Takeaways: Seahawks Dominate Saints on Monday Night Football

By Jackson Safon

Your Seattle Seahawks just dismantled the number two team in the NFC. Absolutely dismantled them. The ‘Hawks were dominant in every phase of the game and the score reflected that, with Seattle winning 34-7. The Seahawks now jump even farther ahead in the race for the number one seed in the NFC and can clinch the NFC West with a win over the 49ers next week. Furthermore, the Seahawks are now the first team to clinch a playoff spot. I expected the ‘Hawks to win this game, but I never would have guessed it would've been in beat-down fashion like this one was.

1. Russell Wilson is perfect (or as close to it as an athlete can come)

The magician can do no wrong. Wilson closed this game with 47 rushing yards to go along with 22/30 for 310 yards and three touchdowns. He was flawless. Delivering every pass where it had to be from the dime down the left sideline to Baldwin to the laser, back shoulder throw to Kearse. Russell Wilson can do no wrong and it is all coming together at the right time. He finished with his second highest passing yardage total of the season, but it wasn’t just the total he amassed, but the way he did it. Wilson played with poise, tenacity, and the occasional flair as he added to his total of “Houdini’s” tonight. I’m not even sure if the city of Seattle deserves Russell Wilson, but we sure are glad to have him.

2. Best defensive effort of the season

The Seahawks held the third highest scoring offense in the NFL to seven points. Seven. And they held one of the top four quarterbacks in the NFL and the holder of the NFL record for most passing yards in a season to 147 yards. They also had constant pressure on Drew Brees and one of such occasions led to a sack-fumble that was returned for a touchdown. The two newbie’s combined on the play as Cliff Avril had the sack and Michael Bennett returned the fumble back for the touchdown. The defense held a team that averaged 415 yards a game to a mere 188. Byron Maxwell played outstanding. He has been a difference maker since taking over the number two cornerback role from Brandon Browner. He put in a great performance but he was not the only one. Earl Thomas played well, K.J. Wright played well, Clinton McDonald played well. Everyone played well. This was the best work the defense has done so far this season and I only expect it to improve.

Cliff Avril is one of the best defensive lineman in the league at strip sacks.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

3. Where was the run blocking

With the offensive line fully healthy for the second week in a row, the pass blocking was fantastic, but the run blocking was quite the opposite. The Saints defense is right in the middle of the pack in terms of run defense, and the Seahawks couldn’t get anything going in that department. The team rushed for 127 yards but only managed 3.3 yards per carry. Marshawn Lynch ran the ball for 16 times and only amassed 45 yards. Not a good day for the running game, but they were picked up by Wilson and the passing game.

4. The Seahawks are undoubtedly the best team in the league

Not only do the Seahawks have the best record, they have the highest rating in several advanced team statistics as well. These two things are enough for most people to rank them number one in the league, but the statement they made tonight is they pass the eye test as well. The Broncos and their offense is nice, but the Seahawks offense can match them point for point, and their stifling defense shut down one of the most prolific offenses in the league. No one is stopping this team. No one in the NFC is coming close to stopping this team at Century Link, which is where the path to the Super Bowl now goes. The Seahawks are Super Bowl bound and they absolutely have enough to win the whole thing.

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Wednesday Wanderings: Halloween Four Days Early in St. Louis, Husky Takes Down a Weak Golden Bear, Sounders Fans Sound Off

By Marshall Cherrington

Wednesday Wanderings is a weekly column written by Editor-in Chief and creator of the Sports Soup Network, Marshall Cherrington. He brings you all of his weekly thoughts pertaining to Seattle sports, and anything else for that matter.

Injuries, injuries, injuries. They’re killing the city of Seattle this week. Russell Wilson making a bad read in St. Louis led to him running to Sidney Rice’s side and having would-be-tacklers roll up on Rice’s knee, which caused his torn ACL. And then in the Huskies clobbering of Cal, Keith Price couldn’t get enough testosterone running through his body to throw a deep enough pass for Kasen Williams to run under it. Kasen had to come back for the ball, resulting in a jump-ball situation, resulting in a destroyed Kasen Williams foot. Not good, Keith and Russell. Apologies will be accepted later. And then I’ve got the injury bug (well maybe not the injury part) and can’t seem to sleep for a whole night without waking up. That’s why you’ll be reading a shorter version of Wednesday Wanderings this week.

Despite all of the injuries, every Seattle sports team came out unbeaten this week. Even though the game in St. Louis was ugly, the Seahawks somehow pulled it out. Even though everybody in the world, including every Cal fan out there, knew UW was going to destroy… well they destroyed anyways. Even though every Sounders fan was kicking themselves after tying the Galaxy on Sunday, the men in rave green just pulled out a gutty victory against the Colorado Rapids to make it into the Western Conference Semifinals for the billionth time. Here are my thoughts on the week that was in Seattle sports.

Heading into Monday night football, Seahawks fans were deprived of their team. It had been 10 days since the team had played last and fans thought the players felt the same way: hungry and ready to kill the Rams. But as we all saw, it just wasn’t this way. But I don’t think this was so much of the two skill levels of each team being so similar to one another. I think it’s because Jeff Fisher coaches like a freaking god against the Seahawks. The Rams have consistently been one of the Seahawks’ toughest opponents over the last few years, if not for the entirety of the franchise. Now I haven’t been around that long to know that fir sure, but I would not be surprised if the Rams did play this role.

The subtle smile that haunts the Seahawks every year.

USA Today

Instead of the 10 day lull being a motivator and chance to come out strong for the Seahawks, I think it got the Seahawks off of their routine more than anything else. Add in that the Rams didn’t have their starting quarterback at the helm and you have an opponent that the players think they are going to absolutely murder. Now coaching and everything should be good enough so the Seahawks don’t come into the game with that mindset, but apparently none of that worked.

Also, did the offensive line decide to pull out their smart phones during the game and watch the World Series game that was taking place at the same time a couple of blocks away? Man, technology these days. But really, where were these guys. The blocking was terrible. I get that the Rams defensive line is one of the best in the league, but NFL lineman should be able to at least step in front of at least one of these rushers. Russell Okung, the Seahawks can’t get you back quick enough. Do they have to use some of those crude recruiting tactics your alma mater used to get you back in a Seahawks jersey and on the field? All jokes, but seriously, the Seahawks need you back big time.
After watching the game, there is no doubt in my mind that the Seahawks should spend their first round pick in the upcoming draft on an offensive lineman. They key word in that sentence is should. They’ll probably end up drafting Johnny Manziel or some other random player at a position they already have Pro-Bowlers at. David Yankey out of Stanford seems like an intriguing prospect that Pete Carroll and John Schneider have most likely kept their eyes on over his career.

Regarding the Sidney Rice injury, maybe I called that. In my second Wednesday Wanderings column, I discussed how Rice was expendable and Jermaine Kearse would produce fine in Rice’s position. Well folks, it looks like we have that scenario on our hands now. Kearse might be just as fast, athletic, and definitely smart as Sidney Rice was at the wide out position. Even though I don’t think Kearse has the kind of hands Sidney does, he has improved a ton in that category and he should be able to replicate Sidney’s production. Trust me guys, the loss of Sidney Rice won’t hurt too badly. His statistics for his entire Seahawks career were similar to the statistics of like one of Calvin Johnson’s games (season, but who’s counting anyways).

Seahawks fans hope Kearse won't be a curse as a now starting wide receiver.

The Tacoma News Tribune

I would go in depth on the Huskies, but I’ll save that more for the next edition of Wednesday Wanderings since they have a bye week this weekend. What I can say though, is that the Huskies performance on Saturday was exceptional. They controlled all aspects of the game against a Pac-12 foe and even though the quality of the opponent was minimal, the Dawgs did what they needed to do: win and win big. It was so much fun to watch Sankey gash the Cal defense and even though I question why he goes east and west sometimes rather than north and south, he’s still one of my favorite players to watch in the Pac-12. Another one of those players? Brandin Cooks, wide receiver for Oregon State. Man is that guy electric and boy does he have great hands. I can’t wait to watch him against the Washington defense in the second to last week of the season. Should be a fun one and a must win for the Huskies.

I absolutely love everything about this picture. Beautiful jerseys, beautiful angle, probably a beautiful pass from Mannion and an even more beautiful run after the catch from Cooks.

Sports Illustrated

All has not been well in Sounders land and it seems like injuries on the field have resulted in injuries in the stands, because of all of the angry fans. Yeah, I rhyme about as well as Kendrick Lamar does. Anyways, I think the Sounders are stepping it up as of lately, meaning their past two games against LA and Colorado. The defense has shown improvement and even though Robbie Keane continues to haunt every Sounders’ fans dreams, the team played well against one of their arch rivals. The Sounders barely snuck into the playoffs, but showed why they belonged tonight against Colorado. Eddie Johnson’s nutmeg of the Rapids defender that led to a goal that sealed the game was one of the dirtiest moves I’ve seen since my days on the soccer pitch. In case you were wondering, I dominated rec soccer. Nobody could touch me.

That’s it for this week’s edition of Wednesday Wanderings. Jackson and I are getting together after school tomorrow so I can beat him down in Madden and so we can record a podcast, so make sure to look out for that. I’ll keep you updated on our Madden series as well. In my opinion, I’m the more skilled Madden player, but Jackson is 2-0 against me in Madden 25, with a combined margin of victory of three points. I lost on a last second field goal yesterday. And yes, it was as heartbreaking as it sounds. Until next time Seattle sports nation! Have a fabulous week, and don’t get to crazy tomorrow for Halloween. Best costume wins something TBA. Comment below with your outfits. Appreciate it!

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