The Seattle Seahawks won again under the primetime lights, with a 27-17 victory over a quickly fading Washington Redskins team. The win moved the Seahawks to 11-1 in primetime games in the Pete Carroll era. More importantly, it moved Seattle into a first place tie with the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West.  

The game itself was anything but a thing of beauty. There were a litany of flags thrown against the Seahawks. Most were self-inflicted wounds that will need to get cleaned up in the weeks ahead, but there were several head scratchers thrown by the incompetency of Jeff Tripplette and his crew. If you didn’t look the game, one personal foul was called for “hitting a player on the ground unnecessarily”.  

That ‘penalty’ was on Seahawks Left Guard, James Carpenter and took away one of three touchdowns that Percy Harvin scored, only to see each one of them be called back due to a penalty. Carpenter has arguably been the best offensive linemen for the Seahawks through the first four games but had a rough evening. Pro-Bowlers Russell Okung (Left Tackle) and Max Unger (Center) have been underperforming thus far this season and continued to show signs of struggle Monday night. All three players were flagged throughout the evening, with Unger also mishandling a few snaps to Russell Wilson.  

The final score doesn’t seem to indicate how dominant the Seahawks played for the vast majority of the evening. On the opening drive, Seattle marched down the field and scored on a Wilson to Jermaine Kearse pass. Wilson ran all over the Redskins in the first half, with the Seahawks opening up a 17-0 lead with about three minutes left to go before halftime. Kirk Cousins connected with DeSean Jackson on a wheel route for a 60 yard touchdown that shifted a bit of the momentum towards Washington. On the touchdown, the Seahawks ‘Legion of Boom’ were in zone coverage with Richard Sherman passing Jackson off to Kam Chancellor.  However, Jackson was able to use his blazing speed to easily run past Chancellor and find the end zone.  

Coming out of the locker room for the second half, Cousins and Jackson connected again for another big play that ultimately led to a Redskins field goal, cutting the lead to 17-10. As Seahawks fans have seen numerous times since they joined they franchise, Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch never lost their cool and were able to make enough plays, and overcome enough penalties from teammates, to guide the Seahawks to the victory.  

Despite cutting the game to a one score difference, the Redskins couldn’t stop the Seahawks as the clock continued to wind down in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. With under thirty seconds left on the clock, Steven Hauschka kicked a 43 yard field goal to wrap up the victory for Seattle and place them in a first place tie in the NFC West with the Arizona Cardinals.  

Player of the Game: Russell Wilson

This is a no-brainer, as Wilson continues to prove that he is so much more than a ‘game manager’. Wilson set a Monday Night Football quarterback record, rushing for 122 yards and one touchdown on just 11 attempts. He completed 75% of his passes (18-24) for 201 yards and two more touchdowns.  

Wilson sent the following tweet after the game:

What an amazing team win in a tough environment! #SoGrateful for my teammates! Love these guys. #GoHawks @Seahawks

— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) October 7, 2014