Rapid Reaction: Seahawks Survive Chargers Comeback Attempt, Own Mistakes in 30-23 Victory

SEATTLE, Wash. - Though the home team made things far more interesting late than they would have preferred, the Seattle Seahawks sealed a 30-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers with a Uchenna Nwosu strip sack on Justin Herbert, improving to 3-1 on the season.

Recovering from an interception on his first pass attempt, Sam Darnold threw for 168 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Emanuel Wilson and Tory Horton, while Wilson and Rashid Shaheed each scored touchdowns on the ground to pace Seattle’s offense. Linebackers Drake Thomas and Ernest Jones each intercepted Herbert once and four different players sacked the quarterback as the defense coaxed three turnovers and held off a late comeback by Los Angeles in the closing minute with Nwosu’s critical sack.

Here are five takeaways from a bizarre, flag-filled victory for the Seahawks at Lumen Field:

1. Flurry of early turnovers in frenzied first half ends up favoring Seahawks to build commanding advantage.

The first minute of action on Sunday made history, though not necessarily the kind of history Sam Darnold or Justin Herbert would like to have their names linked to. On the first play from scrimmage, Herbert locked in on a receiver and didn’t see Thomas dropping back into his zone hook, and after initially not catching the ball cleanly, he regathered it off the deflection for a crowd-satisfying interception in L.A. territory. But before the defenders could even get their helmets off, Darnold turned the ball immediately back to the visitors as he and Wilson weren’t on the same page and his first pass sailed into the hands of defensive end Tuli Tuipolotu for the interception. The Chargers used two first down conversions to get into field goal range and took a 3-0 lead on Cameron Dicker’s 40-yard kick.