O’Neil: Seahawks pull out entertaining win after embarrassing first half
Oct 1, 2017, 9:16 PM | Updated: 9:48 pm
(AP)
First it was awful. And then it was awesome.
From unbearable to unbelievable.
And while no one should get too carried away by the Seahawks’ 46-18 blowout of an Indianapolis team that was starting the Patriots’ third-string quarterback, well, we shouldn’t overlook it entirely, either. Because for two quarters, the Seahawks seemed eminently capable of losing to a Colts team that was starting Jacoby Brissett at quarterback.
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For two quarters the Seahawks couldn’t get right.
The offense cost the team two points while scoring only three. The defense managed the Seahawks’ only touchdown, but then gave up two touchdowns in the final 6 minutes as the Colts led 15-10 at halftime.
It was ugly. Russell Wilson was sacked in the end zone for a safety in the first quarter and then he was picked off for the first time all season when he underthrew tight end Jimmy Graham in the second quarter. Wilson was picked off again in the third quarter, this time on a pass that bounced off Graham’s hands.
That second interception led to the a 40-yard field goal by the Colts’ Adam Vinatieri, tying the score 18-18 with less than 20 minutes left in the game.
What happened after that wasn’t quite magical, but it was definitive. The Seahawks took the lead on a 30-yard touchdown run by J.D. McKissic, and then they doubled that lead 10 seconds later when Marcus Smith stripped the ball from Brissett and Bobby Wagner ran it back 21 yards for a touchdown.
Add in a 6-yard touchdown pass to Luke Willson in the fourth minute of the fourth quarter and Seattle had 21 points in the span of 7 minutes off the clock, and the Seahawks blew open a game that never should have been that close.
Seattle capped the scoring with a 27-yard touchdown pass to McKissic with fewer than 3 minutes left in the game.
Wilson finished 21-for-26 passing for 295 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 23 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Seattle’s 46 points were the most it had scored in any regular-season game since the Seahawks put up 50 against Buffalo in December 2012.
What was shaping up to be the Seahawks’ worst loss in years became their most entertaining victory of the season.