Seahawks-Patriots game thread

Seahawks complete an amazing comeback

Wow, so that happened.

Russell Wilson found Sidney Rice on a 46-yard touchdown pass to give Seattle the lead, then the Seahawks defense held on for one last stop to give Seattle an improbable 24-23 win to improve to 4-2.

The Seahawks did almost nothing on offense in the second and third quarters, yet scored a pair of touchdowns in the final quarter.

I’ll have a bunch more after the game.

Seahawks still hanging around

New England was up 23-10 and with the way Seattle’s offense was going, it appeared the game might be out of reach, but the Seahawks are back in it now after a Braylon Edwards 10-yard touchdown catch with 7:21 left int he game.

That score was set up by a 51-yard pass from Russell Wilson to Golden Tate.

Seattle’s defense has give up yards, but also taken the ball away from the Patriots twice this half. Can the D come up with another stop?

Patriots lead up to 10, Seahawks offense doing little

After moving the ball well on its first two possessions, Seattle’s offense has done next to nothing since scoring those 10 points, punting three times, fumbling once and having a botched punt turn into a turnover on downs.

Seattle just had a chance to get back into the game thanks to Richard Sherman’s third interception of the season, but the offense promptly went three and out and had to give the ball back. If the offense can’t get something going soon, this game could get away from the Seahawks.

Patriots lead 17-10 at halftime

The Seahawks trail by a touchdown after two quarters, but are lucky the deficit isn’t even larger.

After New England took the lead with a touchdown with 2:12 remaining, the Seahawks seemed unsure whether they wanted to run out the clock or attempt to drive down the field and score. Eventually Seattle had to punt, only Jon Ryan dropped the snap, couldn’t get off a kick, and New England got the ball at Seattle’s 24 yard line with 40 seconds left. The Patriots should have gotten out of the half with another field goal, but Tom Brady was called for intentional grounding with a second left on the clock, a penalty that requires a 10-second clock runoff, meaning the half was over.

A few halftime stats.

First downs—NE 14, SEA 9

Total yards—NE 252, SEA 203

Net rushing yards—NE 36, SEA 53

Net passing yards—216, SEA 150

Passing

Tom Brady—21 for 30, 216 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

Russell Wilson—9 for 12, 155, 1 TD, 0 INT

Rushing

Brandon Bodlen 6 carries, 28 yards

Marshawn Lynch 9 carries, 26 yards

Receiving

Wes Welker 7 catches, 102 yards

Doug Baldwin 2 catches, 74 yards

Doug Baldwin TD gives Seahawks a 10-7 lead

The Seahawks have quickly answered New England’s touchdown with one of their own, a 24-yard strike from Russell Wilson to Doug Baldwin. Baldwin also had a 50-yard catch to convert a third-down early in the drive, giving him more yards on those two plays than he had so far this season (60) coming into the game.

Wilson, who has been on the mark throwing the ball, helped keep that drive going using his legs, picking up nine yards on third-and-4 with a wild, field-reversing scramble.

Brady to Welker puts New England up 7-3

Before this game, the Seahawks’ defense had not given up a touchdown since the Monday Night game against Green Bay, but that streak ended in the first quarter today. On New England’s second possession of the game, Tom Brady connected with Wes Welker for a 43-yard score. Welker managed to lose Earl Thomas in coverage on the play, and found himself all alone behind Seattle’s defense.

Seahawks take 3-0 lead

A nice start for the Seahawks offense once again stalled out in the red zone, so the Seahawks settled for a 34-yard field goal to go up early on the Patriots.

Russell Wilson hit Sidney Rice on a 29-yard pass to get the Seahawks into New England territory, then Seattle got into field goal range on a nice leaping grab in traffic by Zach Miller for a 22-yard gain.

Round 1 goes to Seahawks D

New England opened the game with the ball, and for one possession at least, Seattle’s D got the better of this game’s marquee match up.

The Patriots did manage one first down (they’ve only gone three and out three times this season), but after that the Seahawks forced a quick punt. Richard Sherman had the pass breakup that forced a punt, knocking the ball away from Deion Branch, who then got in Sherman’s face as the teams left the field.

One thing worth noting was that the Patriots huddled on every play but one on that series. Last week the Patriots used a ton of no-huddle offense to jump ahead of Denver.

Pregame and inactives

We’re about an hour away from what should be a very interesting battle between the Seahawks, who have the league’s top defense, and the Patriots, who have the top-ranked offense.

That Patriots offense will be closer to full strength today with TE Aaron Hernandez being active after missing the last three games with an ankle injury. The Patriots most significant injury-related inactive is LB Dont’a Hightower, a starter who contributes significantly to New England’s run defense.

As for Seattle, there were no surprises on today’s inactive list with injured G John Moffitt, DT Jaye Howard and DT Clinton McDonald all inactive.

Seahawks inactives

WR Charly Martin

S Winston Guy

CB Danny Gorrer

CB Jeremy Lane

DT Clinton McDonald

G John Moffitt

DT Jaye Howard

Patriots inactives

WR Julian Edelman

S Steve Gregory