Despite being without four defensive starters, and losing Quandre Diggs for most of the second half, the Seattle Seahawks handled their business on both sides of the ball and earned themselves a 30-24 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
A 30-10 lead turned into a narrow 30-24 win after Seattle’s defense – without Bobby Wagner, who left the game with an ankle injury – gave up two touchdowns in the final five minutes of the game.
Regardless, the Seahawks finish the season with a 7-1 record on the road, including going 5-0 in 10:00 a.m. starts.
After not scoring a touchdown against the Rams last week, the Seahawks wasted no time putting six on the board, scoring on their opening drive after Chris Carson ran it in from 16 yards out. It was clear right from the get-go that Seattle would be able to gain yards on the ground all game long, with Carson gaining 47 rushing yards on the opening drive.
He finished with 24 carries for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
Seattle also did plenty of damage through the air, with Russell Wilson finding DK Metcalf on the following drive for a touchdown to go up 13-0. After a strong drive from the Panthers, led almost exclusively by Christian McCaffrey, the Seahawks scored again on a connection from Wilson to Tyler Lockett, giving them a 20-7 lead heading into halftime.
Things got interesting late in the third quarter when linebacker K.J. Wright picked off Kyle Allen for Seattle’s second interception of the game. The Seahawks gave it right back after trying a trick play with receiver Josh Gordon throwing a deep pass to Metcalf that was picked off by Tre Boston.
However, on the next play, Wright picked off Allen yet again for the third interception in five plays – and the second by Wright. Seattle got a field goal out of it, to go up 23-10.
Seattle nearly had an interception on a third consecutive drive, with Ugo Amadi appearing to pick off Allen and take it in for a touchdown, but replay review overturned the call after the ball bounced.
The fourth quarter saw Seattle let Carolina right back into the game, as the team’s makeshift defense (down six starters on the final few drives) couldn’t stop McCaffrey, D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel.
The loss of Diggs and Wagner is the major downside of this game, and as of this writing it is unclear what their status is for Week 16’s matchup with the Cardinals.
However, the good news is the Seahawks (11-3) will officially clinch a playoff spot if either the Vikings or Rams lose their games today against the Chargers and Cowboys, respectively.
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