By Adam Jude
The Seattle Times
The Seahawks woke up in the second half against the Browns in just enough time to improve to 5-1.
Here are Seattle Times reporter Adam Jude’s thoughts on the Seahawks’ 32-28 road win vs. the Browns in a back-and-forth game Sunday in Cleveland.
Wilson-Carson, 2020
Where are the Seahawks without Russell Wilson and Chris Carson? Wilson’s MVP campaign continued to pick up steam, as the star QB threw two touchdown passes (both to Jaron Brown) and ran for another to lead another fourth-quarter comeback. Wilson finished 23 of 33 for 295 yards and a passer rating of 117.6 — his sixth consecutive game of a rating of more than 100 in the Seahawks’ 5-1 start.
Wilson now has 14 touchdown passes on the season against no interceptions, and he set a new franchise record with 207 consecutive passes without an interception. He did it without one of his favorite targets, tight end Will Dissly, who went down with an Achilles injury in the first half and did not return. There was no immediate word on the exact nature of the injury, but it appears likely Dissly will be out long-term.
Carson, meanwhile, had 124 yards and the game-winning 1-yard touchdown with 3:30 left in the game — set up by Wilson’s pass to Tyler Lockett initially ruled a touchdown but overturned after replay. Carson has averaged 27 touches in the Seahawks’ last two games; and with Rashaad Penny out again today, Carson had 28 against the Browns behind the Seahawks’ shuffled offensive line.
Weird day for the defense
What else is there to say about Seattle’s defense other than that? Just weird, right?
The good: Seattle had four takeaways — a forced fumble (and recovery) from Ziggy Ansah, and interceptions by Tre Flowers, Tedric Thompson and then K.J. Wright late in the fourth quarter.
The bad: Nick Chubb ran all over the Seattle defense — 20 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Cleveland finished with 157 yards on the ground and averaged 6.7 yards per play overall.
The good: The Browns were just 3 for 8 on third downs and Seattle’s defense did adjust after an awful first quarter, which helped Cleveland jump out to a 20-6 lead.
The bad: Even with a hobbled Baker Mayfield, the Seahawks didn’t have any sacks — zero — and weren’t credited with any QB hits either. That’s hard to fathom against a Cleveland offensive line that allowed four sacks and eight QB hits in Monday night’s loss at San Francisco.
Nothing special
The Seahawks gave up a 74-yard return on the game’s opening kickoff … and it somehow got worse from there for the Seahawk’s special teams. Jason Myers missed the extra-point try after Seattle’s first touchdown, and Michael Dickson had a brutal 11-yard punt out of the end zone in the fourth quarter — setting up Chubb’s second TD run a few plays later that gave the Browns a 28-25 lead.
The only thing that kept this game from being a complete and total disaster for the Seahawks’ special teams was a blocked punt by wide receiver David Moore in the first half. Otherwise, this was as dreadful a day as it gets for a special-teams unit.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, right, runs for a first down on a pass reception with Cleveland Browns defensive back T.J. Carrie defending during the first quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday. (Joshua Gunter| cleveland.com)
