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It's been nearly 10 years since the Seattle Seahawks won the franchise's lone Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium. Back in MetLife on Monday night, Seattle dominated the Giants in a fashion that evoked memories of the franchise's finest hour. The 24-3 win included a "Monday Night Football" and franchise-tying record 11 sacks that included 10 against Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.
Sure, it wasn't 43-8, but the Seahawks' victory Monday night was impressive in its own right. It was vintage Pete Carroll/Seahawks football that prides itself on having a tough, opportunistic defense, a powerful running game and precise, timely passing. Seattle did each of those in spades Monday night despite losing quarterback Geno Smith for a period of time with a knee injury.
Smith started the scoring with a six-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf that was set up by Mario Edward Jr.'s strip-sack of Jones two plays earlier. Seattle took a 14-3 halftime lead when Smith's backup, Drew Lock, set up Kenneth Walker III's one-yard touchdown run on his 52-yard completion to former Broncos teammate Noah Fant.
Seattle's defense delivered the knockout on rookie Devon Witherspoon's 97-yard pick-six with a minute to go in the third quarter. Jones' third turnover of the night, an interception to Quandre Diggs midway through the fourth quarter, set up Jason Myers' second field goal of the night.
Here's a closer look at what went down in the Big Apple.
Why the Seahawks won
Seattle basically controlled the game from start to finish, especially on defense. Witherspoon, Bobby Wagner and Uchenna Nwosu each had two of the Seahawks' 10 sacks of Jones, who became the first Giants QB to be sacked that many times in a game since Phil Simms against the 49ers way back in 1980, according to the CBS Sports research department.
The Seahawks defense also deserves kudos for not allowing the Giants offense to capitalize after Seattle had a turnover on downs and a missed field goal on its first two drives of the second half. Seattle's defense forced a punt following the turnover on downs, and Witherspoon's pick-six ended a promising Giants drive following Seattle's missed field goal.
Why the Giants lost
New York's defense wasn't great, but it's hard to criticize that group given the poor spots its offense continues to put them in. Despite having 11 days between games, the Giants offense didn't look any better after its struggles in San Francisco. Time didn't heal New York's battered offensive line or running back Saquon Barkley, who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. With Barkley out, the onus of the running game again fell on Jones, whose 66 yards on the ground Monday night was surpassed only by Walker's 79.
The running game didn't help, but Jones' inability to take care of the ball proved to be the Giants' biggest offensive flaw, as the three turnovers led to 17 Seahawks points.
Turning point/play of the game
Despite Seattle's dominance, New York was threatening to make it a one-score game after driving 52 yards to the Seahawks' 5-yard-line late in the third quarter. But Witherspoon's pick-six prevented the Giants from making things interesting while giving Seattle an insurmountable lead.
Monday night was a big one for Witherspoon, whose first half sack of Jones forced New York to settle for a field goal.
Fant's big play also deserves to be mentioned here, as it occurred with Smith out and with the game still in the balance.
Quotable
"Yeah, that's the route were were playing. We've seen that multiple times in the red zone, so we're just going to play what we've seen on tape." -- Witherspoon on his game-clinching pick-six during his postgame interview with ESPN
What's next
The Giants will travel to Miami to face a Dolphins team that is surely hoping to rebound following Sunday's 48-20 loss in Buffalo. Possession downs largely contributed to the Dolphins' first loss of the year; Miami was 3 of 10 on third downs and 0 of 3 on fourth downs.
Seattle enters its bye week with a 3-1 record. After their bye, the Seahawks will travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals, who are currently 1-3 after losing, 27-3, Sunday in Nashville.
