Our Hawks, the defending Super Bowl champions, just dropped to .500 after a gut-wrenching 17-14 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night. Week 6 ended with a tough one, leaving us at 3-3, and man, this one stings after such a hard-fought, tightly contested battle in the Mile High City. Both our squad and the Broncos were among the league’s final four in last season’s playoffs, so we know what these teams are capable of, but this one definitely showed there’s a lot to work on moving forward.
Our Defense Was Lights Out, But It Wasn’t Enough
If you love old-school, muddy football, then you saw some glorious defensive play at Lumen Field on Thursday. Our Seahawks defense was absolutely smothering, allowing a measly 168 total yards in a losing effort. Think about that for a second. That’s incredible. On the flip side, Denver’s defense, which hadn’t exactly been stellar this season, allowing at least 24 points in three of their first five games, really stepped up when it mattered. They racked up five sacks and pulled off three crucial takeaways, including the pivotal interception in overtime that set up the game-winning field goal. It felt like a throwback to when these teams were AFC West rivals, long before anyone had lifted a Lombardi Trophy. And hey, the late 20th-century uniforms both squads rocked were beauties, so at least we had some cool football fashion on display.
The Overtime Dance and Darnold’s Dueling Drama
This game had all the NFL drama the league loves, becoming the third consecutive prime-time game to go into overtime. Seriously, more football, more eyeballs, more ratings, right? Even the baseball crowd could tune in after the NLCS wrapped up! But how we got to that overtime period, and how we ended it, had its fair share of head-scratching moments. Our quarterback, Sam Darnold, was under duress for a lot of the night, and as is the case for most quarterbacks in that situation, the Seahawks offense struggled to find its rhythm. We saw that when Darnold threw an interception with 85 seconds to play, with the Broncos leading by three. What happened next was wild: Denver proceeded to go a measly 2 yards on three plays, then dialed up an incomplete pass on third down. That boneheaded move let our Hawks keep a timeout in our quiver. Our boys capitalized, tying the game eight plays later, forcing OT thanks to some smart situational awareness, drilling a touchback after that tying score with only 3 seconds left, leaving Denver no choice but to take a knee. But in overtime, that Broncos D made the big play, and that was all she wrote.
Our Hawks are heading into their mini bye week with a lot to chew on. This squad, our defending champs, has ample room for growth, and we’re gonna need it if we want to get back on track. We’ve seen the DNA of winning football, but we’ve also seen the struggles. Let’s get healthy, clean it up, and come back stronger.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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