Shaquill Griffin on Seahawks versus Giants: ‘We came in taking the team lightly’
Shaquill Griffin is a Pro Bowl cornerback—with all-star honesty.
Forget Pete Carroll’s coach-speak that the Seahawks were prepared but did not adjust or execute well enough in their face-plant loss to the sub-.500 New York Giants last weekend. Forget Russell Wilson talking about how well the Giants played defensively in Seattle’s 17-12 defeat that dropped them out of first place in the NFC West.
Griffin cut to the chase for the truth of what happened to 8-3 Seattle against 4-7 New York.
“We came in taking the team lightly, you know. That’s just being totally honest,” he said Thursday.
The Seahawks were favored by Las Vegas oddsmakers to win by 11 points against the Giants last weekend at Lumen Field. Seattle was coming off a 23-16 win at Philadelphia six days earlier, and a huge, rousing home win over previously first-place Arizona before that.
Then the Seahawks defense gave up 190 yards rushing total and 17 unanswered points after halftime to a New York offense that had 34-year-old journeyman backup Colt McCoy starting for only the fourth time since the end of the 2014 season. Seattle’s offense did not score a touchdown until 6 minutes remained in the game.
It was the first time in nine games the Seahawks lost as a double-digit favorite. That streak went back to Dec. 27, 2015, when Seattle was an 11 1/2-point favorite against the Rams but lost 23-17.
Now the Seahawks are big favorites again, by 13 points over the 0-12 New York Jets Sunday in Seattle.
Griffin says he and his teammates have learned from playing that other New York team. He says the energy in practices this week is showing that.
“It is higher,” Griffin said. “I just feel like we just got back to our focus point.
“I feel like we eased up on the gas a little bit, and now everybody is locking back in. We’re always been practicing hard, but I feel like we let that game get the best of us. ...
“In this league, you can lose to anybody. Doesn’t matter who it is. Doesn’t matter if they lost every single game. You can lose in this league if you don’t play right. And I felt like we took that game lightly.”
Griffin may be getting a reinforcement this week as his defense tries not to repeat last weekend. Quinton Dunbar, the starter at the opposite corner from Griffin before he went on injured reserve with a strained hamstring last month, returned to practice this week. Dunbar is going to try to play Sunday against Sam Darnold and the Jets.
Tre Flowers was starting for Dunbar, until he also got hurt. D.J. Reed, a safety and nickel defensive back earlier this season, started for Dunbar and Flowers at cornerback against the Giants.
“I feel like the focus point now is just refocusing,” Griffin said. “Treating every team the same, treating it like a championship game that we continue to preach about. We’ve just got to live by it.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 3:24 PM.
