Seattle, WA- The Seattle Seahawks open up their regular season at home against the Cincinnati Bengals; during their second play their center Justin Britt rolled his leg on the play. The Seahawks were are already thin at the center position but Britt came back late in the first quarter.
The defense for both teams was getting both offenses off the field in a timely manner. The Bengals drew first blood with a 39-yard field goal that was good to go up 3-0 over the Seahawks in the first quarter. The offensive line for the Seahawks was letting the Bengals have their way with them in the first half. Russell Wilson was running for his life, trying to make something happen with his legs because as soon as he snapped the ball, the Bengals’ defenders were in the backfield.
The Bengals’ defense sacked Wilson twice in the second quarter, however, the Seahawks’ defense kept the Bengals in check. When the Bengals were marching down the field and got into the Seahawks part of the field, that was when KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner stopped big plays down the field and got them off the field.
With 10 minutes in the second half, the Seahawks started to get rolling. Wilson threw a couple of slants to DK Metcalf and a few gains for Chris Carson. After a PI penalty against the Bengals, Carson ran a 1-yard touchdown to go up 7-3 against the Bengals.
On the ensuing possession, the Bengals caught the Seahawks slipping as the speedster John Ross caught an amazing pass and darted past the Seahawks’ defenders to score the touchdown to put the Bengals back up against the Seahawks 10-7.
With two minutes left in the first half, Wilson went to work. Wilson used his legs to create plays down the field to get his team in position to score. After a couple of darts down the field to his receivers, the Seahawks found themselves in the red zone. Carson caught a pass in the endzone to put the Seahawks up 14-10.
However, in this pinball first half, the Bengals went down the field with under 45 seconds and capitalized on a field goal before time expired to make it 17-14 at the half.
In the second half, the offense stalled, while both of the teams’ defense kept the offense off the field. In the fourth quarter on a pass action pass, Wilson threw a 44-yard touchdown to Tyler Lockett to retake the lead 21-17.
(In a bang-bang play early in the fourth quarter, Pete Carroll challenged a pass interference call, which did not go the Seahawks way. This season, coaches are allowed to challenge pass interference calls.)
In the eight-minute mark in the fourth quarter, the Bengals knock in a 27-yard field goal to make it 21-20.
The Seahawks came up big as they recovered a fumbled when the Bengals were driving for a game-winning field goal.
