Seahawks fly East for win over Giants

The Seattle Seahawks hung around all game against the favored New York Giants and then used two big plays late in the fourth quarter to win their first game in the Eastern Time Zone since 2007 with a 36-25 victory over the Giants.
Charlie Whitehurst,who had entered the game after an injury to Tavaris Jackson,drilled a 27 yard pass to Doug Baldwin for the touchdown that gave Seattle the lead with 2:37 left and a long interception return for the clincher by Brandon Browner as the Giants were in the Seattle red zone paced the victory.
Seattle will enter their bye week with a record of 2-3 and will return in two weeks in Cleveland for another Eastern visit...

Puget Sounds

1) Tavaris Jackson suffered a pectoral injury in the third quarter and was ably replaced by Charlie Whitehurst.
The timing was even worse than usual for an injury as Jackson was looking very sharp and played very well for the second week in a row in the no huddle offense...

2) Give Charlie Whitehurst plenty of credit as well for being able to step right in after Jackson's injury and being able to continue to run the no huddle effectively.
Often times when the backup is forced to enter the game,the offense can become simplified by need.
Seattle did not have to do that yesterday and the credit goes to Whitehurst....


3) Often times,the defensive line play only comes up when the sacks pile up.
Yes,the Hawks dumped Eli Manning three times and was very effective rushing the passer,but the defensive tackles Alan Branch,Brando Mebane and Anthony Hargrove bullied and dominated the Giants interior line all day.
When you can get that type of play from the tackles and the offensive line needs to provide help in that spot,the defensive ends can become oh so effective rushing off the corner one on one with a tackle.
Good work there...


4) Marshawn Lynch ran well as he churned out 98 yards on just 12 carries.
Lynch is a frustration for me as he pops out the occasional nice game,but just as often is quite a disappointment.
Yesterday,he looked very strong and considering that,I was surprised that he did not have a few more touches as the game went on...


5) I had to laugh when the ball bounced off Victor Cruz's hands and into Brandon Browner's for the clinching touchdown.Cruz had played well and his TD catch took massive concentration,but flukes even out over the course of a season.
I did not expect it to even out over the course of the game...


6) Doug Baldwin-Wow.
The fact that no one drafted this guy is one thing,but that Jim Harbaugh and the surprising 49ers did not sign him as an undrafted free agent is even more amazing to me.
Of all people,Harbaugh should have known about Baldwin at Stanford since he coached him there.
Baldwin caught eight passes for 136 yards and a touchdown that gave Seattle the lead for good.


7) The secondary played well,especially when you consider that Marcus Trufant missed the game with an injury,
Brandon Browner is improving from the first two games of the season and Earl Thomas teamed with the returning Kam Chancellor to patrol the middle.


8) Awful cheap shot to the head early in the game by the Giants (I cannot recall the name) on Zach Miller on the first drive of the game.
Clearly an shot to the head that was not needed and ended the day for Miller.
Bet on the league office dropping a fine on that player..


9) The offensive line continues to be a work in progress as they allowed six sacks.
The Giants are one of the league's best pass rushing teams,but the line has still not truly jelled as of yet...


10) Play that I liked the most-the Anthony Hargrove safety,where he tossed the guard aside and slammed T.J.Ware to the turf.
Tough and physical-exactly what I love from line play.


11) Finally, I am in support of breast cancer funding as most are,but all this pink just looks awful on these uniforms and around the fields.
The NFL uniform police is on patrol for sock length,but this is allowed?
Awful.


Photo credits-AP Photo