Though it was far from the prettiest football game with the two teams combining to convert four third downs and commit more than 20 penalties, the Seattle Seahawks used a fast start scoring on three of their first four possessions to put away the Miami Dolphins early in a 24-3 win, improving to 3-0 for the eighth time in franchise history.
Despite throwing two interceptions on unfortunate plays coming off tipped passes, Geno Smith still played a solid overall game leading Seattle's offense, completing north of 75 percent of his passes for 289 yards. Leading the charge on the outside, DK Metcalf torched Miami for a 71-yard touchdown and surpassed 100 receiving yards for a second straight week, while Zach Charbonnet found the end zone twice while rushing for a career-high 91 yards on 18 carries.
Defensively, the Seahawks tortured a Tua Tagovailoa-less Dolphins squad all afternoon long, limiting them to a dismal 3.7 yards per play through four quarters. Derick Hall led a furious front line with a career-best two sacks and seven different defenders finished with tackles for loss in yet another dominant effort for coach Mike Macdonald.
Basking in a third straight win that was far from a complete effort in many ways, here are five takeaways from Seattle's beatdown on Miami at Lumen Field:
1. Smith played fine football for most of the game, but pass protection remains a major concern.
Continuing where he left off after throwing for 327 yards in Foxboro last week, Smith orchestrated three scoring drives on the Seahawks first four possessions on Sunday, relying on explosive plays to fuel that success. Out of 14 first half completions, five of those went for at least 16 yards, including the 71-yard touchdown strike to Metcalf and another 22-yard connection with the star wideout where he high-pointed a contested pass over cornerback Kendall Fuller. His lone blemish came late in the first quarter when Seattle inexplicably called a pass play out of empty on 3rd and 15 from the team's own six-yard line, leading to immediate pressure on the quarterback and a tipped pass off Charbonnet's hands that was intercepted by cornerback Kader Kohou inside the 10-yard line.
In the second half, Smith found himself under frequent siege with the Dolphins regularly collapsing the pocket down on him. After throwing for 200 yards in the first two quarters, he only threw for 89 after halftime, and though he only was sacked once during that span, he took numerous hits and also was flagged for intentional grounding in the third quarter, which set another promising drive behind the sticks with a third and long situation. On the ensuing play, Calais Campbell bullied guard Anthony Bradford back into the pocket and got a piece of Smith's third down pass, knocking it into the air for teammate Zach Sieler to intercept it near midfield.
2. After struggling for three quarters to run the ball, Charbonnet and the offensive line came to life down the stretch.
In a game that functioned like an upside down bell curve, the Seahawks ran the football well early, with Charbonnet rushing five times for 24 yards on the first two possessions. From that point, however, the Dolphins stiffened up in the trenches, winning at the line of scrimmage and bottling up Ryan Grubb's run game for most of the next two quarters. At the half, Charbonnet had been held to 35 yards on 10 carries, and while he had 14 yards in the third quarter on two carries, the team kept ending up in second and third and long situations, preventing them from being able to run the ball at all as they punted or turned the ball over on five straight possessions in the middle quarters.
With a chance to finally slam the door on Miami, however, Charbonnet and a maligned offensive line answered the call on a back-breaking 11-play, 98-yard scoring drive. Starting backed up at their own two-yard line, Charbonnet rumbled his way to 42 yards on six carries during the possession, ripping off 13 and 11-yard runs on consecutive snaps to move the Seahawks into the red zone. Showing off his quickness and power, he bounced a zone run outside to his right, outran a linebacker to the corner, and turned upfield to truck his way into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown, increasing the lead to an insurmountable 17 points. Overall, Seattle ended up rushing 21 times for 102 yards, averaging a healthy 5.1 yards per carry as much of that damage came in the last 15 minutes.
3. An aggressive front seven turned Skylar Thompson into a battering ram, knocking him out of the game.
Going into Sunday's matchup, the Seahawks didn't have much tape to study on Thompson, who replaced an injured Tua Tagovailoa and was set to make just his third regular season NFL start. Not takign things easy on the inexperienced young quarterback, they quickly gave the ex-Kansas State standout a rude awakening, sacking him four times and producing seven quarterback hits in the first half alone. Limited to just 79 passing yards on 16 attempts before the break, he took a massive hit from Derick Hall on the final play of the half, the second time the second-year defender had hunted him down for sack. Boye Mafe and Dre'Mont Jones each added a sack of their own, with the latter credited with a forced fumble.
After halftime, life didn't get much easier for Thompson. On the opening drive of the half, after faking to running back De'Von Achane on 3rd and 1, the signal caller turned with linebacker Tyrel Dodson bearing down on him untouched on a blitz for a sack. On the next possession, Jones barely shoved him as he rolled out to his left after his longest completion of the day and trainers had to look at him on the field. He exited with a chest injury and didn't return, forcing Tim Boyle into action for the remaider of the game. Overall, the Seahawks generated 12 quarterback hits and six sacks in the game, ambushing both of the Dolphins quarterbacks in a punishing performance.
4. Red zone defense ultimately saved the day with the Dolphins unable to capitalize on gifted chances.
Somehow, considering the Dolphins didn't even hit 100 yards of offense in the first half, the visitors had chances to climb within one score as late as the early stages of the fourth quarter as the Seahawks stumbled on offense themselves. Following Smith's first interception by Kohou, Miami couldn't punch the ball in despite starting inside the opposing 10-yard line, gaining just two net yards on four plays before settling for a field goal to cut the lead to 10-3. Fast forwarding to the fourth quarter, after Smith's second pick, the Dolphins advanced the ball down to the Seahawks two-yard line, only for Boyle to throw back-to-back incompletions on third and fourth down to go to the sidelines with nothing to show for their efforts.
Digging into the box score, the Seahawks dominated the situational football aspect on defense, preventing the Dolphins from converting a third down until the fourth quarter and stopping them 11 out of 12 opportunities on third down. In the red zone, Miami couldn't score a touchdown on either of its opportunities, mustering a grand total of 205 offensive yards with little to show for the garbage numbers mostly piled up in the final quarter of play. While it wasn't perfect, it was another stellar outing for Macdonald's defense, which did what it should have done facing a backup quarterback on their home turf.
5. Yellow flags raining from the sky made Sunday's contest unwatchable and ruined numerous Seahawks drives.
While many of the penalties were warranted, it's hard to argue that officials got too involved with Sunday's contest, often bogging down the pace of the game with a cluster of flags to the point that one could start to wonder if the Seahawks had changed team colors. By the time the final second ticked off the clock, both teams had been penalized 11 times apiece for a grand total of 177 yards, including numerous special teams infractions. In fact, at not one, but two different points in the game, there were three consecutive punts with only the final one actually counting due to multiple infractions such as illegal formations and holding. Several penalties carried more weight than others, with a crucial holding penalty on guard Anthony Bradford destroying a promising drive midway through the second quarter, leading to a missed 53-yard field goal by Jason Myers.
If there's a silver lining, both teams were penalized equally, so at least it wasn't one sided and the game was officiated fairly. Nonetheless, the Seahawks will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to cut down on these infractions, starting with three holding penalties that resulted in possessions with 20 or more yards to gain behind the sticks. They were able to get away with that sloppiness against an undermanned Dolphins squad, but when they play the defending NFC North champion Lions next week, they won't have that kind of margin for error, especially on the road.
