Instant Reaction: 710 ESPN Seattle on Seahawks’ 30-27 win over Panthers

The Seattle Seahawks improved to 6-5 on the year with a 30-27 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday that was delivered by Sebastian Janikowski’s 31-yard field goal as time expired.

O’Neil: How Seahawks survived Panthers | Takeaways | Recap | Photos

As we do each after each Seahawks game, we have collected the instant reactions to the win from the voice of 710 ESPN Seattle. This is just a sneak peak of what they’ll have to say on the air, so be sure to tune in to the station all day Monday for 710’s coverage of the crucial Hawks victory.

Mike Salk (Brock and Salk)

For the second straight week, the Seahawks reminded everyone of their mantra: you win the game in the fourth quarter.

This time, it took a few big-name heroes to get that done. Russell Wilson was obviously chief among them with two of the gutsiest passes of his career to set up the final two scores. Tyler Lockett gets plenty of credit for his 43-yard catch that put them in field-goal position on the final drive. But my two heroes for this game are Frank Clark and Tre Flowers.

By my count, the Hawks had zero sacks, zero QB hits and zero QB pressures until Clark got after Cam Newton and forced an incompletion on the Panthers’ final series. Then Flowers made a game-saving tackle on the next play to force the long field goal attempt that Graham Gano missed, which put Russell in position to do his thing.

Add it all up and you have a confident team heading into their favorite stretch of the season with a schedule that gets easier. What a way to finish a holiday weekend!

Tom Wassell (Bob, Groz and Tom)

For some reason, it didn’t bother me that the Seahawks went 0 for 5 on fumble recoveries. Maybe I’m just in a weird mood today. Or perhaps I’m just used to Seattle doing enough to keep themselves close in a game where they’re being dominated by one player (in this case, Christian McCaffrey).

Tre Flowers’ tackle of D.J. Moore in the open field added just enough yardage to keep Graham Gano from making a go-ahead field goal. At that moment, you felt like something good was gonna happen.

That something good was the drive we’ve been waiting for from Russell Wilson all year. He bought time, was elusive, hit Lockett for the big gain, and away we go with Janikowski’s field goal. Oh, and let’s not leave out the TD from Russell to David Moore on fourth down – just incredible.

These last two wins are as impressive and emotional as any regular season game I’ve seen in the Pete Carroll era.

Bob Stelton (Bob, Groz and Tom)

To call this a massive win would be a massive understatement. The Seahawks desperately needed this win against a team directly front of them in the wild card chase.

First off, give a tremendous amount of credit to to Russell Wilson and the Hawks’ offense. After a slow start on the first two drives of the game, they answered every Panthers score. On a day where the defense was bending and ultimately breaking, Wilson and the offense bailed them out when they needed it most. It only took the Seahawks six plays for 46 yards in the final 1:40 to come away with the game-winning field goal.

More importantly, the Seahawks’ offense answered a few questions by being able to overcome a tough day for the run game. They were held to 76 total rushing yards, the first time in seven games they’ve come up with less than 150 yards on the ground.

Great day for the offense and the passing attack, and while there are still some concerns on the defensive side of the ball, the Hawks came away with a critical win and took three of five in the toughest stretch of their schedule.

Jim Moore (Danny, Dave and Moore)

Just a terrific game and an amazing finish with Russell Wilson engineering his 26th come-from-behind victory in the fourth quarter. The only debate: which was his bigger throw – the 35-yarder on fourth-and-3 for a game-tying touchdown to David Moore, or the 42-yarder on third-and-5 to Tyler Lockett to set up the game-winning field goal?

Either way, both plays allowed the Seahawks to overcome a fantastic all-around performance by Christian McCaffrey, who piled up more than 240 yards of offense for Carolina. Plus the Seahawks beat Cam Newton on a day in which he completed all 14 of his passes in the first half.

In the bigger picture, the Seahawks greatly increased their playoff chances, improving to 6-5 and winning the tie-breaker advantage over the 6-5 Panthers. Their defense needs some work – Carolina did not punt in the second half – but it was good enough, twice stopping the Panthers from scoring in the red zone.

Now the Seahawks are in great position with four of their final five games at home and two of their next three against the 2-9 49ers.