Note: In what is becoming commonplace for the Seattle Seahawks this season, they won another game in its final seconds with their nationally televised, Sunday night 27-26 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. It has taken me a while to write this post for a simple reason—I’m having a hard time finding adjectives to describe these games. I mean, how many ways can you say” exciting,” “unbelievable,” and “incredible.” Wait—I just thought of a good one— “heart stopping!” That’s exactly what these games are—they’re “heart stopping!” For the story of the latest Hawks heart stopper, this time over the Vikings, please read on…MA

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As I write this it has been nearly two weeks since Russell Wilson hit DK Metcalf in the end zone on a 4^th and goal play from the Minnesota 6-yard line with 15 seconds left in the game. That touchdown not only put Seattle ahead by one point, 27-26, basically sealing another improbable win; it also put an end to the apoplexy many of us Twelves were suffering watching this game. Personally, I am glad the Hawks had a Week 6 bye; I needed the extra time to recover. Now that I have I’ll share with you my impressions of this game, so here we go…

What made this contest difficult to watch for Hawks fans is that essentially we saw two different games play out before us on our big screens. In one of those games, which covered about 54 minutes of the 60 minutes of game time, the Vikings absolutely dominated Seattle, both offensively AND defensively. In the second game, however, which covered about 5 minutes in the 3^rd quarter and the last couple minutes of the 4^th quarter, Seattle incorporated brilliant defense, turnovers, opportunistic offense, and plain old Russell Wilson magic to score all 27 of their points and move to 5-0 on the season.

For an index of how thoroughly Minnesota dominated Seattle during their 53 plus minutes, look no further than the first half of the game. In those first two quarters the Vikings not only took a 13-0 lead, the Minnesota D held Seattle MVP candidate Wilson to 40 yards passing and sacked him 4 times. Using a ball control offense featuring NFL leading rusher, Dalvin Cook, who gained 65 yards on the ground in the half, and a bushel more receiving, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and company were brilliant at chewing up the clock and keeping the ball away from the Hawks offense. It was so bad that midway through the 2^nd quarter, with Seattle trailing 10-0, Minnesota had gained nearly 4 times as many yards as the Hawks, had run 28 plays to Seattle’s 8, and held the Hawks to 0-3 on 3^rd downs; a fact guaranteed to kill drives. Fortunately, the Seahawks defense was stout enough to force field goals instead of touchdowns on two of the Vikings’ long possessions, which kept Minnesota within two scores at the half. For we Twelves, after two quarters that was our only solace—if the Hawks offense could just find itself, this game was still eminently winnable.

The way the 3^rd quarter started didn’t give us much hope, however. The Vikings defense forced another 3 and out on Seattle, to give Cousins, Cook et al the ball back, 1^st and ten on their own 15-yard line. On the first play of the possession Cousins threw a swing pass to Cook in the right flat, which the running back caught, took one step, and then limped straight for the sideline to get out of bounds. Cook’s injury turned out to be some sort of groin strain, very bad for any player, much less a running back. He would return for one play a little later in the quarter, but then just couldn’t go and sat out the rest of the game.

Cook’s injury marked the beginning of the Seahawks’ portion of this game. Across the next 5 minutes of game time, in a dizzying display, Seattle would force two turnovers and score 3 touchdowns to turn a 13-0 deficit into a 21-13 lead. It all happened so fast. Cook left the game at the 12:56 mark of the 3^rd quarter. From that point Seattle’s defense held and forced a Vikings punt, which David Moore fielded at Seattle’s 25-yard line and returned to the Seahawks’ 43. Wilson brought his offense to the line of scrimmage at the 11:37 mark of the 3^rd quarter. On the first play he hit running back Chris Carson for 12 yards to the Vikings 45. On the next play, he hit tight end Greg Olsen on the right sideline for 20 yards to the Minnesota 25. A 6-yard Travis Homer run left Seattle with a 2^nd and 4 at the Viks’ 19. The next play was a thing of beauty. Wilson took the snap from shotgun, got great protection, and then hit Will Dissly on a wheel route down the left sideline, dropping the arcing, perfectly thrown ball right into the tight end’s hands about 2 yards past the goal line. With the extra point the Hawks had put 7 on the board after driving 57 yards in one minute and 40 seconds.

After the Seattle kickoff, with 9 minutes and 55 seconds left in the 3^rd quarter the Vikings started their next possession, 1^st and 10 at their own 25-yard line. On the 2^nd play of the possession Minnesota was called for holding, which put them into a 2^nd and 17 hole. An incompletion later, with Cousins and Co. facing a 3^rd and 17 from their own 18, the Vikings quarterback took the shotgun snap, scanned for a receiver, and then attempted a pass toward his left, a few yards down field. The ball, which looked like it was tipped, fluttered to the turf a few yards short of the receiver and was initially called incomplete by the refs. On replay, however, it was clear that what appeared to be a forward pass was, in fact, a fumble; with Hawks defensive lineman Damontre Moore knocking the ball loose from Cousins’ hand just before he released the pass. Seahawks head coach, Pete Carroll, challenged the incomplete ruling, which resulted in the call being changed from incomplete to a fumble recovery for Seattle at the Minnesota 15-yard line. (Hawks linebacker KJ Wright, realizing Cousins may have fumbled, made the recovery) Two plays later Wilson hit DK Metcalf with a perfect 13-yard dart just as he crossed the goal line in the left side of the end zone. The extra point kick gave the Hawks a 14-13 lead with exactly 8 minutes and 19 seconds left in the 3^rd quarter.

From the time of Dalvin Cook’s injury to Metcalf’s touchdown catch, exactly 4 minutes and 37 seconds of game time had elapsed. With the Seattle kick off following Metcalf’s score sailing through the end zone, the Vikings now had the ball, 1^st and 10 at their own 25. On the very next play Cousins took the snap from under center, faked a hand-off to Dalvin Cook (who had returned to the game for one play) and rolled to his right, looking for his excellent rookie receiver, Justin Jefferson, about 15 yards down field. Seattle’s strong side linebacker, KJ Wright, who is having an excellent season, on seeing the run fake and Cousins rolling right, immediately buzzed out into the flat area in front Jefferson. Apparently, Cousins didn’t get the memo on either how tall Wright is (6’4”), or how high he can jump, or both, because he tried to float a pass over the Seattle linebacker’s head and into Jefferson’s hands. Bad idea. Wright simply leaped into the air, stuck up a big right paw, made the one-handed pick, and returned the ball to the Vikings 29 yard-line, thus giving Wilson and the Hawks offense fantastic field position, which they did not waste.

On the first play after the turnover, Wilson took the snap from under center and handed the ball to Chris Carson as he angled toward the right side of the Hawks offensive line. Meanwhile, the entire Seattle O-line engaged in a massive surge, with each lineman blocking their man toward the right, seemingly right into the path of Carson’s run. One thing all great running backs have is superb vision. With that vision, they are always looking for cutback lanes; and on this play that is exactly what happened. The Seattle line surge to the right created a massive cut back lane on the left, Carson saw it, put his foot in the ground, cut slightly left, and in a flash was through the hole, breaking arm tackles on his way to the end zone for another Seattle touchdown. With the extra point Seattle now had a 21-13 lead with exactly 8 minutes and 2 seconds left in the game.

In less than 5 minutes of game time the Seahawks had scored 3 touchdowns and taken control of the game; and we Twelves had no reason to think that our team’s dominance would not continue. Dalvin Cook was out of the game, our defense was making stops and turnovers, and chef Wilson, after the dismal first half, was cooking. But, this is the Seahawks we are talking about, and as inexplicably as the game had turned toward our team earlier in the quarter, it now turned back toward the Vikings. Across the next 21 minutes of game time Minnesota once again shut down the Seahawks offense, intercepting Wilson once, while, after long drives, scoring two touchdowns of their own on two short Cousins passes to his superb receiver Adam Thielen. The two scores put Minnesota back in front 26-21, while simultaneously visiting apoplexy on us Twelves—again.

The Vikings interception of Wilson took place at the 5 minute and 48 second mark of the 4^th quarter, and for me was the low point of the game. On the play Russell was rolling to his right and tried to swing a pass to Chris Carson about 15 yards down the right sideline. The only problem was that Carson was out of bounds, in no position to catch the ball, and had Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson just to his left, who was. The linebacker made the pick at about his own 45-yard line and returned it to the 50, giving Minnesota the ball back in great field position with a 5-point lead and time running out. From the time the Seahawks had scored their 3^rd touchdown way back in the 3^rd quarter, to this point in the 4^th quarter, Minnesota had employed a devastating rushing attack led by Dalvin Cook’s replacement, Alexander Mattison, who rushed for over 100 yards in the 2^nd half alone, to re-take control of the game. By the two-minute warning the Vikings had driven to the Seattle 5-yard line, where they had a 4^th down with inches to go for a 1^st down, which set up what must be considered the play of the game.

The dilemma facing Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer in this situation is whether to kick a chip shot field goal, take an 8-point lead, and then give the ball back to Russell Wilson for the last one minute and 45 seconds of the game, thus forcing Seattle to score a touchdown AND 2-point conversion just to tie; or go for it on the 4^th down, figuring that if you make it you can run out the clock and never give the ball back to Seattle. With the way the Vikings were running the ball you can’t blame Zimmer for the decision he made, which was to go for it. No way did he want that ball back in the Seattle quarterback’s hands. Unfortunately for him, his decision resulted in exactly that happening.

On the 4^th and inches play from the Seattle 5-yard line, Cousins lined up under center with a fullback right behind him and Mattison at tailback in classic I-formation. Making things worse for both teams was the fact that the evening drizzle, ongoing since the beginning of the game, had turned into a driving rain, causing both a slick ball and a slick field. With the snap of the ball Cousins turned and handed off to Mattison who tried to run directly up field, hitting the gap between the Vikings right guard and right tackle. It was a big mistake by Mattison. Earlier I mentioned how important vision is to a running back, and in this play we have an excellent example. Had Mattison been just a little more patient, and looked before committing himself, he would have seen a huge vacant area to the outside of his right tackle. Had he seen it, the first down would have been certain, but likely the running back would have scored a touchdown. As it was, Seattle linebacker Cody Barton did a magnificent job of taking on the blocker at the point of attack, which allowed Bobby Wagner to come in behind and, along with Benson Mayowa, make the tackle on Mattison. For the Vikings, the ball was spotted inches short of the 1^st down, and so was turned over to Russell and the Hawks at their own 6-yard line. What happened next was taken right out of a Mike Zimmer nightmare.

After the stop on 4^th down Russell Wilson and the Seattle offense took the field with 1 minute and 57 seconds left in the game, one time out left to burn, and 94 yards away from the winning touchdown. With the rain pouring down, this would be a challenge, even for the magic of Wilson. On the first play from scrimmage we saw immediately why, with Wilson, there is always hope. Taking the snap from shotgun, the Seattle quarterback retreated to his own end zone to pass. The Minnesota pass rushers all took outside routes toward Wilson, which left a big hole up the middle of the field. Spying the opening, Russell wasted no time and took off running straight up field, gaining 17 yards up to the Seattle 23-yard line. The Hawks now had some room to operate; but three incompletions later, two likely due to wet balls, found Seattle still stuck on its own 23 with only one play left to gain the 10 yards for the first down required to continue the drive. If ever there was a time for some Wilson magic, this was it; and with the help of some great pass protection and Seattle’s brilliant 2^nd year receiver DK Metcalf, the Seattle quarterback delivered. On the 4^th down play Wilson was lined up in the shotgun, with Metcalf split to his left. Split to Wilson’s right was rookie receiver Freddie Swain and to Swain’s left, in the slot, was Tyler Lockett. Next to Wilson in the backfield was running back Travis Homer. With the snap of the ball, Wilson faded to about the Seattle 14-yard line and, while standing strong in a perfectly formed pocket created largely by a fantastic Homer block on a blitzing linebacker, he made his read and launched a high, arching pass deep down the left side of the field toward Metcalf, who was jockeying for position with rookie Vikings defensive back, Cameron Dantzler. Wilson’s pass was deliberately under thrown just a bit to allow Metcalf to adjust to the ball, which he did brilliantly, leaping high to make the catch in front of Dantzler for a 39-yard gain, all the way to the Vikings 38-yard line.

It was just an unbelievable play, and if any of us Twelves were doubting Wilson would find a way to win, we suddenly were true believers again. Seattle now had the ball, 1^st and 10, well into Minnesota territory, with one minute and 14 seconds left in the game. From there, following an incompletion to Metcalf down the left side, Wilson hit Tyler Lockett on one of his patented, “spin out of the pocket to elude pressure” roll-outs to his right for 17 yards to the Vikings 21. Tyler made it out of bounds on the play which stopped the clock with exactly one minute left in regulation. The next play was a pressured throw-away to Wilson’s left, which left the Hawks with 2^nd and 10, still at the 21. For the 2^nd down play Wilson once again was in shotgun, with Metcalf split to his right and Lockett in the slot to the quarterback’s left. The defender on Metcalf was playing several yards off the imposing receiver, and the safeties were both deep, back toward the goal line, leaving the Vikings DB one on one, on an island, as they say in football. On coming to the line of scrimmage and seeing the Minnesota defense, Wilson knew exactly where to go with the ball. With the center snap Metcalf took 2 steps up field and then made a hard slant to the inside, crossing in front of the defensive back, who was now in a hopeless position behind the Seattle receiver. With the safeties so deep there was no help for the poor DB, and when Wilson fired the pass to Metcalf, which he caught at the 12 and carried to the 6-yard line, there was nothing the defender could do to stop it.  

That play gave the Hawks first and goal at the Minnesota 6-yard line with 49 seconds left on the running clock, and one time out still in their back pocket. We all now knew that Seattle would score and win this game—just another marvelous Wilson miracle—but 3 straight incompletions later there the Hawks were, still parked at the 6-yard line, 4^th and goal with only 20 seconds left in the game. Prior to the 4^th down play Pete Carroll burned his last time out to discuss things with Wilson and get certainty on what to do. Whatever they discussed worked, as you all know, because on that 4^th down play in the rain at the Clink, Wilson hit Metcalf on a left to right crossing route 4 yards deep in the end zone, with Vikings safety Anthony Harris doing his best, but failing, to knock the ball loose from behind. The touchdown gave Seattle the one point lead, 27-26, which ended up being the final score after the Hawks failed in the 2-point conversion attempt.

Only 15 seconds were left after the Seattle TD, and there was little the Vikings could do, running only two plays, the second being another Cousins fumble during which the clock expired as the players chased the loose ball. The play was officially reviewed as it once again looked like a possible incomplete pass, but when the ruling of fumble was confirmed, the game was over; and the Seahawks had another last second, heart stopping victory. They’re becoming commonplace these days, much to the distress of my blood pressure.

With the win, and after the 49ers beat the Rams in their Week 6 game, Seattle is now 5-0 with a two-game lead on the rest of the NFC West; and they are the only undefeated NFC team left. That’s all good. Not so good is the fact the Hawks now enter the toughest part of their schedule, with games against the Cardinals (this week), the 49ers, the Bills, the Rams, and the Cardinals again across the next 5 weeks. It will take another miracle for our team to emerge from that stretch still undefeated.

Also not good is the fact that Arizona seems to be peaking, as their 38-10 blowout of the Cowboys last Monday would seem to indicate. Second year quarterback Kyler Murray is scrambling all over the place, has superb, All Pro caliber receivers in Larry Fitzgerald and DeAndre Hopkins, and an excellent running back in Kenyan Drake, who is on pace for nearly 1300 rushing yards this year. Defensively Arizona features excellent defensive back play from two former UW Huskies who are making big names for themselves in the NFL; safety Budda Baker and cornerback Byron Murphy. The great Cardinals pass rusher Chandler Jones, a long-time Russell Wilson nemesis, will not be playing, however, as he is out for the season after surgery on an injured biceps muscle.

With all their talent, beating the Cardinals on their home field will be very tough, and will require Seattle’s best effort. Personally, I think this game is too close to call, but I am really hoping we don’t have to experience another heart stopper.

A two touchdown, or even 10-point victory, would be a blessing at this point, don’t you think?

I know I do!

Go Hawks!!

Copyright © 2020

By Mark Arnold

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