Takeaways from Seattle Seahawks 34-14 win over Falcons
ATLANTA, GA OCTOBER 20: Seattle defensive end Dre'Mont Jones (55) sacks Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) during the NFL game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Atlanta Falcons on October 20th, 2024 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks snapped their three-game losing streak with a well-rounded performance in a 34-14 romp over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Ken Walker III fought through illness to score two touchdowns, Geno Smith tossed a pair of touchdowns, and the defense forced three turnovers, including Derick Hall's 64-yard fumble return touchdown.
"Our guys are determined," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "We grew as a football team this week, and now we have to keep it going. We've got to keep stacking these days, keep stacking our prep, take what we need to learn from this game and keep moving forward. It's still early in the season, but it's great to get back in the game for sure."
The Seahawks had lost the turnover battle in each of their three losses to the Detroit Lions, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers. On Sunday, the defense forced turnovers on three consecutive drives in the fourth quarter to end any chances of an Atlanta rally.
While it wasn't a performance clear of blemishes for the defense, the turnovers went a long way toward shining up the effort. Seattle was down three conerbacks in Riq Wollen, Tre Brown and Artie Burns, and without safety Rayshawn Jenkins as well, and still kept the Falcons under 20 points.
DK Metcalf had another big day with 99 yards and a touchdown on four receptions, but he left the game with a knee injury that is concerning at least in the short-term for Seattle.
A big test awaits next week as the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills come to Lumen Field. The Seahawks will feel much better about entering that matchup coming off a win this week.
Here are the takeaways from the victory over the Falcons:
– Geno Smith, Ken Walker III, DK Metcalf lead the way as offense recaptures form.
Ken Walker III was added to the injury report on Saturday, listed as questionable to play due to an illness.
You wouldn't have known if you just watched his performance on Sunday.
Walker rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, and caught two passes for 24 yards and a score. Both touchdowns were key to stretching Seattle's lead and forcing the Falcons to stay heavily in chase mode.
Oh, and it was his birthday as well.
"Yeah, he was sick today, two touchdowns on his birthday. That was sick, man," quarterback Geno Smith joked.
"I thought he did a great job. Obviously, he was under the weather. A little bit of his flu game today on his birthday. I think that's spectacular."
Walker's 20-yard touchdown run gave the Seahawks a 10-0 lead, and his 17-yard touchdown catch made it a 24-14 game.
"I don't think it ever got to the point where we said that he wasn't going to go, but I know he wasn't feeling well," Macdonald said. "Tried to get fluids in him. I thought he played incredibly hard. For what was blocked on the touchdown run, the cutback, and then the touchdown catch was just a dynamite play. It was a heck of a throw by Geno as well, but it was two guys working together on that one."
Smith was sharp as well, throwing for 207 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 18-of-28 passes and was sacked just once.
"I thought Geno played a great game," Macdonald said. "He was poised and delivered the ball on time. On the extended play stuff, the scramble to find Noah [Fant] when we were trying to respond there, and it was a heck of a play. The couple of touchdown passes were great throws as well."
As Macdonald noted, the play to Fant where Smith avoided pressure in the pocket to find Fant for a key third down conversion and a 28-yard pick-up was one of his best plays of the game. It also set up Walker's 20-yard touchdown run two plays later.
"I thought [Ryan] Grubb called a great game today," Smith said. "I thought the balance was there. Obviously, like I said, we were able to pass the ball when we needed to, and we were able to run the ball when we needed to, and that's complementary football. That's what it takes in this league."
Arguably the play of the game came in the closing seconds of the first half when Smith hit DK Metcalf for a 31-yard touchdown with just four seconds left.
Seattle had no timeouts left as they had to burn their last one to negate a time run-off for Smith intentional grounding penalty. Even with the restriction of being unable to use the middle of the field due to the lack of time remaining with only 10 seconds left before the break, the Falcons allowed Metcalf to split the defense down the middle of the field between the safeties as Smith delivered a perfect ball for the score.
"Grubb has to put that confidence in me to understand the situation and get the ball out on time," Smith said. "Those are things that we practice. We practice those a bunch. We look for the situations and the moments to take advantage of them, and we had an opportunity. I thought the protection was great. D.K. [Metcalf] ran a great route, and we were able to get in."
While it was a colossal error by the Atlanta defense, the Seahawks still had to execute to take advantage of the mistake. Metcalf's route pressed that he was breaking to the corner before turning back to the post with Smith ripping the throw on time.
"It was great preparation by our offensive staff and faith in our guys," Macdonald said. "We felt like we had enough time to go ahead and make that play call. If it was incomplete, we felt like we were still in range. We were staying aggressive."
Metcalf left the game in the second half after landing awkwardly on a tough play along the sidelines. Macdonald said after the game that Metcalf "banged his knee a little bit."
"Not sure of the severity. We're optimistic at this point, so it doesn't look too bad," he said.
Metcalf has 35 receptions for 568 yards and three touchdowns in seven games this season for Seattle. While any missed time would certain affect his chances, Metcalf is currently on pace to break his own team record for receiving yards in a season. Metcalf's 1,303 yards in 2020 is the most in franchise history. He's currently on pace for 1,379 yards this year, though there is one more game in the regular season than there was in 2020.
– Boye Mafe, Derick Hall, Devon Witherspoon combine for key defensive score.
A trio of young Seattle defenders teamed up to deliver the clinching score for the Seahawks.
Early in the fourth quarter, Boye Mafe sacked Kirk Cousins and forced a fumble that was scooped by Derick Hall. As Hall raced up the sidelines toward the end zone, Devon Witherspoon flew back up field to deliver a key block on former Washington Husky Kaleb McGary to clear the path for Hall on a 64-yard touchdown.
The score gave Seattle a 31-14 lead that was more than enough to seal away the victory.
"That's something that we always practice is the scoop-and-score," Hall said. "Obviously give credit to Boye being able to get there, get home and get the ball off of him. The game rewards effort, so just being in the area, running to the ball, and the main thing is just don't miss the scoop, because I knew there was so much green grass. That was the biggest thing."
It was three upcoming stars for Seattle combining to ensure the team’s three-game slide would come to an end in Atlanta. It was one of three turnovers created by the Seahawks’ defense on the day, which had been a struggle throughout the losing streak. Seattle lost the turnover battle in each of their three losses to the Detroit Lions, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers.
"It's probably the single-handedly, biggest thing that hurt our football team," Macdonald said after the 49ers loss about the turnover problems. "We have to take care of the ball better. Practice it better. You get what you emphasize and apparently we're not emphasizing that enough. Shoot, that's my responsibility,"
The three turnovers came on three consecutive drives for Atlanta. Julian Love intercepted Kirk Cousins on a throw that went through the hands of Drake London, and Coby Bryant notched his first career interception on an overthrow of Kyle Pitts.
Hall’s fumble return touchdown is the second of the year for Seattle. Rayshawn Jenkins had a franchise-record 102-yard fumble return touchdown against the Giants just two weeks ago. They were the first fumble returns for scores for the Seahawks since Jadeveon Clowney had a scoop-and-score against the 49ers in 2019. Additionally, Cousins had a previous fumble on a sack that resulted in a fumble return for Seattle in 2018 while playing for the Minnesota Vikings. Jacob Martin had a strip-sack that was returned for a touchdown by Justin Coleman.
The defense did allow Bijan Robinson to rush for 102 yards on 21 carries as run defense continues to be a problem area. But for Seattle's defense to play fairly well with Bryant at safety in place of Jenkins, and Josh Jobe and rookie Nehemiah Pritchett getting the start at cornerback due to the injuries to Woolen, Brown and Burns, it was a pretty strong showing overall.
– Rookie Michael Jerrell plays well in first start at right tackle.
Sixth-round pick Michael Jerrell made his first start as the Seahawks were down to their fourth-string option at right tackle for Sunday's game in Atlanta.
However, Jerrell rose to the occasion and seemingly played well in his first action this season.
"I thought Mike played great," Macdonald said. "I was excited to see him play and proud of him, guys had his back. Welcome to the NFL, rook."
Abe Lucas remains on the physically unable to perform list while rehabbing a knee injury, George Fant is on injured reserve with a knee injury of his own, and Stone Forsythe was ruled out this week due to a hand injury. That put Jerrell into the lineup with fellow rookie Jalen Sundell in a backup role at the spot.
Smith was sacked just once in the game with six total quarterback hits from the Falcons' defense. Jerrell didn't appear to be struggling in his assignments as he seemed more than up to the task.
"How about Mike Jerrell stepping in?" Smith said. "Rookie sixth-rounder stepping in and playing some big-time football today. I thought he did a great job.
"He's been doing great things in practice, and so he was prepared for this moment. We just, you know, continue to breathe life into him, let him know, 'hey, you're ready for this. You're going to go out there, you're going to play excellent."
Macdonald said Fant could return to practice this week with Forsythe's status less certain. However, Jerrell played well enough against the Falcons to show he's deserving of another chance.
"First start, kind of getting thrown into the fire. I think he did a really good job of just staying composed, staying in the right mindset, knowing that it's not going to be perfect. There's going to be places that we can continue to improve on. But I think he did a great job of of, you know, blocking, doing his thing, and composing himself out there, regardless of, you know, what was happening on the field."