The Seahawks are the answer to one of the most intriguing questions of the midpoint of the 2022 NFL season: Which upstart team is a legitimate playoff contender?
It’s not the New York Giants. Not on this particular Sunday, anyway.
The Seahawks, at 5-3, remain atop the NFC West after their convincing victory over the Giants, 27-13, before a sold-out crowd at Lumen Field on Sunday.
Here are three immediate takeaways from the game:
Redemption time
It’s not unusual for Tyler Lockett to come through the way he did Sunday, hauling in a 33-yard touchdown pass for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter. He’s been doing stuff like that throughout his career for the Seahawks.
It was what happened before that catch that made it all the more noteworthy.
Up until the fourth quarter, Lockett was having the most forgettable game of his NFL career.
He had effectively cost the Seahawks two touchdowns through the first three quarters — gifting the Giants their first score when he lost a fumble at the Seattle 3-yard line in the second quarter and then dropping a sure touchdown from Geno Smith late in the third quarter.
His head down as he sat on the Seahawks bench, Lockett was consoled by Pete Carroll late in the third quarter. Carroll had dropped to one knee as he tried to give Lockett a pep talk after that dropped pass.
On the next Seahawks possession, Lockett responded with a terrific route on a stop-and-go play and hauled in an easy 33-yard TD from Smith for the go-ahead score with 9:18 left in the game. That gave the Seahawks a 20-13 lead.
Lockett finished with five catches for 63 yards after a week in which it wasn’t clear he would play Sunday because of rib and hamstring injuries.
DK Metcalf, the Seahawks’ other star receiver, was a big question mark too after he left last week’s game against the Chargers with a patellar tendon injury in his left knee.
Both played, and both played a big part in the Seahawks winning their third straight game.
Smith continued to shine as well, throwing for 212 yards and two touchdown in another in-command performance. Smith also rushed for 26 yards, and after he ran for a first down late in the fourth quarter the Lumen Field crowd again chanted his name: “Ge-no! Ge-no! Ge-no!”
Like the Seahawks, Smith himself continues to show his 2022 makeover is for real.
Defense does its part
The turnaround continues.
After struggling again in the early part of the season, Seattle’s defense put together perhaps its most complete game of the season Sunday, holding Saquon Barkley and the Giants offense to just 78 yards on the ground.
The Giants came into Sunday ranked second in the NFL in rushing yards (173.4), and the Seahawks held them to almost 100 yards below that.
The only touchdown the Giants scored came after that Lockett fumble at the Seattle 3-yard line. Barkley scored on a 1-yard run two plays later in the second quarter.
The Giants finished with 225 yards of total offense — an average of just 3.5 yards per play.
Special contributions
Jason Myers converted both of his field-goal attempts — from 35 and 51 yards — and the Seahawks special teams contributed two turnovers Sunday.
Tight end Will Dissly contributed to both fumbles on punt coverage.
He forced the first one with a hit on the Giants’ Richie James late in the second quarter. That set up Myers’ first field goal to give the Seahawks a 10-7 lead at halftime.
In the fourth quarter, Travis Homer forced another James fumble, this one recovered by Dissly at the Giants 32-yard line.
Two plays later, Kenneth Walker ran in for a 16-yard touchdown, extending the Seahawks’ lead to 27-13 with 5:31 remaining in the game.