Madness at Metlife: Seahawks dominate Giants in primetime for third win in a row
By Charles Hamaker
Newark, NJ – With their injury list already long, the Seattle Seahawks were almost cautious favorites to beat a New York Giants team that had come out of the gate sputtering, on Monday Night football. Though the first half was a tough one as Seattle worked to get their game going, the second half saw the Seahawks pull away in a big way as rookie cornerback and number five overall selection in this past year's draft, Devon Witherspoon, had his breakout game. Heading into their early bye week, Seattle will need the rest opportunity to heal up some notable players on their roster and regroup, ahead of the rest of their season where they will be tested heavily as they look to dethrone the San Francisco 49ers as the top team in the NFC West.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf catches the teams first touchdown of the game in their 24-3 victory over the New York Giants during Monday Night Football on October 2nd, 2023 (Photo by Al Bello)
Next man up is truly tested for Seattle’s offense
The Seahawks offense has already had to deal with its fair share of injury related news, including both starting tackles in Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas remaining out for this group, and that only continued in tonight’s contest. Seattle was essentially down to their last remaining healthy offensive lineman in this game against the Giants, for a decent amount of time, and still managed to handle the New York defense and have their way with them. Continuing with the theme of injuries, at one point starting quarterback Geno Smith had to come out of the game after being taken down awkwardly by linebacker Isaiah Simmons, forcing Drew lock into action and the Seahawks offense continued without skipping much of a beat.
As a whole, it was a balanced effort for the Seattle offense as lead rusher Kenneth Walker III had 79 yards on the ground while numerous pass catchers found their way onto the stat sheet, including tight end Noah Fant who broke off a 51-yard catch and run when Lock was in at quarterback. While many still stress about the production of first round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the Seahawks offense is finding its way without having to feature him heavily, so it’s just a matter of time before he’s helping torch defenses, but for now it’s still good to note that he’s able to find separation on his routes even if he isn’t being thrown the ball. While it would be nice to see your first-round selection wide receiver get the ball more and display the sort of playmaking and athleticism that you drafted him for, team success comes before force feeding the ball to one specific player.
Seattle Seahawks outside linebacker Boye Mafe reaches for New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones during the Seattle Seahawks 24-3 win over the New York Giants during Monday Night Football on October 2nd, 2023 (Photo by Al Bello)
Defensive dominance over Danny Dimes
Without starting left tackle Andrew Thomas and star running back Saquon Barkley, the New York Giants offense was set up for failure against a Seahawks defense that has been finding their groove early, the opposite of what they did last year. As the game progressed, Seattle’s front seven terrorized the Giants line so much that the Seahawks recorded a franchise record eleven sacks of New York quarterback Daniel Jones on the night. Similar to the Seahawks in this regard, the Giants offensive line saw injuries stack up that ultimately proved to be too much to overcome and Seattle was able to run away with the game. While New York saw some early success against the Seahawks defensive unit in terms of moving the ball, all the Giants were able to muster over the course of this game was a Graham Gano field goal in the second quarter.
New York’s possessions went in this order: Downs, punt, fumble, punt, field goal, punt, punt, interception touchdown, punt, interception, downs, and then the end of the game. The Giants offense gained more first downs, had more plays and drives than the Seahawks, but could only put up a horrible three points against a Seattle defense that terrorized them under the primetime lights. The Seahawk front seven, with the help of the occasional defensive back sent on a blitz, was a buzzsaw against the New York makeshift offensive line and quickly into the second half, this game became a doozy.
Injury laden victory
Over the course of this Monday Night Football game against the New York Giants, the Seahawks had five different players leave the game at some point due to injury, on top of the fact that they were down three starting cornerbacks and fullback/special teamer Nick Bellore. Just a few minutes into his first game in nearly two years, strong safety Jamal Adams had to leave the contest due to a concussion. Offensive guards Phil Haynes (Calf) and Damien Lewis (Ankle) were unable to continue the game. As previously mentioned, Geno Smith had a knee injury hold him out for a short period of time. Lastly, nose tackle Jarran Reed had to step out of the game late into the contest due to a shin injury. While Seattle was able to survive the contest without these players and continue to dominate for the win, that same sort of result isn’t certain going forward, and that could be evident in the team's first contest following their bye week, when they travel to Cincinnati for a showdown with a Bengals team looking to turn their season around.
Quick notes
The announced attendance at MetLife stadium for this iteration of the Seattle Seahawks at the New York Giants was 78,507
With an audience of 16,618,000 viewers, the Seahawks-Giants Monday Night Football game was the best MNF Week 4 game in 14 years (2009). The audience peaked at 19.7 million viewers late in the first half (6:30 – 6:45 p.m. PT).
Since sacks became an official statistic in 1982, Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon was the 27th player with 2+ sacks and a pick-six in a regular season or postseason game, and just the third rookie to accomplish that feat (LB Andy Katzenmoyer, 1999; LB Todd Shell, 1984).
Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon’s 97-yard pick-six was the second-longest interception return in franchise history.
The Seahawks 11 sacks in this game ties the record for most in a single game (vs. L.A Raiders, 12/8/86).
What’s next?
Following their week four victory over the New York Giants in primetime, the Seahawks are going to get a break in an interesting part of their season. While traditionally an early bye week isn’t a good thing over the course of a long season, especially now with the added week to make it 17 games on the NFL season, considering the amount of ailments that Seattle is dealing with, they may prefer to have it now and get rested up throughout the main part of the regular season. Already dealing with a long injury report prior to this game beginning, the Seahawks are going to have numerous impact players trying to heal up for their next matchup, which takes place in week six of the NFL season, on the road. Seattle will face the Cincinnati Bengals, a team not far removed from a Super Bowl appearance, in a game that Joe Burrow’s team may consider must win, considering how their season is going. That game is a Sunday, October 15th contest with a kickoff time of 10AM PST and will be streamed on CBS.
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Cover photo by Al Bello
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