Seahawks’ defense steps up
Rookie cornerback Devon Witherson scored on a 97-yard interception return late in the third quarter and the Seattle Seahawks tied a team record with 11 sacks in a 24-3 victory against the struggling and offensively inept New York Giants on Monday night.
Geno Smith threw a 6yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf late in the first quarter after a strip-sack by defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. set up a short drive and Keneth Walker III scored on a 1-yard run just before halftime as the visiting Seahawks (3-1) won their third straight.
A fourth-quarter interception Quandre Diggs set up a field goal by Jason Myers in the fourth quarter as the Seattle improve to 6-0 at MetLife Stadium, including the franchise’s only Super Bowl win.
Bobby Wagner, Jordyn Brooks, Witherspoon and Uchenna Nwosu each had two sacks against the Giants (1-3). Wagner also had 17 tackles.
The Giants’ offense has really struggled the past two games with star running back Saquon Barkley out with high ankle sprain and left tackle Andrew Thomas down with hamstring injury for three games.
Browns
Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Deshaun Watson was cleared
by the team’s medical staff to play Sunday with a bruised right shoulder, but the quarterback made the decision following a brief warmup.
Stefanski reiterated that Watson’s shoulder is structurally sound, but the QB felt he couldn’t perform at a winning level.
Colts
The Indianapolis Colts will activate All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor this week and he could play Sunday against Tennessee. Coach Shane Steichen told reporters he expects Taylor to practice starting Wednesday and the team will then evaluate whether he’s ready to start playing in games.
Bills
Buffalo Bills starting cornerback Tre’Davious White will require season
-ending surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon, coach Sean McDermott announced. White’s injury is the second major one sustained by the seventh-year player, who had just returned in November after missing a calendar year recovering from a torn right knee ligament.
Despite the injury to White, the team is also preparing to welcome back edge rusher Von Miller. Miller’s pending return represents a bright side for the Bills (3-1), who have won three straight and prepare to travel to play a “home” game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday.
Bears
Coach Matt Eberflus said that former Steelers receiver Chase Claypool won’t practice with the team this week. Claypool was inactive for Sunday’s 31-28 loss to the Denver Broncos. The Bears have lost 14 straight games dating to last season. But 2022 was a rebuilding year, the first under Eberflus and Justin Fields’ first full season as Chicago’s starting quarterback.
The Bears are 0-4 and have only had more consecutive losses to start a season three times in franchise history.
Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders are donating $1 million to UNLV’s athletics program, the team announced Monday.
Around the league
Former NFL tight end Russ Francis, a three-time Pro Bowl selection with the New England Patriots who won a Super Bowl with the 1984 San Francisco 49ers, was killed along with another aviation enthusiast when the single- engine plane the two men were in crashed shortly after takeoff from an airport in upstate New York, authorities said.
Francis, 70, and Richard McSpadden, 63, had taken off from the Lake Placid Airport shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday in a Cessna 177 plane when the plane had some kind of problem. The New York State Police said it crashed into an embankment at the corner of the airport.