Seahawks Instant Reaction: 710 ESPN Seattle on 20-15 win over WFT

The Seahawks have clinched a spot in the playoffs after holding off the Washington Football Team 20-15 on Sunday.

Recap: Seahawks beat WFT | Quick hits | Playoffs clinched

As we do each week, we have collected the instant reactions of 710 ESPN Seattle’s voices to the victory. See what they have to say now, and tune in to the station Monday for their full coverage of the win beginning with Danny and Gallant at 7 a.m. and The Pete Carroll Show at 9:30.

Bob Stelton – Wyman and Bob

The Seahawks have locked up a playoff spot!

In typical Seahawks fashion, they turned what looked like – and should have been – a comfortable win into a nail biter.

They held Washington to three points through three quarters while putting up 20 points.

Then came the fourth quarter.

The offense lost any rhythm it may have had and went scoreless for the quarter, and all of sudden backup Washington QB Dwayne Haskins was carving up the Hawks’ secondary like he was Patrick Mahomes. Outside of a couple of plays where they blitzed, the Hawks’ defensive line put zero pressure on Haskins until Washington’s final drive of the game when L.J. Collier and Carlos Dunlap came up with sacks on back-to-back plays when Seattle desperately needed them.

The good news for the offense is the Hawks’ running game was very impactful on a day where the passing game was absent. They rushed for a total of 181 yards and a touchdown on 26 total carries. The passing game just wasn’t there for the majority of the day. I thought it was a mediocre day at best for Russell Wilson and the offensive playcalling was curious at times.

Washington has a very good defense and it has been playing extremely well, winning four in a row coming into this game, so I’m not going to panic over the offense going flat in the fourth quarter. But the Seahawks are going to need to get things figured out in the next two games if they want to make any kind of run in the postseason.

Bottom line, they picked up a huge win on the road to secure a playoff spot. Celebrate now, worry later.

Stacy Rost – Jake and Stacy

Every Friday on the Jake and Stacy show, my co-host Jake Heaps and I bring our boldest, hottest takes for Bold Take Friday (TM). We love including listener predictions, and often those are the best ones. That was true this weekend with one bold prediction that can (and should) be a silver lining for Hawks fans who feel uneasy about the second-half offense: zero sacks for Washington.

It’ll have to be a Tell the Truth Monday on our show because I completely shot down texts saying the Seahawks’ offensive line wouldn’t allow a single sack of Wilson. It felt like a huge ask against a defense with 40 sacks heading into this game and four first-round picks on a defensive line that was playing lights out football. But that’s exactly what happened. The Seahawks’ offensive line, short two starters, held the league’s fourth-best defense at bay and Seattle squeaked out a win thanks to a defensive stand in the final minute.

Would I have liked to see more points from Seattle’s offense? Yes. Five other offenses have dropped 30 or more points on Washington’s defense, and Seattle will need to return to being a high-scoring unit as it digs deeper into the postseason, but outstanding protection up front is always something to be proud of.

The offense isn’t alone with areas for improvement. The defense allowed just 15 points but gave up two long touchdown drives in the second half. Washington converted nearly 60 percent of its third down attempts and gained more yards than Seattle. But this unit continues to make impressive late-game stops, and that was true again Sunday when a pass rush that had been largely absent showed up big with back-to-back sacks on Washington’s final drive.

Paul Gallant – Danny and Gallant

A win is a win. But this sure was a frustrating one.

It started off great. The Seahawks’ defense wasn’t remotely challenged for the first three quarters and extended a streak of holding the opposition touchdown-less to eight quarters.

A lot of that had to do with Dwayne Haskins being the Washington Football Team’s quarterback.

He seemed nervous to throw the football more than 5 yards downfield early on. And when he did challenge Seattle’s secondary, he was met with deflections and two interceptions. D.J. Reed (three deflections and an interception) earned that starting spot of his with performance.

The Seahawks’ running game brought it too, at least at first. Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde were too much for Washington Football Team’s vaunted defense early on. On their first drive of the second half, Hyde seemingly broke Washington’s back with a 50-yard touchdown run.

But after Hyde’s huge play, Seattle’s offense came to a screeching halt. They went three-and-out on three of their next four possessions, and Russell Wilson threw a first down interception on the outlier drive.

Haskins, meanwhile, started feeling confident with all the time he had, carving the Seahawks’ defense up with a heavy dose of tight end Logan Thomas. With 5:44 to go, he and DC found themselves with the ball down just five points. Minutes later, Haskins had a first-and-10 at Seattle’s 23. Fortunately for the Hawks, Haskins overthrew an open Thomas in the end zone. L.J. Collier and Carlos Dunlap got sacks on the next two plays, leading to a failed Hail Mary that would have been nullified by an offensive hold. Game over.

The Seahawks are in the playoffs, and that’s awesome. But they’ve got to find a way to close out teams that they’re better than. They played the opposite of complementary football in the second half and were lucky to sneak out of DC with a W.

The Groz – 710 ESPN Seattle host emeritus

First of all, the Seahawks are in the playoffs for the ninth time in the past 11 years, which is a tremendous accomplishment by Pete Carroll, John Schneider and the entire organization. But it sure got tense there at the end of the game in Washington.

The Seahawks held on 20-15 thanks to the sudden arrival of a pass rush. This one looked well in hand after Carlos Hyde rambled 50 yards for a score to make it a 20-3 lead, a margin the Hawks took into the fourth quarter. At that point Seattle had run for 185 yards, but it only called two running plays the rest of the way and the game nearly got away from them.

Two sacks in a row by L.J. Collier and Carlos Dunlap after a third-and-11 unnecessary roughness penalty on K.J. Wright ended the WFT’s hopes of a fifth straight win.

Russell Wilson continued his less than impressive quarterback play, though his one pick was a ball batted into the air. That having been said, he just didn’t look particularly sharp for the most part and was unable to make any plays in the fourth quarter, throwing for just 121 yards on the day.

On the positive side, the offensive line had a terrific day pass and run blocking, and for the most part the defense was dominant with two interceptions of Haskins.

While the Seahawks are going to the playoffs, Russell Wilson’s play makes the celebration a bit muted.

O’Neil: Ready or not, Seahawks’ high-wire act is playoff bound