From booed to brilliant: Russell Wilson rallies Seahawks past Packers, Rodgers
He only had three, short days between games, but during them Russell Wilson repeated one theme to his offense.
“We’ve got to think big,” the Seahawks’ quarterback told his teammates.
“We’ve got to believe big.”
Then he and that offense went extra large.
Booed in the first quarter, off target for weeks, Russell Wilson became Russell Wilson again. When the Seahawks’ season absolutely demanded him to.
Wilson completed four of five passes for 73 yards, then noticed a Packers blitz and burned it with a quick pass to tight end Ed Dickson behind the blitzers for the go-ahead touchdown with five minutes remaining Thursday night.
Then with the game on the line Aaron Rodgers, perhaps the best passer on the planet who threw two beautiful balls 50-plus yards in the air onto Packers’ hands earlier, looked like Trevone Boykin. He inexplicably threw an easy pass 2 yards downfield outside into the turf. That was on third-and-2 with just over four minutes left.
“The ball just stuck to my hand in the dirt,” Rodgers said. “Frustrating. Obviously, I’ll do that a 100 times and probably never do that again. It was a gimmie, gimmie out there. Stuck to my hand.”
For some reason, with only one time out, Packers coach Mike McCarthy chose to punt the ball back to Seattle.
“I really did like that they punted the ball there,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said, with a wry grin.
Wilson and running back Mike Davis ran out the rest of the time from there, and the Seahawks revived their season by rallying from 11 points down to beat the Green Bay Packers, 27-24, CenturyLink Field.
Wilson was 6 for 8 on the final two scoring drives for Seattle. He led them to a field goal and touchdown, throwing for 107 of his 225 yards passing for the night. And Seattle (5-5) stayed in playoff contention entering 10 days before its next game, Nov. 25 at Carolina (6-3).
“I know what I’m capable of,” Wilson said.
“Great things are going to happen.”
The Super Bowl-winning quarterback known for his complete poise looked jumpy at the start in his seventh career game against Rodgers. Passes sailed high and wide and all over. Wilson had 12 yards passing in the first quarter — and the home fans booing him for missing wide-open Doug Baldwin in the end zone.
Carroll came up to Wilson as he came off the sidelines following one of those drive-ending overthrows.
“Calm down,” Carroll told Wilson.
“I’m going to be all right,” the coach said Wilson replied. “’Shut up, Coach,’ was what he really meant.
“And he was exactly right.”
Tyler Lockett wasn’t bad, either. This season’s play-making receiver did it again, getting the Seahawks into position for the go-ahead touchdown. With his team down 24-20 he made a running catch to convert a third down. Then he sprinted from the right slot across the field all the way to the left sideline and ran down Wilson’s lofted throw and made a diving catch, like a center fielder on the warning track. That remarkable, 34-yard gain moved Seattle to the Green Bay 16.
On third down, Wilson noticed the Packers about to blitz off his left side. He demanded the shotgun snap from center Justin Britt quickly, then got what he was hurrying for: Dickson uncovered in the left slot, running in the area vacated by the Packers’ blitzers. The tight end caught the old-school pop pass and ran the rest of the way for the 15-yard TD.
It was exactly the look the Seahawks had practiced for all week, with that exact pass. It was one of the few times the Packers so obviously showed blitz all night. And it was the result for which the Seahawks schemed.
It doesn’t always work that way in the NFL. That it did in that moment for the Seahawks may have saved their season.
“Just perfect timing,” Carroll said.
Seattle led 27-24 with 5 minutes left, and CenturyLink Field was shaking.
A 21-17 Packers lead in the second quarter stayed that way until the Seahawks cut it to 21-20 on Sebastian Janikowski’s second field goal of the night that ended a drive from Seattle’s own 3-yard line.
After Rodgers torched them in the first half, the Seahawks started getting to Rodgers in the third quarter. Frank Clark’s two sacks Thursday give him 10 this season, tying his career high for an entire season with still six games left.
“I’ve got a lot more in me,” Clark said. “I want to continue to show the world I’m one of the best pass rushers in the league.”
The Seahawks sacked Rodgers three times in the third quarter, and now have sacked him 24 times in nine meetings. Rookie Jacob Martin, plus a shared sack by Jarran Reed and Austin Calitro, helped pressure Rodgers and keep it a four-point game in the third quarter.
Seattle’s fourth sack of the second half was a big one. It was the first career sack by rookie third-round draft choice Rasheem Green on third down in the red zone. It forced the Packers to settle for a field goal and keep the game within striking distance at 24-20 for Wilson and the Seahawks’ offense to create of this season’s signature moments so far this season.
That was far better than it looked like this night would be for the Seahawks when it started.
Chris Carson, returning as the lead back after missing last weekend’s loss at the Rams with a hip injury, fumbled on the game’s first play. The Packers recovered at the Seattle 19.
After a 13-yard pass from Rodgers to ex-Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham, Aaron Jones walked in the end zone from 8 yards on a bounce-out run. Seattle trailed 7-0 before many people had gotten through the I-5 rush-hour traffic to their seats.
Carson finished with 83 yards on 17 carries. Rookie Rashaad Penny gained 46 yards on eight, often exciting carries. Then Davis closed out the game with four rushes and 26 yards, as the Seahawks, the NFL’s top-ranked rushing offense, ran first to set up the pass yet again.
The Seahawks answered the Packers’ quick early touchdown with a field goal that should have been a touchdown. Wilson missed a wide-open Baldwin in the end zone, his throw 3 yards over Baldwin’s head over the back line. It was one of four missed throws by the usually more-precise Wilson in his skittish first half.
Down 14-3 early in the second quarter, the Seahawks went on a 14-play drive that revived their night. And perhaps their season, given a loss would have forced Seattle to win its last six games to get to 10 wins, usually the mark to assure a playoff berth. Lockett made a strong catch while getting hit by Packers rookie cornerback Jahir Alexander for a 13-yard gain to get Seattle to the Packers 33. It took eight plays and the Seahawks’ fourth false-start penalty of the first 1 1/2 quarters from there before Wilson’s smoothest pass of the first half. It found Baldwin in stride in the back left of the end zone past a defender for the Pro Bowl wide receiver’s first touchdown this season of his pained knees.
The wide receivers’ TD celebration this time: Surfing. And the Seahawks were riding a comeback wave down 14-10.
They came all the way back to take the lead on the next drive, again the run setting up the pass. Wilson got bailed out on a deep pass to Lockett he underthrew to the speedy receiver by three steps. Packers rookie safety Raven Greene kept running through Lockett without turning back to look for the short pass. That 48-yard penalty for pass interference gave the Seahawks the ball at the Green Bay 22.
Wilson’s pass to tight end Nick Vannett for a catch and run of 17 yards to the 1 set up Carson’s touchdown run from there, and the Seahawks suddenly led 17-14 with two touchdowns in three minutes.
But Rodgers, as he has for 14 NFL seasons, responded brilliantly. With precise throws and plenty of time, he shredded Seattle’s zone coverages most of the night. He got the Packers back ahead 21-17 with a 24-yard touchdown pass to running back Jones. Rodgers plopped that over the head of backup middle linebacker Calitro, whom the Seahawks used to replace injured K.J. Wright replacement as the second linebacker instead of Barkevious Mingo in nickel, five defensive-back sets.
Rodgers threw for 214 yards on 12 completions, in 16 throws, with two touchdowns and 156.2 passer rating in the half.
In the second half, Rodgers had just 118 yards passing. He got sacked those four times. And he had that final, killer lawn dart into the turf of third down.
“All season, we had to finish on defense,” Clark said. “Tonight, we did that.
“We were relentless.”
So was Wilson.
In the end, not the rough beginning.
“Man,” left tackle Duane Brown, “he’s incredible. Incredible.
“I mean, you watch him his whole career, and he’s always finding a way to make plays. And he did tonight, in crunch time.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2018 at 8:29 PM.
