You know how last week I said I loved cereal games? In all honesty, I felt pretty calm all day, enjoying some RedZone and hanging out with my wife while the Dolphins kicked the shit out of the 49ers. As kickoff drew near, however, I felt the familiar quickening of my heart and shortening of my wavelengths as I was reminded just how much I love this sweet stress.
Everything about this season, and recent history, portended a Seahawks victory. But of course, things are never quite that simple The Vikings started the game with the ball and the bloodletting commenced immediately. Running at will, and passing when necessary, Minnesota spent the whole first half sticking leaches to the Seahawks , bleeding them out 4 to 12 yards at a time.
The opening drive lasted 12 plays, covered 77 yards, and ate up over six minutes en route to a touchdown. Their second drive lasted 17 plays, picked up 64 yards, and resulted in a field goal. Making matters worse, that was the Seahawks best drive of the entire first half. Dalvin Cook , a tremendous running back in his own right, had it pretty easy in this one as he consistently was able to near full speed before a single defender could get a hand on him.
It all just seemed so easy for them. At least the Seahawks have the courtesy to score quickly, like gentlemen. But this slow, clock-killing trauma is just downright disrespectfulโ no matter how turgid it makes old school football types. They ran something like plays in the first half and somehow only ended up with 13 points which is weird because it feels like they converted every 3rd down except the two where they then converted on 4th down. Seattle, meanwhile, only got three real drives in the first two quarters, tacking a 5-play, yard possession and a 3-play, yard one on top of their first fruitless effort.
Where the Vikings offset their powerful run game with high-efficiency passes, the Seahawks offset their inability to get open with four sacks. It was so bad that when the teams finally went to the locker rooms, Seattle had 4 net yards passing. The good news is that Seattle got the ball to start the third quarter but the not good news is that they went ahead and ran it three times for nine yards and punted.
