Seattle seems to have found winning formula
Seahawks use another strong fourth frame to get the job done, Bob Condotta writes.
CLEVELAND Through an often-dizzying haze of big plays, controversial penalties and lengthy reviews emerged the blueprint for victory for the Seahawks in 2019.
It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t artful. And for a while, this trip to Cleveland was on track to be as bad as the last one: a 6-3 loss in 2011 regarded as one of the lowest points of the Pete Carroll era.
“They punched us in the mouth the moment they stepped on the field,” Seattle middle linebacker Bobby Wagner said about the game Sunday.
Despite an early 14-point deficit, and a few times it appeared the Browns were on the verge of building an even bigger lead, the Seahawks somehow never wavered. Or as Wagner put it, “We weathered the storm.”
When the clouds finally parted, Seattle could clearly see its way to a trademark Seahawks victory, Russell Wilson once again leading a fourth-quarter drive for the winning score in a 32-28 defeat of the Browns.
The victory was the Seahawks’ third fourth-quarter comeback already this year.
“That was a character builder today,’’ Carroll said. “But I just loved the way we hung tough and stayed in this game. There were so many opportunities to let this game get away and our guys just would not do it.”
Carroll said he also liked the manner in which Seattle finally got the job done.
“There was a lot about this game that was really fun,” Carroll said.
It was hard to pick what he liked most.
Maybe all those turnovers, which directly led to 17 points and included three interceptions off Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, a fumble and a blocked punt.
Seattle came into the game with just three interceptions
for the season. But Carroll said he felt something when the Seahawks had four in practice Thursday, three in a row at one point, he said.
“That was a beautiful thing on defence, to get the football back,” Carroll said. “It is so important.”
Or maybe it was the way the squad’s veteran leaders kept the team together during the early Cleveland onslaught.
The Browns had 302 yards at halftime, with Seattle’s toutedon-paper-if-not-yet-on-thefield pass rush unable to get to Mayfield much and some shoddy tackling on a 52-yard run by Nick Chubb.
At one point in the first half, Wagner gathered the defence on the sideline for an impromptu pep talk.
“I think we were trying to do too much in the beginning and I feel like it showed and it hurt us,” Wagner said. “Once we kind of settled down and everybody started playing with a cause, we felt like we started to stop people.”
The key play might have come when the Browns were at the Seattle 10-yard line, threatening to score a touchdown and take a 27-12 lead late in the first half. Shaquill Griffin knocked away a pass intended for Antonio Callaway in the end zone with Tedric Thompson diving to make the interception. Wilson then led a quick scoring drive to make it 20-18 at the half.
The Seahawks now are 5-1 for only the third time in team history (the others being 2003 and the 2013 Super Bowl team that began 11-1) and are 15-5 since an 0-2 start to the 2018 season.