Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Seahawks follow a familiar script
SEATTLE — It’s a script that’s become too familiar for the Seattle Seahawks.
Look awful for the first half. Look like one of the best teams in football in the second half.
“It’s the same thing that always happens. Slow start out of the gate and for whatever reason we pick it up the third and fourth quarter,” Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin said.
The Seahawks scored 36 points in the second half to roll past the Indianapolis Colts 46-18 on Sunday night. The Seahawks used three total touchdowns from Russell Wilson — two passing and one running — a 30-yard touchdown sprint from J.D. McKissic (Arkansas State) and Bobby Wagner’s fumble return for a touchdown to blitz the Colts in the second half.
But the slow starts are a problem that after four games appears to be a trend. The Seahawks have 26 first-half points; the 10 points against the Colts were the most this season. They have yet to score a touchdown in the first quarter, and Justin Coleman’s 28yard interception return was just their second first-half touchdown of the season.
Seattle has gotten away with being sleepy at the start against the Colts and 49ers, but it’s not a trend they can continue.
“It took us awhile again, and you can ask me all those questions why and whatever. I don’t care,” Seattle Coach Pete Carroll said.
The Colts played a strong first half, the only mistake being Jacoby Brissett’s pass that Coleman undercut and returned for a score. They led 15-10 at halftime and had the home crowd booing the Seahawks as they left the field. But the second half spiraled in a hurry. The Colts had just 32 total yards in the second half, and a 13-second span where Seattle scored 14 points was too much for Indianapolis to overcome.
“You have to just find a way to stop the bleeding,” Colts Coach Chuck Pagano said. “You have to make plays. You have to answer and respond. We did it in the first half.”
It was a different Wilson in the second half, and the play that emulated it the most was his 23-yard touchdown run on Seattle’s first drive of the half where Wilson popped up after diving for the goal line and gave an emphatic fist pump about finding the end zone. Wilson was 13-of-17 passing for 182 yards and 2 touchdowns in the second half, along with his TD sprint.