DANNY ONEIL

Penalty on Devin Hester’s big punt return hurt, but it may have only delayed Seahawks’ loss to Falcons

Jan 14, 2017, 7:41 PM

Devin Hester returned a punt 80 yards, only to have it called back for holding by Kevin Pierre-Loui...

Devin Hester returned a punt 80 yards, only to have it called back for holding by Kevin Pierre-Louis. (AP)

(AP)

Devin Hester’s 80-yard punt return would have accomplished something Seattle’s defense never really could on Saturday.

It would have put pressure on Atlanta.

That’s something the Seahawks were never able to do against Matt Ryan. At least not consistently enough, and that turned what was supposed to be a test of strengths between the Falcons’ offense and this Seattle defense into a mismatch.

And maybe Hester’s punt return would have changed things. Maybe. Had the holding penalty against Kevin Pierre-Louis not been called, Seattle would have had the ball at the Atlanta 7-yard line already leading 10-7. And maybe if the Seahawks had punched it into the end zone and taken a double-digit lead on the road, maybe that instills some doubt into a team quarterbacked by a guy who’d won just a single game in his previous four postseason berths.

And maybe it would have only delayed the execution.

Because that’s what this was at the Georgia Dome. Atlanta’s offense ruthlessly dissecting a Seahawks defense that is deservedly recognized as one of the best in league history. They allowed the fewest points in the league for four consecutive seasons. They “slipped” to No. 3 this year.

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But on Saturday, they gave up four touchdowns to Atlanta and forced only two punts. They didn’t get a single turnover, though to be fair two passes went off the hands of defensive backs, and a fumble caused by Frank Clark was recovered by a Falcon.

There was nothing cheap or fluky about this, though. The Falcons had three touchdown drives of 75 yards or more, and in the final 4 minutes of the first half they drove 99 yards in nine plays without facing so much as a single third down.

We’ve seen Seattle lose before, whether it was those 14 points New England scored in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl or the 31 points Carolina rolled up in the first half last year.

We’ve never really seen this, though. Not since 2012, anyway, as this defense that has been the bedrock of the most successful period in franchise history wasn’t just shredded but julienned. That’s how precise the Falcons’ passing game was. Ryan passed for 338 yards, most ever against Seattle in a playoff game. He also threw for three touchdowns without being intercepted.

There will be eulogies written for Seattle’s defense following this game.

The Seahawks have aged, they’ve eroded, they’re no longer dominant.

That’s understandable. It was certainly accurate on Saturday. They did get pantsed by Atlanta’s offense.

I’m not quite ready to write this group off, though.

Not when you consider the effort of this defense earlier this season when it held the Rams to just nine points in Los Angeles in Week 2 or – even more impressively – held Arizona to just six points in five quarters even though the Cardinals ran an incredible 90 plays back in October.

Maybe Earl Thomas’ presence is that important. The Seahawks allowed 10 more points per game after he suffered the season-ending injury against Carolina, and they didn’t intercept a single pass after he went out.

But while the loss of Thomas was certainly a turning point, it seems naïve to say his health is the only thing missing from this defense.

The Seahawks grew thin at the secondary for the first time in five years, and another pass rusher – maybe a 280-pounder who chews glass and lines up over the guard – wouldn’t have hurt in a game where Seattle sacked Matt Ryan three times but never really applied consistent pressure.

The Seahawks weren’t pushed around on Saturday. The Falcons didn’t run over Seattle in the same way that Carolina did in the divisional playoffs a year ago. Atlanta didn’t beat Seattle deep, either. The Falcons’ longest pass play was a 53-yard completion to a running back when Ryan beat Seattle’s blitz.

This wasn’t exactly death by a thousand paper cuts. More like Seattle getting repeatedly gashed in the midsection by pin-point passes to wide-open targets.

And while that isn’t necessarily the end of an era in Seattle, it is the end of a season that will leave Seattle looking long and hard at exactly what this defense will be going forward.

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Penalty on Devin Hester’s big punt return hurt, but it may have only delayed Seahawks’ loss to Falcons