Seahawks Instant Reaction: Seattle Sports on 24-3 win over Giants

Oct 2, 2023, 9:03 PM | Updated: 9:40 pm

Quandre Diggs of the Seattle Seahawks returns an interception against the Giants. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

(Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Staff report

The Seattle Seahawks are riding high after their 24-3 win over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, which makes them 3-1 on the season.

Seahawks 24, Giants 3: Recap | Big plays | Sack record | Stats

We’ve got the instant reactions from the voices of Seattle Sports. Read them below, and then tune in all day Tuesday for even more reaction and analysis beginning with Brock and Salk at 6 a.m. and The Pete Carroll Show with the Seahawks head coach at 9:30.

• Mike Salk – Brock and Salk (6-10 a.m.)

Raise your hand if you had Devon Witherspoon out-sacking Jalen Carter through the first quarter of their rookie seasons. OK, me neither. But his two sacks were just the precursor to the 97-yard pick-6, which all but iced this game. He was everywhere and he brought all of the energy, juice and lift that they had hoped to get from Jamal Adams. And he did all of it while playing in his third NFL game at a position he had never played before this year (nickel cornerback). That is what a No. 5 pick looks like!

While he’s the obvious player of this game, he sure had competition from all corners of the roster (and coaching staff). The pass rush was better than any point in the last half decade. Credit to… well, everyone: Dre Jones, Jarran Reed, Bobby Wagner, Jordyn Brooks, Uchenna Nwosu and plenty more.

The other side of the story was the stellar job done by offensive line coach Andy Dickerson’s makeshift unit. They played most of this game with only one starter, and that was usual center Evan Brown out of position at guard. Two rookies, two young tackles and an undersized, out of position guard? No problem. They played a more than competent game.

Add it all up, and you have one of the most physically dominant games we’ve seen in years. They’ll have an extra week to rest and if we see this style of football moving forward, they will beat some much better teams than the New York Giants.

• Stacy Rost – Bump and Stacy (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.)

Read Stacy’s takeaways here.

• Bob Stelton – Wyman and Bob (2-7 p.m.)

What a night for the Seahawks defense! They dominated that Giants offensive line like they were mad at them. The Seahawks came into this game with five total sacks on the season, yet they sacked Daniel Jones 11 times in this game.

The star of the night without question was rookie Devon Witherspoon: seven tackles, two sacks (more than Jalen Carter), and one interception returned 97 yards for a TD. He is a very physical, almost violent tackler that this Hawks defense has missed since Kam Chancellor departed.

One of the best parts of the defensive performance tonight was holding the Giants to just 203 yards passing while making two interceptions. The Hawks came into game with the worst pass defense in league, allowing an average of 308 yards per game.

Also great to see the running game put up 121 yards and one TD on a night where the passing game just wasn’t that sharp.

Overall, a great win going into the bye week, which they desperately need after sustaining a few more injuries tonight that included Jamal Adams leaving with what appears to be a concussion.

• Dave Wyman – Wyman and Bob, Seahawks Radio Network color commentator

• Brock Huard – Brock and Salk

First name Devon.

Last name Witherspoon.

Bobby Wagner is the alpha and the sage old soul. Devon is the firestarter and one of the most instinctive rookies we’ve ever seen in Seattle.

Now get healthy.

• Mike Lefko – Wyman and Bob

The entire NFL world watches on Monday night, and the Seahawks put together a statement win on the biggest stage.

This team has gotten better each week. That is the most encouraging aspect of this win, the thoroughly dominant defense, and the fact that you can see clear improvement from one game to the next.

Welcome to the big stage, Devon Witherspoon. The delayed start to his season put immense scrutiny on the fifth overall pick, but Monday night validated everything the Seahawks saw in him. Physical hits, multiple sacks, and the game-changing pick-6 set the tone for everything he can bring to this Seahawks defense.

Yes, the Giants’ offensive line was banged up, but 11 sacks speak volumes, especially for a team that had just two after the first two weeks of the season.

The plethora of injured Seahawks is slightly concerning, so it’s a great time to have a bye week despite it coming so early in the season. Rest up, heal up and get ready for a 13-week push to the finish.

• Justin Barnes – Brock and Salk

The Seahawks improve to 6-0 in Metlife Stadium after an odd start, but Seahawks fans were left shocked, concerned, stupefied – whatever word you want to use to describe the luck of Jamal Adams, who lasted just nine plays before being ruled out with a concussion on his first defensive series in 385 days.

Fortunately, the Seahawks’ defense was still able to feast with Adams sidelined, piling up 11 total sacks and four turnovers, highlighted by rookie Devon Witherspoon (who K.J. Wright praised for his Legion of Boom-era style of play and high football IQ on the most recent episode of his weekly Wednesday show on Seattle Sports). Witherspoon once again rose to the occasion with his fast, physical play and anticipation, collecting a pick-6, two sacks and several energizing tackles to make his presence known.

The Hawks’ offense wasn’t perfect (3 for 12 on third down, 0 for 2 on fourth down), but it didn’t need to be with the O-line only allowing two sacks in the victory, even with both starting tackles Abraham Lucas and Charles Cross out for another week.

Most Seahawks fans probably groaned at the NFL schedule makers upon seeing a Week 5 bye for Seattle, but these 13 days between the MNF game and the Oct. 15 Bengals matchup is going to be huge for the number of injuries piling up for the Hawks. I can only imagine Pete Carroll will echo the same sentiment with Brock and Salk on Tuesday morning.