuipulotu, who returned the interception five yards before being brought down. Converting a pair of first down passes after the second turnover, the Chargers turned that gift into three points on a 40-yard field goal from Cameron Dicker to take a 3-0 lead barely three minutes into the game.
2. The Chargers more than return the favor with a massive special teams miscue that Seahawks cashed in on.
Not responding favorably after the Chargers struck the scoreboard first, the Seahawks went three-and-out with a holding penalty pushing them back behind the sticks on first down and a 15-yard run by Emanuel Wilson not being enough to move the chains. An intentional grounding call against Darnold on third down pushed them back further and sent out Michael Dickson for his first punt, and he sent a booming punt into the bright fall sunshine.
Apparently, returner Derius Davis didn’t get a good view of the ball, as the punt bounced off of his chest and linebacker Connor O’Toole happened to be in the right place at the right time, falling on the loose ball at the Chargers 23-yard line for the recovery. Not wasting anytime off the second turnover in less than five minutes, Darnold dumped off a screen to Wilson, who followed great lead blocks by Jalen Sundell, Christian Haynes, and Cooper Kupp before leaping over the final defender between him and the goal line, tumbling into the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown to put the Seahawks in front 7-3.
3. Defense settles in, stands tall shutting down Bolts as Seahawks’ offense tacks on points late.
Right off the bat, the Seahawks kept a slumping Herbert uncomfortable with Thomas picking off his first pass attempt on the first play from scrimmage. Coach Mike Macdonald won’t be happy that the team gave up a couple of first downs off of Darnold’s ensuing pick, but bucking up to limit the Chargers to just three points after starting their second drive with excellent field position past the 50-yard line should be viewed as a massive win.
After that second drive, even as Darnold and the offense sputtered with four punts, Seattle forced five consecutive punts of its own defensively, including a quartet of three-and-outs. Herbert couldn’t get his feet set long enough to throw on several of Los Angeles’ third down opportunities, getting rocked by Byron Murphy II and Ernest Jones for two drive-ending sacks, having another third down pass fall well short of the intended target with Thomas hitting him as he tried to throw coming on the blitz. Those possessions netted a single first down and 34 total yards of offense, and the ‘Hawks finally capitalized with a seven-play, 65-yard drive capped off by Shaheed’s 28-yard scamper on a sweep out of the backfield.
Putting an exclamation point on the half, Herbert again made a horrible decision inside two minutes to play in the half, throwing an interception to Jones as if they were playing catch in the backyard. Two plays after the turnover, Wilson rumbled eight yards into the end zone to push the lead to 17 points, furthering their advantage and set to receive coming out of the break. Overall, the Seahawks allowed 92 yards of total offense for the half, with 26 of those coming on a late scramble by Herbert after the pass rush wasn’t quite able to get home for another sack. Unfortunately, a personal foul penalty on Nick Emmanwori gifted Dicker a shorter field goal in the final seconds to help the Chargers cut into the lead a bit before the break.
