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| Photo - ESPN.com |
Erin Andrews reporting from the Redskins sideline for Fox. Oh, and Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on play-by-play.
FIRST QUARTER
Seattle kicks off; I'm assuming they won the coin toss and deferred. Maybe Erin Andrews can tells us. Niles Paul returns a bouncing kick to the 20. Field conditions are described as sloppy, with a temperature of 52. It's 52 out? What the hell is Erin doing dressed up in George Costanza's Gore-Tex coat? After Alfred Morris pushes around the Seahawk D for an 8 yard gain, Washington needs a timeout 55 seconds into the game. RG3 follows that with a 10-yard smoke pass to Pierre Garcon. Morris bangs out 9 more, and Seattle is playing the run nowhere near as well as I thought they would. Skins have run at Chris Clemons both times. RG3 options way around left end for 3 and another first. Play-action gives Griffin forever to throw the next play, and he hits Garcon on the sideline underneath brutally soft coverage for 30. Toss-sweep to Morris for 17 more, as the Seattle defense looks absolutely freaking clueless. Earl Thomas and Alan Branch finally stop Morris on a sweep left at the 3. Cory Lichtensteiger injured on the play.
Griffin rolls right and hits Josh Morgan in the back of the end zone, but he's blasted out the back by K.J. Wright. Makes little difference, as Griffin hits Evan Royster curling at the goal line between the safeties for the TD. Redskins 7, Seahawks 0
Easy 80-yard drive for Washington, as the Seattle D looks to have no clue whatsoever so far. Also, the Rams couldn't have called any of these plays against Seattle last week? Sam Bradford couldn't have executed any of the throws RGIII just did? Huh.
Brilliant idea deferring, too, if that's what Carroll did. Leon Washington brings the kick out to the 28. Wilson rolls right and overthrows Doug Baldwin deep by at least 5 yards. Redskins had it covered anyway. Still passing?, Wilson goes to Zach Miller on the sideline for 8. On third down, Stephen Bowen runs right over Paul McQuistan and flushes Wilson to London Fletcher (!)(!)(!) for a sack. Three and out for Seattle.
Seriously, you've got Marshawn Lynch going against a defense that doesn't stop the run all that well, and he doesn't touch the ball once? Did Seattle come to play today or not? So much for supposedly being the NFL's hot team; this is a fiasco in the making to rival Green Bay's home choke last year.
Not that I ever over-react or anything.
Richard Crawford wriggles out near midfield with the punt return, so Seattle has come out like crap in all three phases of the game. Four, I should count coaching. Garcon limps off after 2nd down, but Griffin hits Santana Moss at the SEA38 for a first. And now Seattle jumps offsides, followed by Griffin optioning right for 7. Morris left for 4, right for 5, and Washington's at the 15 now. Logan Paulsen takes a dumpoff on 3rd-and-1 and trucks Malcolm Smith all the way down to the 4. Griffin, though, appears to re-injure himself attempting to hit Garcon with a rollout pass on 1st-goal. He's moving around like Fred Sanford out there right now. Still doesn't stop a 3rd-and-goal TD to Paulsen, who Kam Chancellor didn't even cover. 14-0 Redskins
Add another 15 yards on the kickoff after Bruce Irvin cheap-shots Griffin after the throw.
I'd like to just give the Seattle Seahawks a great big F*CK YOU right now for their absolute dogshit effort here that is going to screw up my fictional gambling account and kill my hard-earned six-game streak in Streak for the Cash. A significant favorite to win this game, a supposed Super Bowl contender, has instead laid down from the opening bell.
Screw you, Seattle.
I'm already planning the halftime show to be the postgame show.
After Lynch finally gets a carry for 4, Perry Riley comes off the edge unblocked for Washington's 2nd sack. Maybe Zach Miller's effort will spark this bunch of Seahawk dogs, snagging a pass off his shoetops and pinballing through several tacklers and diving for Seattle's first 1st down. The Redskins stuff Lynch on the edge to end a first quarter they completely dominated. Also, Marshawn Lynch is not an edge rusher! What are these Seattle idiots doing?
SECOND QUARTER
Wilson fakes a handoff to Lynch and then follows him through a great big hole to midfield for 19. Russell Okung with his first block of the game on that one. Lynch turns an ill-advised throwback screen into a 9-yard gain after Madieu Williams slips. Robert Turbin makes it a first down at the WSH40. Great overrule by the officials on the next play as Sidney Rice makes a fantastic leaping sideline catch for 27. Field judge got it wrong but the line judge got it right. Wilson gets EIGHT seconds to throw on 2nd-7 from the 9 but ends up throwing it right to Reed Doughty in the end zone. Luckily for Wilson, his WR Doug Baldwin made a good defensive play. Delay of game sends Seattle back to the 14. That's impressively bad to get one of those after an incomplete pass. And so NOW Seattle calls timeout. Good grief.
With a four-man rush collapsing on him, Wilson throws a wild pass off the crossbar to send out the FG team. That's not intentional grounding, btw? Steven Hauschka puts the Seahawks on the board, so they'll only be down 21-3 in a minute instead of 21-0. 14-3 Redskins
Paul returns another bouncing kickoff to the 23 as Pam Oliver claims the Redskins claim there's no injury information to report on Griffin. Illegal contact on Brandon Browner costs the Seahawks a sack/fumble, though Washington recovered. Browner slipped and had to tackle Garcon on a fly route to avoid getting burned deep. Except Griffin never looked there. Morris runs through Red Bryant's arm tackle for 7. Bobby Wagner shuts down a sweep right to set up a crucial third down for the Seahawks. They get the big stop after Griffin can't make a good throw off-balance to Paulson after six seconds in the pocket.
From his 28, Lynch bowls through the Redskin D for 8. 4 more as the Hawks continue to run heavily to their left. Then a jaw-dropping play, as Wilson tries to bungle the ball away, but Lynch somehow swoops down on the loose ball, scoops it and runs up the sideline for 18. Lynch really saved Seattle's ass there. Wilson then gets away from strong pressure by Ryan Kerrigan, and the Seahawks beat the Redskins with that fullback pass they beat Jo-Lonn Dunbar to death with last week. Good for 19. Wilson then options for 12, getting inside the 5. Wilson faked Kerrigan out the same way Griffin repeatedly juked Demarcus Ware last week. Erin Andrews is reporting from Seattle's sideline now that the kicker Hauschka may be injured, AND WHY ARE WE NOT LOOKING AT ERIN WHILE SHE IS REPORTING THIS, DAMMIT? Doughty tripped up Lynch for no gain on 1st-goal, but play-action works like a freaking charm on 2nd-goal, as Robinson is lonelier than Mitt Romney at Lilith Fair, except in the left flat this time, for an easy TD. Washington 14, Seattle 10. The Seahawks finally smartened up and got back in this thing. Big possession ahead for RG3.
And RG3 comes up a cropper, throwing an ill-advised bomb for a blanketed Garcon, though Browner got away with early contact, imo. Earl Thomas closed on it like a bear trap and picked it off. So now it's Kyle Shanahan who screws his team up by stopping what's working - THE RUN - to try to show off to the national audience what a genius he is. This game is turning into a real coaching cluster, um, bomb.
Wilson gets the chains moving with 2:30 left, beating a blitz on 3rd-and-5 with a bullet to Baldwin. Plenty of time to hit Baldwin at midfield the next play, and after he jukes Jordan (I put the P.U. in) Pugh for an extra 10 yards to gain 35, Seattle's in FG range at the Redskin 30. (Except I think I saw Hauschka walking off to the locker room...)
2:00 warning.
Lynch carries Redskin tacklers twice for 11 yards as we hit the 1:00 mark.Anthony McCoy DROPS a play-action bootleg pass that should have gotten Seattle inside the 10. Fletcher stops Lynch for 3 to set up 3rd-and-7. Hauschka's back on the sideline attempting to loosen up. Wilson hits Golden Tate at the 12, who probably makes the first down if he doesn't slip instead. Hauschka gingerly trots onto the field and hits a 29-yard FG, making an even game out of a game that looked like a blowout an hour ago.
Washington 14, Seattle 13 at halftime
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| Photo - Sports Illustrated |
HALFTIME SHOW
I can make this quick. Whichever team gets serious on offense about getting behind their running game wins this thing. Both Lynch and Morris have shown readiness to take this game over. Feed them. Wilson started to pick apart Haslett's blitzing in the 2nd quarter, so Haz had better come up with some clever disguises for him in the 2nd half. I think Seattle's actually staying pretty close to their recent pattern on defense. They were pretty vanilla in the first half. With RG3 looking relatively immobile, I'm looking for them to bring it in the second half.
Should be a doozy.
THIRD QUARTER
Leon Washington across the 30. Barry Cofield does a fine job to seal off an attempted Lynch run left, but Lynch makes an even finer cutback to beat Kerrigan's pursuit and rolls down the right sideline for 26. Circle route to Turbin for 7. Robinson converts on 3rd-and-inches at the Redskin 34, gaining 2. Excellent play-action to Lynch, with Wilson hitting Tate at the sideline for 15 more. Big hole for Lynch up the middle for 15, Okung and McQuistan sealing the edge, putting Seattle at the 2. Lynch cuts back and gets inside the 1.
And amazingly, on second-and-goal, Lynch, Seattle's most reliable offensive weapon, loses the ball after Cofield puts his helmet on it. What a gut-wrenching turn of events for Seattle.
Looks like Washington's going to punt it right back, but ridiculously soft coverage by Seattle on 3rd-and-5 gives Moss an easy first down. Topping things off, Clemons is injured on the play. Toss to Morris for 5. Redskins down-block Seattle into next week as Morris gets another 5. Seattle shuts them down at the 30, though. Browner makes a great play through a blocker to blow up a screen to Morgan, Branch literally trips Morris up for a loss, and Wagner nearly picks off a poor third-down pass over the middle. Let's see if Seattle continues to carry momentum.
Seattle at their 30. Wilson scrambles for an eternity and hits Tate up the sideline for 8. Wilson gets forever off play-action on 2nd-2, tries to scramble, but can't get back to the LOS. Score a sack for Doughty there; nice shadowing. Redskins force a quick incompletion with a blitz, but get called for defensive holding. And now here comes Wilson, scrambling for 29 after getting another long stay in the pocket. Oddly enough, Rice was open deep for a TD bomb if Wilson would've seen it. But Haslett's got no answer for Wilson right now. Baldwin beats Josh Wilson deep into the end zone but gets overthrown. And now Haslett's got an answer, blitzing Wilson to get the sack on Wilson, losing 9 and pushing Seattle out of FG range even if Hauschka was healthy. The punt and a holding penalty on ex-Ram Bryan Kehl pin the Redskins at their 5.
The Redskins get FAR too cute with a couple of play-fakes and Branch sacks Griffin near the goal line. And now a wild pass off play-action again from the end zone. Garcon gets the punter a little room with a catch out to the 10, but this drive was doomed from the start. Sav Rocca hits a key 53-yard boot that I'll close the quarter out on a few seconds early.
FOURTH QUARTER
Seattle really owned the field position battle in the 3rd quarter, which really limited the Redskin offense, but they didn't do anything with it, thanks to the Lynch fumble and that key blitz call by Haslett. They may need to score here to start the 4th.
Wilson gets away from Redskin pressure for a 5-yard scramble on 2nd down, but Doughty chases him down from behind for a sack on 3rd-and-short. Play-fake to Lynch didn't fool Doughty there, and Lynch was never in position to get a block on him. Now Haslett's getting nowhere near as hurt by blitzing as I thought he might be. Though, the Seahawks have also gotten completely away from giving the ball to Lynch.
Redskins now at their 22. This game has gone from woeful blowout to Instant Classic. Griffin literally limps around left end for 8. Morris gets the first down on a tossback. Maybe he should be carrying the ball more than your injured quarterback, heh? Seattle finally seems influenced to send a little extra pressure at Griffin, and he air-mails one way over Morgan's head at the sideline. Leroy Hill trips up Morris for 3 to set up a big 3rd-and-7 with 11:30 left. Clemons is doubtful to return, btw; sorry I forgot his injury. Griffin has Leonard Hankerson open over the middle on 3rd down, but the throw's off a bit and incomplete. You kind of need to make that catch in a playoff game, though.
Seattle from their 20 after a 10-yard Leon Washington return. I was expecting a close game in the 4th quarter, but with twice as much scoring. After an 8-yard pass to Tate, Lynch drags the Redskin defense for 18 off a draw play run between Max Unger and McQuistan. Doughty then blows up an option run for no gain. A Pugh blitz forces Wilson to rush a bad pass incomplete for Miller. But Seattle picks up Haslett's big blitz on 3rd-and-10 (not a blitzing down), and Wilson steps up and hits Miller leaking out of the backfield for 23. At the WSH31, a Riley blitz blows up a play-action bootleg. 2nd-10, Lynch cuts back and turns a probable loss into a 5-yard gain.
And Marshawn Lynch makes a 26-yard TD run to slightly rival his run against the Saints a couple of years ago. He cuts back and makes Kerrigan miss, Hall whiffs on him at the 20, and with Russell Wilson flying in to run interference, he bangs through FOUR Redskins at the pylon for the TD. There are few things more awesome than having a badass RB on your team.
Seahawks should go for two here, even if Hauschka's healthy. Well, first, Peter Morelli's replay official wants the play reviewed, though it should count as called. It does, and Seattle converts the 2, with Wilson hitting Miller on a slant, beating Madieu Williams. Seattle 21, Washington 14
This hasn't just been an impressive comeback by Seattle; it's been a resurrection. Full credit to Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch. Still seven minutes to play, though.
Redskins go play-action from the 24, but when RG3 can't pull the trigger on a deep pass, Bruce Irvin slams the door shut and sacks him for a big loss.
And we may now have a franchise-changing moment for Washington. Griffin's knee appears to collapse on him as he tries to go down to field a bad shotgun snap. Seattle falls on it, which should seal this game, but the bigger question now is how badly hurt Griffin is. The football fates are really ripping Redskin Nation's guts out right now. Dr. James Andrews, who's been getting quoted all day about being nervous to let Griffin play since he originally injured the knee in December, is on the field with the Redskin trainers.
Griffin does walk off, but is probably as done as Washington's playoff victory hopes are.
First-and-goal, Seattle, at the 5. Lynch goes behind right guard for 1. Wilson rifles a pass through Miller's hands at the goal line. 3rd-goal, Wilson misses Tate on a slant, with Hall making plenty of contact. Wasn't the greatest throw, as Aikman points out. Hauschka gingerly puts the Hawks up by 10. 24-14 Seattle
5:32 left. Paul makes a dumb decision and nearly loses the ball on the kick return, only to the 18. Kirk Cousins comes in hoping to join the annals of backup QBs who become postseason heroes. 15 to Hankerson. Irvin beats Tyler Polumbus and smacks Cousins as he throws for an incompletion. Perfect sideline pass to Hankerson for 11, though, on 2nd down. ANOTHER bad snap gets Cousins sacked at his own 40. Seattle's had a lot of problems with shotgun snaps tonight, too, what gives? Marcus Trufant falls but gets away with grabbing Moss's feet before the ball gets there to create an incompletion. Cousins gets pummelled by Irvin and a blitzing Malcolm Smith for another incomplete. 4th-and-14, 4:21 to go, think the Redskins do have to go for it.
And Seattle blitzes two safeties, Chancellor and Jeron Johnson, who hits Cousins as he throws to force a harmless wounded duck. Ball back to Seattle, 4:16 left.
Masterful blitz call there, I assume by DC Gus Bradley. I sure wasn't expecting it.
Something else I wasn't expecting - Lynch OFF THE FIELD as Turbin gets three straight handoffs but not a first down. They'll go on 4th-and-1 to ice it. And how do you do, it's a play-action rollout, with Wilson tossing to the reliable Miller, who absorbs a big shot from Doughty and gets the first down.
Washington has to use their final timeout with 2:32 left. Lynch returns now and bangs it down to the 20, where Seattle will have 3rd-and-4 with 2:00 to play. They turn it over on downs with 1:08 left, but failed to snap while Washington had about 13 on the field.
The Redskins go nowhere with their final possession except to a gloomy locker room.
Final score: Seattle 24, Washington 14
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| Photo - ESPN.com |
First and most importantly, as a Rams fan, I'd like to thank Seattle for helping the Rams hold on to the 21st pick in April's draft.
Then I'd like to thank Seattle for surviving a withering assault (from me) and preserving my fictional gambling success (mostly) for the weekend. 3-1 SU, 3-1 ATS, but I went over three times on Under Weekend. 1-3.
Russell Wilson wins POTG, player of the weekend, too. The guy has Gigantic Balls of Steel. Never looked panicked, even down two TDs, and made the plays that had to be made. Haslett never figured out a reliable way to contain him.
Sorry to sound like a Seattle fan here, but this should be a character-building game for the Seahawks. They were dead after 15 minutes and came back from the grave to win convincingly. Going to be hard to convince them anybody can beat them now.
Seattle didn't get a very good draw - they're in the early game Sunday in Atlanta - but I've been spoiling to pick against the Falcons ever since they locked up the #1 seed as the least impressive 13-3 team ever. Remember how bad the Ram defense looked in the 2003 playoffs after Lovie Smith spent the bye week interviewing for head coaching jobs with other teams? That's what BOTH Atlanta coordinators have been doing this week, especially OC Dirk Koetter. The Hawks better come out a whole lot better than they did this week, but I like them for the upset.
As for Washington, they need to get RG3 some receivers. (ANOTHER place where Mike Wallace would look good!) He should be happy to get Fred Davis back as a safety valve.The pass rush will automatically get better with the return of Brian Orakpo. A third-down change-of-pace back, too; I don't think they ever throw to Morris. These Redskins should remain a handful for years to come. Just remember to keep running when it's working, huh?
-$-
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