Seahawks, Wilson sputter out against Ravens and their quarterback dynamo

SEATTLE Seahawks fans have been spoiled by a quarterback who makes the magical look routine, who makes something out of nothing and turns fourth-quarter deficits into thrilling come-frombehind victories.

That has been the lore of Russell Wilson.

And then Lamar Jackson showed up.

On Sunday, the Seahawks got their first up-close glimpse of Jackson, Baltimore’s dynamic second-year QB who stole some of Wilson’s fourth-quarter magical dust — spinning and sprinting away from Seattle defenders and leading the Ravens to a 30-16 victory over the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.

The loss dropped the Seahawks to 5-2 and 1½ games back of the San Francisco 49ers atop the NFC West.

Here’s what we learned:

WILSON ISN’T PERFECT

For the first time all year, Wilson showed that he is mortal.

That was most evident on his first interception of the year in the second quarter, when he floated a pass in the direction of Jaron Brown in the flats.

Marcus Peters, newly acquired by the Ravens just this week in a trade with the Rams (and playing his second game this season as an opponent at CenturyLink), jumped the pass, picked it off and raced 67 yards for a touchdown.

That pick-six, which came when the Seahawks were driving toward at least a field goal that would have stretched their 10-6 lead near halftime, completely changed the complexion of the game.

LAMAR JACKSON SHOW

Jackson, who passed for 143 yards and rushed for 117 yards, showed why he is a nightmare for opposing defences, a lethal threat with both his legs and arms.

In fact, he outplayed Wilson for the most part in a performance that was reminiscent of the Seahawks quarterback at his most dynamic — with even more game-breaking speed.

That was most notable in the fourth quarter when the Seahawks had the Ravens pinned deep in their own territory, third down and 8 from the Baltimore 12.

With the Seahawks still within a touchdown, trailing 20-13, a stop would have given them the ball in good field position.

But Jackson scampered 30 yards for a back-breaking first down.

The Ravens went on to nail a field goal with 3:47 left in the fourth quarter that put them ahead by 10, 23-13. A scoop-and-score touchdown off a D.K. Metcalf fumble on Seattle’s next possession ended any chance of a Seahawk comeback.

NFC WEST RACE

This was a sobering loss for the Seahawks, who yielded two defensive touchdowns off turnovers, never got their offence untracked, and fell to 5-2.

They dropped 1½ games behind the unbeaten 49ers in the NFC West, and just one game ahead of the victorious Rams — with rapidly improving Arizona at .500 after three consecutive wins.

Considering that four of Seattle’s five wins have come by a total of eight points — three of those against teams that are a combined 4-15 — the Seahawks still have some proving to do to show they are a legitimate title-contending team.

ROSTER MOVES

Seattle defensive tackle Jarran Reed was activated to the 53-man roster ahead of Sunday’s game.

The Seahawks on Saturday also placed tight end Will Dissly on injured reserve to make room for Reed, who was suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Reed was disciplined for an incident in Bellevue, Wash., on April 27, 2017, in which a woman filed a complaint of assault against him. Prosecutors investigated and declined to press charges.

Reed returned to practice this week and reportedly impressed coach Pete Carroll.

“He must have worked really hard,” Carroll said. “He would tell you that he did. The challenge of the practice was nothing for him. He’d been working hard enough so that this is not a step up for him, which is what you hope so that he doesn’t have a fall out coming off the practices. He’s ready to go.”

Reed had a career-best 10.5 sacks in 16 games last year after having just three in 30 games over his first two NFL seasons. The 26-year-old Reed underwent sports hernia surgery in late April but recovered in time to participate in mini-camp drills during the second week of June. Dissly sustained a season-ending Achilles’ injury in Sunday’s 32-28 victory over the Cleveland Browns.

He was running a pass route in the end zone in the second quarter when he made a cut and tumbled to the ground, clutching at his leg.

Dissly had 23 receptions for 262 yards and four touchdown receptions this season.