5 takeaways from Seahawks’ gritty 17-9 victory over Eagles

The Seattle Seahawks (9-2) defeated the Philadelphia Eagles (5-6) on the road by a score of 17-9 in a game filled with turnovers and incompetent offense.

The Seattle Seahawks (9-2) defeated the Philadelphia Eagles (5-6) on the road by a score of 17-9 in a game filled with turnovers and incompetent offense. Seattle secured a winning record for the eighth consecutive season and can take the division lead if the San Francisco 49ers (9-1) lose to the Green Bay Packers (8-2) on Sunday night. Here are five takeaways from the game.

Defense holds firm and totals five turnovers

The defense had a solid day even without Jadeveon Clowney, limiting the Eagles offense on Sunday. In addition, they had five total turnovers that were crucial to that accomplishment, often setting Seattle up in field goal range. The tackling was generally strong and the defensive backs mostly provided great coverage on their respective assignments, notching two interceptions off of Carson Wentz. They gave the offense multiple opportunities to put points on the board. However…

Missed opportunities on offense

The offense failed to capitalize on most of the chances given to them by the defense. Wide receiver DK Metcalf had three drops, including a brutal one on a surefire touchdown pass from Russell Wilson. After Quinton Jefferson recovered a fumble and took it deep into Philadelphia territory, the Seahawks turned a first and 10 into a first and 20 with back-to-back false start and delay of game penalties. This turned into a third and 25, leading Wilson to throw his third interception of the season. They did enough to win the game, but the missed opportunities were plentiful and Seattle cannot afford them later in the season.

Rashaad Penny shows improvement

Penny had his best game in quite some time, recording 129 rushing yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. That TD came on the longest run of his career, a 58-yard run. It was also the longest rushing score for Seattle in the past three years. After being outshone by Chris Carson for most of the season, Penny came through when his team needed him to. This game could be a momentum shift in the season for the much-maligned second-year running back, and he will likely receive more carries going forward. Seattle could certainly use bigger contributions from Penny, so hopefully he builds on this.

Chris Carson fumbles twice in a row

Carson had a pair of egregious fumbles on back-to-back plays, the second of which Philadelphia recovered. The second one may have been attributed to Wilson as a botched handoff, but Carson was still at least partially to blame for not securing it. His ball-security issues continue to hamper the Seahawks offense. On top of that, he only had 26 rushing yards on eight carries. This, combined with Penny’s solid day, could give Carson less playing time for the remainder of the season.

Russell Wilson turns in a hot-and-cold performance

Wilson completed 13 of 25 passes for 200 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was the victim of a few unfortunate drops, most prominently by Metcalf. However, it was not the best game by Wilson’s lofty standards. His interception was a bounce to Rodney McLeod off a solid play by Ronald Darby. His touchdown pass to Malik Turner off a trick play was a thing of beauty, but he took quite a few sacks in crucial moments and his 75.4 passer rating is his lowest since the Seahawks’ Week 7 loss to the Baltimore. In the end, Wilson did enough to win and his performance shows how high his standards have become after largely playing at an MVP-caliber level through the first ten games.

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Key takeaways from first half of Chiefs vs. Chargers

These things stood out in the first half of the contest between the Chiefs and Chargers.

Most fans will tell you that this has been a strange game so far.

Everyone expected both teams to come out and execute at a high level on offense but mistakes have plagued both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers. The Estadio Azteca field is falling apart on the players as they play on it, which is very uncharacteristic of an NFL quality playing surface. The scoring is extremely low with less than 20 points between the two teams and the Chiefs leading at halftime by a score of 10-9.

Here are some key takeaways from the first half of play:

Lack of offensive execution

This looked to be the first game where the Chiefs had their full complement of offensive personnel at their disposal. Unfortunately, the offense just hasn’t done a good job executing in the early goings of the game.

Mahomes has been unable to get anything going in the passing game. He completed just two passes in the first quarter and then his star wide receiver Tyreek Hill left the game with an injury. Hill’s absence has seemingly changed the gameplan for the Chiefs, but even before then they were struggling to find any consistency.

Mahomes even forced a deep ball and threw an uncharacteristic interception. That alone should tell you how out of sync the Kansas City offense has been so far in this game.

Defense stepping up

The story of the first half has been the opportunistic Chiefs defense. They’ve still struggled to stop the run and running backs in the passing game, but they’ve been forcing mistakes from Chargers QB Philip Rivers.

Kansas City forced two interceptions in the first half of the game. One came because of pressure from DE Frank Clark. He swatted Rivers’ hand and the ball came out funny and landed in the waiting arms of DT Derrick Nnadi. The offense was unable to capitalize on this one.

However, the next interception was just some great ball-hawking from safety Tyrann Mathieu. The following play LeSean McCoy got a carry and took it for a touchdown to give the Chiefs their first lead of the game. If the Chiefs can keep forcing turnovers they’ll definitely have an opportunity to come away with a win in Week 11.

Special teams still concerning

Special teams has really been no good for the Chiefs this season. It’s to the point where Dave Toub can’t defend how poorly they’ve executed at times. This game hasn’t exactly restored anyone’s faith in the Chiefs’ special teams.

Chris Jones had a post field goal attempt penalty that cost the Chiefs yardage. Later, the punt coverage unit had an opportunity to come up with a muffed punt and they just failed to capitalize even though they had four players in the area.

It just seems like mental mistakes are continuing to compound each other and cost the team valuable opportunities. At some point, it’ll come back and cost the Chiefs more than yardage or possessions in a game.

3 takeaways from Ravens’ Week 11 win over Texans

Are the Ravens the best team in the NFL? They certainly make a compelling argument.

The Baltimore Ravens continue to make arguments week after week as a powerhouse in the league and potential Super Bowl contender. The Houston Texans were no match for the home team as Baltimore took the lead early in the second quarter and never looked back.

Let’s look at three takeaways from the Ravens’ Week 11 win over the Texans.

1) The Ravens defense can stop anyone

In what was expected to be the rebuilt defense’s toughest challenge yet, this one wasn’t really even a contest. The Ravens set the tone early with a strip-sack of Deshaun Watson on the Texans’ first drive and, aside from some DeAndre Hopkins chain-movers early on, this game was a disaster for Houston’s offense.

The strength of Baltimore’s defense begins with its elite secondary. The Ravens were able to notch seven sacks on the day because of the outstanding play of its shutdown corners (the trio of Jimmy Smith, Marlon Humphrey, and Marcus Peters), forcing Watson to hold the ball far too long.

Aside from the outstanding play from the unit as a whole, the credit has to go to GM Eric DeCosta, whose midseason adjustments have turned this defense completely around. Paired with the way the league’s No. 1 offense is playing, the Ravens look virtually unstoppable.

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Fumbles and ball security sore spots in Seahawks win over 49ers

The Seattle Seahawks were able to escape the San Franciso 49ers Week 10 despite five fumbles – three for losses – Monday night.

The Seahawks were able to head home with a victory Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers, although it wasn’t always pretty. Seattle struggled with ball control throughout the game, posting three lost fumbles for a total of five fumbles throughout the contest.

Wide receiver DK Metcalf and running back Rashaad Penny both turned over the ball but San Francisco was unable to capitalize on the takeaways. Tackle Germain Ifedi, however, originally recovered a Russell Wilson fumble on a play before his own lost ball and had to watch the 49ers score a defensive touchdown as a result.

“We did a terrible job taking care of the football tonight, a miserable job,” coach Pete Carroll told reporters. “I don’t even recognize us when the ball is flopping around like that. We got a lot of work to do. We won’t win if we keep doing this. We have to take care of the football better than that.”

Carroll has always preached ball security but the concepts were lost on Seattle Monday night. For a team with the fewest turnovers in the league last season, it was difficult to watch at times.

There was one shining moment in the turnover battle when center Joey Hunt was able to save a Chris Carson fumble.

“It was a miserable night there, but one of the great plays of the night was Joey Hunt’s fumble recovery,” Carroll said. “You guys don’t make a big deal about that. Joey laid out, slid into it, cut it up just the way he’s supposed to. It was a huge play for us, because we come back and score after that. I think it was, we wound up second and 11 and we still overcame it, so a big play.”

Seattle has a bye week before facing the Eagles Nov. 24 and you bet ball security will be a point of emphasis when the Seahawks return to practice next Monday.

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5 takeaways from Seahawks’ thrilling 27-24 OT win over 49ers

The Seattle Seahawks defeated the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers with a statement victory. Here are five takeaways from the game.

The Seattle Seahawks (8-2) defeated the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers (8-1) on the road in overtime as the clock expired, obtaining perhaps their most important victory of the season. They now head into their bye week in the thick of the NFC West race. Here are five takeaways from Monday’s game.

The defense stepped up and showed drastic improvement at times

The Seahawks consistently got to the quarterback for seemingly the first time all year, in perhaps their most crucial game of the season. After surrendering 10 unanswered points to begin the game, the defense stiffened up and made plays in key moments. Jarran Reed strip-sacked Jimmy Garoppolo and Jadeveon Clowney recovered the ball, returning it for his second touchdown of the season and putting Seattle on the board. Quandre Diggs had a key interception off a pass that deflected off Kendrick Bourne’s hands and set up Seattle’s second touchdown to take a 14-10 lead. The defense also did enough in overtime to stop the 49ers offense and force a field goal try, which Chase McLaughlin shanked badly. However . . .

The defense dropped interceptions that could have sealed the game in regulation

On the 49ers’ final drive before overtime, Tre Flowers dropped an interception off another deflection by Bourne, bobbling it but failing to come up with the ball. Garoppolo then threw a ball directly to K.J. Wright, but he also failed to catch it. The ball to Flowers was tough to corral, but the pass to Wright was thrown right to him, and he could have sealed the game for Seattle right then and there.

Crucial fumbles and takeaways galore

Both offenses routinely had the ball stripped, and two of these fumbles were returned for touchdowns. In addition to Clowney’s fumble recovery for a TD, 49ers defensive end DeForest Buckner scooped up a fumble by Germain Ifedi after a fumble by Russell Wilson, returning it for a touchdown that San Francisco would put an exclamation mark on with a two-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 21-18. Clowney also had a strip-sack of his own, with Poona Ford recovering to set up a rushing TD by Chris Carson (who also had a fumble before the Seahawks’ second TD) to make the score 21-10 in favor of the Seahawks. Speaking of key fumbles . . .

DK Metcalf’s red zone fumble before halftime was costly

With just over a minute to go before the half, Wilson completed a pass to Metcalf. The rookie second-round pick tried to power his way through to the end zone, fighting through tacklers along the sideline. As Metcalf spun inside the 5-yard line, 49ers defensive back Jaquiski Tartt stripped the ball from Metcalf at the 2. It was more of a great play by Tartt than a mistake by Metcalf, but a golden opportunity to score was squandered.

Sweet redemption for Myers

After nearly costing the Seahawks the game against Tampa Bay last week with two misses, one of which came as regulation expired, Myers made two clutch field goals. His first was a 46-yarder that gave Seattle a 24-21 lead with 1:45 in regulation, and his second was the game-winning 42-yarder that went just inside the right upright after Kyle Shanahan nullified Myers’ first attempt (which he also made) by burning his final timeout. There were many fans wondering if Myers should have been cut after last week, and some outright clamoring for it. It’s safe to say he got redemption in Santa Clara.

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4 big takeaways from Saints’ 26-9 loss to the Falcons

The New Orleans Saints put up a disappointing performance in their Week 10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, showing a concerning lack of depth.

There wasn’t much to feel good about for New Orleans Saints fans, after their team got bulldozed by the Atlanta Falcons in a surprising upset on Sunday. Saints quarterback Drew Brees was sacked six times (tying his career-worst total for a single game), and coach Sean Payton frowned in disappointment on the sideline as his team slipped and fell all over themselves throughout the afternoon.

Still, there’s plenty to learn from it. Here’s what we picked up on when reviewing the game, hopefully giving an idea of what the Saints can correct moving forward. Their rematch with Atlanta (in prime time, on Thanksgiving) is just a few weeks away. They don’t exactly have much time to let this one linger, even if it was an embarrassing loss to a division rival.

The plan to use Alvin Kamara wasn’t up to snuff

The good news: Kamara went 8-for-10 as a receiver, picking up 50 yards. The bad news: his worst rep of the day came on the opening drive, in which Kamara slipped and fell on the Superdome turf. It was a designed pass to him on a route out of the backfield and the right call against Atlanta’s defense — the closest defender was in poor position to stop him before Kamara would have reached the end zone. Instead, Brees had to take a sack on third down and force New Orleans to settle for three points instead of seven.

There’s no way the Saints were going to ask Kamara to handle fifteen or more rushing attempts in his first game back from injury, but four carries (and 11 as a team) was pitiful. The Saints have run too well lately to call 51 dropbacks for Brees against just 11 runs. This was an example of Payton at his worst, allowing himself to get one-dimensional and over-reliant on his passing attack in a game that was close for three quarters. There’s no excuse for him to have abandoned the run so early.

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