Here’s three takeaways from the Seattle Seahawks’ 27-17 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday:
1) Russell Wilson is not human.
Seattle’s star quarterback must be some kind of comic book superhero. What else explains how well he was able to perform Sunday, given he was dealing with both a sprained right ankle and a sprained left knee? He has to have Wolverine-like healing powers or something.
Wilson was essentially flawless, finishing 23-for-32 for 309 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Sure, he wasn’t his usual mobile self, but it didn’t make a lick of difference. Even though the gameplan seemed to be to get rid of the ball quickly to protect Wilson, he was still able to connect on throws down the field. His rapport with tight end Jimmy Graham seems to be fully there, too, as Graham (six catches for 113 yards) had his second-straight game of 100-plus receiving yards.
Seattle is now 3-1 heading into its bye week, and given the way Wilson seems to be able to recover from injury, he might just be back at 100 percent by the time the Seahawks face the Atlanta Falcons at home on Oct. 16.
2) Seattle’s offensive line was up to the challenge.
The biggest threat the Seahawks faced this week was the Jets’ formidable defensive line. Muhammad Wilkerson and company are as good as it gets in the NFL, and Seattle’s offensive line struggled the first two weeks of the season when faced with the quality offensive fronts offered by the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Rams. The Seahawks were better last week against the San Francisco 49ers, but was that because of improvement or because of weaker competition?
Sunday’s performance suggests it’s real improvement. The Seahawks’ offensive line, with rookie first-round draft pick Germain Ifedi (ankle) playing for the first time this season, was able to create a good pocket, providing Wilson with protection and also meaning Wilson didn’t have to move laterally when he did have to get his legs going. Wilson was sacked just twice and hit just six times and didn’t appear to suffer any further damage.
The offensive line was less effective in opening up the run game (66 yards on 26 carries), but it kept Wilson healthy, which was the most important thing.
3) The Seahawks are still willing to deploy Richard Sherman against a star receiver.
Sherman, Seattle’s all-everything cornerback, typically sticks to the left side of the field. However, last season we saw the Seahawks being willing to use him to shadow an opposing team’s top receiver when it made sense. With the Jets playing without the injured Eric Decker, Seattle decided to slap Sherman on Brandon Marshall.
It didn’t seem to be working to Seattle’s benefit in the first half as Marshall had three catches for 72 yards and a touchdown. However, Sherman won the one-on-one battle in the second half as he caught more Ryan Fitzpatrick passes (two) than Marshall did (one) in the final 30 minutes, including a devastating pick early in the fourth quarter with the Seahawks leading 17-10 and the Jets driving.
The Seahawks ended up heaping more misery on Fitzpatrick, picking him off three times after Fitzpatrick threw six interceptions last week against the Kansas City Chiefs. This was an ominous development for Seattle’s future opponents, as the only thing the Seahawks’ defense had yet to do this season was create turnovers.
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