Seattle Seahawks make turkeys of themselves, Jets, win 26-21
By Jake Parr, edited by Charles Hamaker
East Rutherford, NJ - For the first time since the first three games of the current 2024-25 campaign, the Seattle Seahawks have won three games in a row. Today’s road win over the New York Jets was not pretty and it is sure to spark some intense discourse over officiating throughout the week, but it was a win. The game got off to a rocky start when the Jets scored back to back to back touchdowns after recovering a fumbled kick return by Seattle’s Dee Williams and a kick return touchdown by Kene Nwangwu
of the Jets. But an interception returned for a touchdown by Seattle defensive end Leonard Williams, two long field goals by veteran kicker Jason Myers, and touchdowns by rookie tight end AJ Barner and second year running back Zach Charbonnet gave Seattle just enough to secure the road win. In one of the most wild, bizarre contests in quite some time, the Seahawks pulled out a tight victory that showed a bit of their character that’s been on display during the current three-game win streak. With the way that the defense has performed, how the offense continues to show they aren’t playing at full speed, and with the momentum that Seattle is riding, the Seahawks look like they could be finding another gear at the right part of the season.
Seattle Seahawks rookie tight end AJ Barner celebrates with wide receiver Jake Bobo after scoring the teams first offensive touchdown of the game, a 12-yard connection with quarterback Geno Smith, during the first half of their eventual win over the New York Jets on Sunday, December 1st, 2024 at MetLife Stadium. (Photo by Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images)
Coming out Cold
The Seahawks started the game about as cold as the weather in East Rutherford, which reached as low as 27°F last night. Their first two drives combined for barely 20 yards, and forced a pair of punts from Michael Dickson. The Jets brought stiff pressure to Seattle quarterback Geno Smith, giving him approximately a microsecond of time in the pocket. On the other side of the ball, vintage quarterback Aaron Rodgers to wide receiver Davante Adams connections carved up the Seahawks secondary like it was Thursday Night Football.
The bright spot in the first half, as he was last week, was defensive end Leonard Williams. “The Big Cat” followed up his career game last week by picking off an Aaron Rogers pass to the right side as New York appeared to be driving, which would’ve given the Jets a three-touchdown lead if they’d marched down to score. Williams bumped it up into the air and hauled it in himself. The 300 pound lineman did not even think about taking the slide, and instead matriculated down field 92 yards for the first touchdown of his career. Last week he was slighted and not awarded Defensive Player of the Week, but hopefully putting points on the board this week (while still recording two sacks) will correct that. Williams’ 92 yard return is the longest interception return by a 300+ pound player since official player tracking started in 2000. Williams also blocked the Jets’ extra point try after their first touchdown. He made himself known all day long, making Seattle’s trade for him that saw them send away a 2024 2nd round pick and a 2025 5th round pick to the New York Giants look better and better.
Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams recorded the first touchdown of his NFL career on a 92-yard pick six of New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a big defensive play that helped Seattle change the momentum in their road win over New York on Sunday, December 1st, 2024 at MetLife Stadium. (Photos by Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images)
Special Teams not the Specialty
But the regular kinds of football, offense and defense, were not the fundamental problem for the Seahawks in the first half. Instead, special teams issues plagued Seattle, a send up to their week six loss to the San Francisco 49ers when wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. fumbled a kick return. It was Dee Williams, though, who first had trouble when he fumbled a kick return at the 28 yard line, turning it back over to the Jets. New York scored their second touchdown thanks to the gifted short field, giving them a 14-0 lead after the two point conversion.
Seattle managed to secure the ball on the next kickoff, and even scored a touchdown when Geno Smith connected with the rookie AJ Barner on a short pass up the middle. But special team issues persisted when Jets running back Kene Nwangwu shrugged off four would-be tacklers for a 99-yard kick return touchdown. On the very next kick, Shenault Jr. muffed the catch and briefly recovered it. He made it all the way to the 29 yard line before fumbling it forwards, giving Jets kicker Anders Carlson the privilege of recovering his own kick at the 38. It was only the Leonard Williams “thick six” that prevented the Jets from scoring on that drive too.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. fumbles a kickoff return, one of three fumbled kickoff returns in the game for Seattle, during their eventual road win over the New York Jets on Sunday, December 1st, 2024. (Photo by Mark Smith/Imagn Images)
Seattle’s Penalty Curse Lifted?
Extra credit to Williams: that pick seemed to have flipped a switch in the Seahawks’ mindset. They made a couple stops after his score, and even scored a field goal to make it 21-16 at the half (a Seattle PAT attempt was blocked after Williams touchdown). The Jets started the second half firing, making it to midfield on their first drive before punting, and making it there again on their second. On first and fifteen, they handed it off to running back Breece Hall who made it 11 yards before running into safety Julian Love and fumbling the ball. Rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight fell on it for Seattle, and the Hawks used the field position to kick a field goal and bring the game within two points.
After forcing a three and out from the Jets, Seattle took over at their own 29 yard line. What followed was a drive that harkened back to when the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs met in week 14 of 2011. Which was fitting since Mark Sanchez -- the Jets’ quarterback in that game -- was in the booth for the FOX Sports broadcast. It looked like this drive was going to go nowhere when the Jets defense brought up a Seattle 4th and six. But then, the curse that’s plagued Seattle all season seemed to transfer in the frigid cold.
The Jets got tagged for having too many men on the field. They seemed to be confused if Seattle was going to go for it or not, and had a returner downfield when the rest of the defense was lined up at scrimmage. That moved the Hawks up into a 4th and one situation, much easier to feel good about going for. Geno sent it deep on the conversion attempt, targeting wide receiver DK Metcalf. DK got thrown to the ground by Jets CB Qwan'tez Stiggers, who used to play in the CFL and was playing just his second defensive snap of football ever. That moved Seattle a further 20 yards down field. Three plays later on a new 4th and one try, running back Zach Charbonnet tried to run it up the right side. He was brought down behind the line, but Jets defensive end Solomon Thomas committed a horse collar tackle, giving the Seahawks yet another free first down. Then on 3rd and six, Geno threw an incomplete pass that was ruled a fumble on the field. That was quickly overturned as it was obvious that his arm was going forward to negate a fumble call, and the Seahawks got another break, as Jets defensive end Will McDonald IV was offside prior to the snap. Now with 3rd and one at the eight yard line, all that was left was for Charbonnet to pound it through and score the go-ahead touchdown. For those keeping score, that was a 71 yard touchdown drive, with 46 of those yards being freely given by Jets penalties. That’s 64%, nearly two-thirds of the distance from the start of the drive.
Seattle Seahawks second-year running back Zach Charbonnet scored the go-ahead touchdown on an 8-yard run, helping his team beat the New York Jets on the road in their matchup on Sunday, December 1st, 2024 at MetLife Stadium. (Photo by Mark Smith/Imagn Images)
With the lead in Seattle’s hands for the first time all game, all that was left was for the defense to make a stop against 40 year old Aaron Rogers with just five minutes left in the game. That seemed to be easier said than done, as the Jets got all the way to the Seattle 29 before the two minute warning. But that free timeout may have been detrimental, with an incomplete pass and no gain bringing up 3rd and 10. On that snap Boye Mafe and who else but Leonard Williams got past the Jets O-Line and brought Rogers down. A panicked 4th and 15 bomb landed harmlessly in the endzone, and Seattle took the ball and kneeled out the game to give them their third straight victory to keep pace in a wacky NFC West division race.
What’s next?
With today’s win and the Arizona Cardinals’ 23-22 loss to the Minnesota Vikings today, the Seattle Seahawks have sole possession of first place in the NFC West. The Seahawks will be hoping that the Cardinals stay cold, since they’ll be visiting State Farm Stadium next week. With the regular season entering its final, desperate stages, a second Seattle win over Arizona would go a long way to securing a playoff spot and an eventual NFC West crown. Despite the struggles in the middle games, the Seahawks are in control of their own destinies and the way that the defense has been playing for Seattle it’s safe to feel like momentum is on their side. Kickoff for next week’s game is at 1:05PM PST and will be broadcast on CBS on TV and will be over the radio waves on Seattle Sports 710AM and KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.
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Check out our previous Seattle Seahawks articles here.
Check out our previous articles written by Jake Parr here, and his Lookout Landing articles here.
Cover photo by Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images. All image rights to Imagn images.
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