SEATTLE — After his coverage put the finishing touches on a goal-line stand that punctuated a dominant outing by the Seattle Seahawks defense, cornerback Devon Witherspoon wound up suspended in the air, twirling in the grasp of linebacker Tyrel Dodson, joyously celebrating in the face of a lifeless Miami Dolphins offense.
In that moment, Dodson and Witherspoon displayed exactly what Seattle’s leaders on defense look for when their group is put in a tough spot: passion, energy and a strong desire to protect their house.
“No one scores on you. No one knocks down your door,” Dodson said. “I tell the guys, ‘You’ve got to stand on your 10 toes.’”
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Seattle’s defense did exactly that, while its offense spent most of the day shooting itself in the foot, during a 24-3 victory Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field that improved the team to 3-0.
Seattle’s offense had eight penalties and Geno Smith threw two interceptions, the latter gifting the ball to the Dolphins at their own 48-yard line, trailing 17-3 with 37 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Miami by that time was down to third-string quarterback Tim Boyle, who replaced an injured Skylar Thompson in the third quarter (starting QB Tua Tagovailoa is on injured reserve with a concussion). Boyle drove Miami to the Seattle 4, with a chance to cut the deficit to one possession early in the fourth quarter.
Two unsuccessful runs were followed by an incomplete pass that tight end Durham Smythe lost control of while diving in the back of the end zone. Facing fourth-and-goal from the 2, Miami tried to run a pick play to free up running back De’Von Achane in the flat against Witherspoon, but Seattle’s cornerback fought through contact to close the throwing window and force Boyle to throw an uncatchable ball.
Spoon said NO. 🚫 pic.twitter.com/Am2ptSPdlu
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 22, 2024
“It’s good when a team is knocking at your door for four downs and you don’t let them in,” Dodson said. “I’m just so proud of my defense. These guys are so resilient, man.”
After outlasting the Patriots in overtime in Week 2, Dodson and other members of Seattle’s defense were dissatisfied with their performance, particularly against the run. The roles were reversed for Seattle this week. On Sunday, Smith spoke on behalf of an offense displeased with its sloppiness, which put the defense in compromising positions.
Smith’s first interception came while he was avoiding a sack on third-and-15 in the first quarter. His pass was high and ricocheted off running back Zach Charbonnet and into the arms of defensive back Kader Kohou, who returned it to the 6-yard line. Seattle’s defense forced a field goal three plays later.
“Short fields, the good defenses have a mindset to go out there and want it to be toughest for your group,” safety Julian Love said. “We take it as a challenge. Guys are excited for the opportunity to show what we can do in the red zone.”
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Seattle’s next play from scrimmage was a 71-yard touchdown pass from Smith to receiver DK Metcalf, which pushed the Seahawks’ lead to 17-3. The offense spent most of its subsequent drives, however, going backwards and ultimately punting. Seattle finished 3 for 11 on third down and had an average distance to travel of 13.3 yards for those attempts, because of sacks and penalties on early downs. Seattle needed at least 15 yards to convert on seven of its third-down attempts. It failed on all seven of those tries, two ending in turnovers.
Fortunately for Smith and the offense, the defense looks forward to those compromising situations.
“The main thing is to go out there and stop the opponent, no matter where we’re at on the field. That’s what keeps us going,” cornerback Tre Brown said. “It’s an identity thing that we got going for ourselves, and we gon’ try to keep that identity. We want to be the best (in the) nation. Hard-nosed football. We’re doing a hell of a job with that.”
Seattle’s defense held Miami’s offense to just 3.7 yards per play Sunday. Thompson was sacked five times; Boyle once. The Seahawks recorded 12 quarterback hits with six different players registering at least one. Outside linebacker Derick Hall led the charge with two sacks and a team-high four QB hits. The Dolphins finished 1 for 15 on third and fourth down.
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Miami’s star wideouts, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, combined for 66 yards on seven catches. Achane, who entered this game averaging 132.5 yards from scrimmage, had 58 total yards Sunday. The Dolphins entered Week 3 averaging a league-high 8.3 yards after the catch, but they were held to just 4.7 by a Seattle defense that was prepared for a track meet.
“We put our track shoes on today,” Dodson said. “We were in the Olympics.”
On offense, though, several different players contributed to Seattle’s sloppy showing. Metcalf was flagged for offensive pass interference on the drive that ended in Smith’s first interception. Right guard Anthony Bradford was flagged for holding on a drive that ended with a 53-yard missed field goal. Left tackle Charles Cross was beaten for a sack, leading to third-and-16 and an ensuing punt. A potential two-minute drive at the end of the first half was killed by two penalties on center Connor Williams (holding and a false start). Tight end Pharaoh Brown (holding) and Bradford (false start) torpedoed Seattle’s second drive of the third quarter with penalties. And Smith was flagged for intentional grounding on the play before his second interception, which occurred on third-and-21.
“We’ve got to eliminate the mistakes, and it starts with me — I’ve got to eliminate putting our defense in tough spots,” Smith said. He later added: “As an offense, we left a lot out there. I’m going to be honest with you, I’m really pissed off at the way I performed. I think we gotta get better.”
After the defense’s goal-line stand in the fourth quarter, Smith did lead the offense 98 yards for a touchdown. Charbonnet finished that drive with four straight runs, including a 10-yard gallop into the end zone. He rushed for a career-high 91 yards on 18 carries and scored twice. His final run essentially put the game away for good.
Zipped his way to the endzone. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9l5cDuAIlW
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 22, 2024
“We knew at that point we hadn’t been doing anything in the second half, after the first quarter. Our defense had been playing lights out, we gotta give them something,” Smith said. “We’re backed up, but we got to flip the field. We were determined to go out there and score, give us (a bigger) lead and allow our defense to play just with that much more of an edge.”
The 98-yard scoring drive was an example of what Seattle’s offense can do when it’s not getting in its own way. Left guard Laken Tomlinson was flagged for a false start during the drive, but it just turned a second-and-inches into a second-and-5. Seattle was able to overcome that miscue and eventually converted its only third down of the drive on a 1-yard run by Charbonnet.
“We got off to a bad start on a lot of drives, and that’s something that’s on the players, that we have to fix and execute,” wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said. “We want to get first down rolling, just so we can get in a rhythm, and a lot of drives we couldn’t find that rhythm because of that. We’ve got a lot of things to clean up, but you see the potential in this offense, you see where we can go. I’m excited.”
Seattle’s defense is allowing just 1.03 points per drive, which as of Sunday evening ranked fourth among the teams that had played three games. There’s an argument to be made that Seattle’s defense should have been dominant in its first three games based on a schedule that featured Denver rookie QB Bo Nix in his first-ever regular season start, Jacoby Brissett leading an undermanned Patriots offense, and the Tagovailoa-less Dolphins.
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But the Seahawks are nonetheless feeling good about what they’ve been able to put on tape as they’ve gotten off to a 3-0 start. They’re one of only two unbeaten NFC teams (Minnesota being the other) and sit atop the NFC West, with everyone else in the division 1-2.
“We’re not an easy matchup for teams, I don’t care who you are,” Smith-Njigba said when asked what Seattle has shown through three weeks. “We love each other. We love to ball. We love to win. We’re 3-0 right now, feeling good and ready to go to Detroit and do our thing.”
Jared Goff and the 2-1 Lions next Monday night will be a much tougher test for Seattle’s new-look defense. The upcoming schedule also includes matchups against a Kyle Shanahan offense that has always given Seattle fits, a visit from Josh Allen and the Bills, a trip to see Kirk Cousins and the Falcons, as well as a tough divisional matchup against Sean McVay’s Rams.
Seattle isn’t concerned about that, though.
“It doesn’t matter who it is — everyone is nameless, faceless,” Dodson said. “Anybody can get that work from this defense.”
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(Top photo: Rio Giancarlo / Getty Images)
