Seahawks avenge SB49 loss to Patriots: Recap

The Seattle Seahawks have now played the New England Patriots three times in the Pete Carroll era. All of them qualify as classic NFL games. Tonight Seattle and New England played a barnburner, exchanging the lead seven times en route to another thrilling finish at the goal line.

The Seahawks held off a late surge by the Patriots and stopped them at their own one-yard line, holding on for a dramatic 31-24 win. Here’s our official recap.

The Story

Pete Carroll can tell us it was just another game all he wants but this one had to mean something special. Not only did Seattle avenge their heartbreaking Super Bowl 49 loss, his team earned a win against the team that fired him back in the day before he became the enormous coaching success that we now know.

Even still, Carroll made a few questionable calls down the stretch, including a decision to go for two points while up seven. Had New England been able to tie the game at the end of regulation that might have come back to haunt him.

There’s no point in hypotheticals, though. The Seahawks earned a huge win over the best team in the AFC, proving that they are still championship contenders to be reckoned with.

After a rough opening drive that saw New England march down the field and take an early 7-0 lead, the defense held steady and played better football than they have in several weeks. Offensively, Seattle’s passing game is quickly becoming unstoppable. Make no mistake: this was a defining win for the Seahawks franchise.

MVPs: Doug Baldwin, C.J. Prosise, Kam Chancellor

Perhaps three MVPs is a couple too many but it’s simply impossible to choose. Doug Baldwin caught three touchdown passes and demonstrated some of the best route-running the NFL has ever seen. Even still, it felt like rookie running back C.J. Prosise was the one who came through with the biggest plays when the Seahawks needed it most. He finished with 153 total yards from scrimmage and proved that John Schneider and Carroll made a great move to pick him up in this year’s draft.

Also, it should be mentioned that Russell Wilson played a phenomenal game. He finished with 348 yards, three touchdowns and a 124.6 passer rating.

On the other side of the ball Kam Chancellor was back in vintage form, laying wood and forcing fumbles. His strip of Julian Edelman in the fourth quarter was picked up by Richard Sherman and led to a clutch touchdown. Chancellor finished the game with eight solo tackles and played terrific defense on Rob Gronkowski throughout.

AROUND COVER32

Podcast: Previewing the Patriots with Steve Balestrieri

Seahawks: Cliff Avril is Seattle’s MVP so far this season

Winners and Losers: Cowboys take hold of NFC, Vikings fall

Power Rankings::: Raiders roll, Broncos ousted

QB Rankings:: A shakeup in the top five

LVP: Jermaine Kearse

There’s no other way to explain it: Kearse had a terrible game. In the first quarter alone he dropped three passes that were all catchable, including one that would have put Seattle at first and goal from the two yard line. Kearse also committed a false start penalty. He only caught two of his seven total targets. Thankfully as the game went on Russell Wilson started looking away from him in favor of other receivers.

On defense DeShawn Shead gave up a couple of big plays to Gronkowski but it’s tough to fault him for those. His pass coverage was solid, he simply didn’t have the size to prevent Gronk from reeling in the ball. It was a great overall effort by the Seahawks defense.

Play of the game: Bam Bam’s strip

Chancellor made several highlight-reel worthy plays, including the clinching stop on Gronkowski in the end zone. However, this strip of Edelman is worth top billing:

Tweet of the game:

An entire generation of Seahawks fans are going to go gray early and suffer from hypertension thanks to the insane, intense finishes they’re subjected to every week. A win is a win but does it always have to be so dramatic?

Next up:

vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Sunday, November 20 at 1:25PM (CBS)
CenturyLink Field, Seattle WA

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