Fans expected disaster in Detroit, but the Seahawks proved them wrong with a gutty win
Many expected the Seahawks to get blown out by the Lions. Some sports radio bozos (one of whom might have been me) even thought if the Seahawks lost in Detroit and lost to Carolina this Sunday to fall to 0-3, they should think about tanking the season in order to select USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the first pick in next year’s draft.
ESPN flashed a graphic Sunday morning that told us only one out of 22 teams with an 0-2 record the last three years made the playoffs.
All of this sorry stuff faced the Seahawks as they took the opening kickoff at Ford Field in front of a sea of blue with some fans wearing creepy ski masks, the kind you see on surveillance cameras after convenience store robberies.
Pete Carroll’s team flipped the storyline with a 37-31 victory in overtime that has to rate as one of the head coach’s best victories in his 14 seasons in Seattle.
Most NFL insiders figured Geno Smith and the Seahawks’ offense would struggle after seeing them gain only 12 yards in the second half of a 30-13 loss to the Rams a week ago. And now they’d have to go through an entire game without injured starting tackles Charles Cross and Abe Lucas.
They were replaced by relative nobodies: Stone Forsythe, a sixth-round pick from Florida in 2021, and Jake Curhan, who played at Cal but was undrafted in 2021.
A dramatic talent and production dropoff was expected from Cross and Lucas, but Forsythe and Curhan hardly looked like little-used backups in Detroit. They got blocking help at times from their tight end teammates but also more than held their own, allowing Geno Smith to complete 32 of 41 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner to Tyler Lockett in overtime.
It’s crazy how unpredictable the NFL can be. If you saw the NFL’s Opening Night game two weeks ago on a Thursday night in Kansas City, Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson was constantly in the Chiefs’ backfield pestering Patrick Mahomes and making his otherwise great life miserable.
Hutchinson, a No. 2 pick overall in the 2022 draft, vs. Curhan, the undrafted Golden Bear? Sounded like a mismatch, and it was, with Curhan oddly winning a unanimous decision. If you want, put an asterisk on Curhan’s performance since he clearly held Hutchinson on the final play of the game. We all saw it on our flat screens, but the officials somehow missed it.
Now Cross’ sprained toe and Lucas’ sore knee don’t seem like season-changing injuries anymore. Smith was sacked and hit only one time, that coming on a 17-yard loss late in the fourth quarter when he inexplicably did not throw the ball away.
Forsythe and Curhan weren’t the only backups who took on starring roles. Cornerback Tre Brown was pressed into duty when Riq Woolen suffered a chest injury early in the game. Brown lived up to his “Big Play Tre” nickname with two passes defensed, a forced fumble, one of two Seattle sacks, and a pick 6 that appeared to put the game out of reach until it didn’t.
Jared Goff and the Lions erased a 31-21 deficit in the final three minutes to force overtime and one of the best calls of the day by the Seahawks - “tails,” as in Drew Lock’s call on the coin flip, which gave Seattle the ball and a chance to win with a touchdown.
It all turned out beautifully because that’s what happened as the Lions’ high-powered offense watched helplessly from the sideline, never getting a chance to respond.
So in a matter of three hours, the Seahawks went from life support to merrily skipping back into NFL relevancy at 1-1 and more than likely being 2-1 with the so-so Panthers coming to town this week.
The victory glossed over the flaws - a defense that allowed more than 300 passing yards for the second straight week and way too many third-down conversions along with a suddenly erratic kicker in Jason Myers.
But the good far outweighed the bad and the outcome was so unexpected that the concerns seem minor now that the Seahawks look like they’re back on track again.
Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. You can find him on Twitter @cougsgo, and on KJR-FM 93.3, where he co-hosts a sports talk show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays.