By Jason Puckett
No, it wasn't pretty but the Seahawks did exactly what they needed to do against the Jets on Sunday. They extinguished hope in the second half for the Jets and came away with gritty 28-7 win to improve to 6-4 on the season with the bye looming.
All you can ask of the Seahawks is that they found a way to win. Yes, it's a cliche, but in the NFL there are no style points when it comes to wins. If we cared about style, then that display to some would be deemed awful. But see, in my opinion, there was a hint of football beatuy to Sunday's win. Seattle went into the half only ahead 14-7, but it felt like they were trailing. They got comfortable ater their first score took the same amount of time it takes Oregon to score on a normal possession. Seattle got complacent and thought Sunday's game against the Jets would be a walk in the park.
It took the intermission for Pete Carroll and others to remind them that they have done nothing this season to simply just show up in the first half and think they can just coast to a win. The staff reminded them of what there identity is. Their idenity is one of a tough nose running team, which combines that with a rare offensive explosivness and a defense that breaks your will.
That will was clearly broken in the second half for the Jets by the Seahawks. The Jets offense, who will never be confused with the San Francisco 49ers of the '80's, was held to just 73 yards in the second half and Mark Sanchez was made to look like a quarterback who should have listened to his college coach.
I thought the play of the game came from a guy that the Jets reportedly wanted in last years draft and that was Seahawks rookie defensive end Bruce Irvin. The Jets had great field position, near midfield, and on third and seven with the Jets trying to make it a game, only down by 7, Sanchez dropped back to throw and Irvin came bursting off the edge and wrapped him up for a sack and the Jets were forced to punt. That single play ignighted the 12th Man and the Seahawks offense finally showed life by going on to score 14 second half points.
The offense, which had become stagnant in the first half with their normal offense decided it was time to scrap normalcy and go a bit unconventional with more read zone offense. We've seen this look more and more since the Carolina game, but on Sunday it was the bread and butter for the Seahawks in the second half and it's an offense that demands and deserves more regularity.
The read zone allowed to Russell Wilson to get to the edges. It allowed Marshawn Lynch to work the inside with a bit of deception. Lynch carried the ball 13 times for 85 yards in the second half and finished with 124 yards overall on 27 carries. The read zone also allowed Wilson to throw a gorgeous 31 yard touchdown to Sidney Rice down the seam. It was a thing of beauty to watch the Seahawks execute an offense that many "tradionalists" feel is best served in the college game. The second half produced 229 total yards for an offense that looked incapable of putting those numbers up in the first half.
So, the beauty was that the Seahawks didn't play their best, but if you just checked the boxscore you would see a 28-7 win and in NFL terms that's considered a blowout. But, it wasn't a blowout it was just a more determined team that continued to chop the Jets down and eventually that tree fell in the second half.
