With the Seattle Seahawks on the verge of potentially dropping to 1-3, safety Kam Chancellor saved the game for the Hawks. The three-time Pro Bowler knocked the ball out of Calvin Johnson’s hands as the receiver attempted to stretch toward the endzone in an attempt to win the game for the Detroit Lions.

The Seahawks needed that play to win a game where nothing went right. Despite throwing for 287 yards, Russell Wilson fumbled twice. The usually sure-handed quarterback lost both fumbles.

Seattle’s franchise quarterback was consistently under siege by the Lions’ pass rush. Detroit players were constantly in the Hawks’ backfield as Wilson took a number of hard hits.

In addition to Wilson taking a beating, the run game had trouble finding any kind of success. Once again filling in for Marshawn Lynch, rookie running back Thomas Rawls ran for 48 yards on 17 carries. Fred Jackson added 21 yards on three carries, but exited early due to an ankle injury. Wilson was the team’s second leading rusher with 40 yards on 10 carries.

Wilson did make a number of big plays, consistently scrambling and finding receivers for big gains. However, the team wasn’t able to convert those big plays into points. The Hawks showed glimpses of putting it together offensively, but they couldn’t put more points on the board. Wilson’s touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin and the fact that Tyler Lockett and Jimmy Graham were heavily involved in the offense are definite positives. Baldwin caught his second touchdown pass in three games, while Lockett and Graham led the team in catches and targets. Both players had four catches on five targets. Still, the team needs to start scoring more if they want to win consistently. A team should score more than 13 points when their starting quarterback throws for 287 yards.

Jermaine Kearse, Chris Matthews, Baldwin, Lockett and Jackson all had receptions of 20 yards or more.

Kearse hauled in the longest catch of the day to ice the game. The former Washington Huskies receiver caught a 50-yard laser from Wilson on a gutsy scramble play to put the game away. Seattle was faced with a third and two with a minute and 45 seconds left in the game. The Lions had burned all their timeouts at that point. Essentially, if the Hawks recorded the first down, they won the game. Most were expecting a run, but Wilson defied conventional logic and threw it.

The game ended in controversial fashion with the “illegal bat” rule coming into play. Linebacker K.J. Wright batted the fumble Chancellor forced out of the endzone for a touchback. According to the rules, this should have resulted in a penalty, with the Lions getting the ball and a fresh set of downs. The Seahawks have been on both sides of close plays in important games. They’ll take the win and prepare for next week’s showdown on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.  

The game will be a tough one, but if the Hawks’ defense can play like it did on Monday night against the Lions, and if the offense can score more often, Seattle stands a good chance to continue the team’s winning streak. 

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About the author
Ben Rosener
Ben Rosener is a sports writer born and raised in the greater Seattle area. He is a college who is the editor and founder of two sports websites, Kingdome of Seattle Sports and Know Hitter, the latter of which is a member of the BBA. Ben’s work can also be found on the digital pages of Bleacher Report, USA Today, World Soccer Talk and FanSided among others. He only refers to himself in the third person for bios.