Mike Macdonald’s desperate gamble, late blocked field goal send Seahawks to loss to Giants

Loss of faith in a defense leads to desperation.

That’s what happened to Mike Macdonald and his Seahawks Sunday.

The Giants were doing almost anything they wanted on offense. A 100-yard rushing day by third-string rookie Tyrone Tracy. A 100-yard receiving day by Darius Slayton, repeatedly beating Seattle cornerback Tre Brown.

So it was that after quarterback Geno Smith scrambled on a third and 12 yet slid early into a fourth and 1, the rookie head coach decided to have the Seahawks go for the first down in their own end. Smith got sacked on a play-action pass that had no chance through Seattle’s porous offensive line.

The play appeared to be a broken one. Blocking all to the left, and the play’s flow suggested it perhaps was to be a hand-off to Zach Charbonnet, who was lined up at fullback, and slanting to the left. Instead it was a fake hand-off to Charbonnet, and a Smith drop back to nowhere but a sack by unblocked Giants edge rusher Brian Burns.

That gifted the Giants a short field goal and two-score lead in the fourth quarter, 23-13.

The way the Seahawks’ offense sputtered all Sunday, the game seemed over. The unit didn’t score a touchdown until 2:09 remained, on a pass from Smith to Jaxon Smith-Njigba at the end of a frantic, 95-yard drive with no huddling and 14 consecutive passes.

Then, a rally. Seattle got a stop and the ball back with 1:40 and two time outs left. Smith scrambled 32 yards when Smith-Njigba shrewdly looked to the blue sky and faked two Giants into running with him 40 yards down the sideline as if a pass was coming. Smith ran into the space Smith-Njigba cleared out.

“We’ve seen DK (Metcalf) do it,” Smith-Njigba said of his trick, referring to his fellow Seahawks wide receiver.

That set up Jason Myers for a try at a 47-yard field goal to send the game to overtime. But New York’s Isaiah Simmons took advantage of the leaped through the middle of Seattle’s field-goal protection line and blocked the kick. The Giants’ Bryce Ford-Wheaton picked up the ball and ran 60 yards for the game-clinching touchdown with 65 seconds left.

Giants 29, Seahawks 20 — with the failed fourth down and resulting Giants field goal the difference — was as deflating a game as Seattle could imagine, blowing the team’s early-season momentum.

“We got out-played and out-executed today…all three phases. Myself included,” a somber Macdonald said.

The Seahawks (3-2) host their archrivals, the defending NFC-champion San Francisco 49ers (2-3), in just four days, Thursday night. The 49ers losing at home to Arizona 24-23 Sunday means Seattle remains in first place.

Not by anything the Seahawks did.

“We played bad. That’s the reality,” Smith said — after the Giants sacked him seven times.

“They played harder. They wanted it more. They fought harder. They came out, executed better

Yes, it was that basic.

Just before the blocked kick, Smith-Njigba dropped a pass on third down that would have given Seattle a first down. It would have extended the drive, perhaps toward a game-winning touchdown — or at least to a shorter field goal before Myers’ got blocked.

“Just a lack of concentration,” the glum Smith-Njigba said at his locker in the quiet Seahawks room.

“The message is, we don’t got enough time to sit around and put our heads down,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got to keep our heads up and move forward. We’ve got a game in, what, three or four days, and we’ve got to get ready to go.

“We’ve got to get better in a hurry.”

Maconald’s new defense allowed more than 400 yards (421 in all) for the second time in six days. Those have been the Seahawks’ two losses, at Detroit 42-29 and now this home malfunction against previously 1-3 New York.

One game after a career night, Smith completed 26 of 36 passes for 266 yards and the late touchdown to Smith-Njigba.

But for the second consecutive game, Smith couldn’t help where the Seahawks often needed it: on defense.

Seattle allowed the Giants 175 yards rushing.

“We just didn’t play together,” Seahawks linebacker Jerome Baker said.

“We got out-played today on defense,” Macdonald said.

And once again, Seattle’s rushing offense was non-existent. The running backs ran seven times for 30 yards. Smith got 73 yards on four scrambles to make the rushing total look better than it was.

Those are the reasons Macdonald, 37, felt he had to go for it on fourth and 1 in his own end early in the fourth quarter down one score.

“We felt we had a good play,” the NFL’s youngest head coach said. “Was confident in the situation, and felt good about it.

“They didn’t play it the way we expected them to. And Burns made a great play.”

Macdonald said that was the play call, as Smith executed.

“That was the play that we had game-planned for that situation,” the coach said.

Tre Brown targeted

The Giants re-took the lead 4 minutes into the third quarter, by targeting Seahawks cornerback Tre Brown.

Brown, playing left cornerback as Macdonald called nickel defenses with Devon Witherspoon as the slot cornerback, got beaten twice by Giants receiver Darius Slayton. The first time was for a 41-yard gain down the left sideline, on a beautiful throw by Jones over Brown’s and Slayton’s shoulders along the right sideline.

Then Slayton beat Brown up then across the field right to left in man coverage. Jones waited for Slayton to break then threw into his arms in the clear for a 30-yard touchdown pass.

New York led 17-10.

Brown then sat on the Seahawks’ bench, with his head down. Cornerback Riq Woolen tapped him on the thigh for encouragement.

The Seahawks’ offense tried to respond, moving into Giants territory on Smith’s consecutive completions to tight end Pharaoh Brown and to Lockett. On third and 7, Giants cornerback Deonte Banks reached over DK Metcalf to break up the pass.

Metcalf came to the sideline. He angrily talked to wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson, then stomped away as the coach walked behind him.

Jason Myers kicked a field goal to cut New York’s lead to 17-13.

The Giants answered with a drive keyed by their sixth conversion on 11 third downs, another successful targeting of Seahawks cornerback Tre Brown by Jones on a pass to Slayton. His seventh catch set up a field goal. New York led 20-13 going into the final quarter.

One stop, one scoop keep Seahawks in it

The Giants’ first possession of the game became a 16-play march spanning nine minutes. They had second and goal from the 3-yard line.

Then Seahawks weakside linebacker Jerome Baker, starting for the first time in three games following a hamstring injury, made tackles of Giants short of the goal line.

On fourth and goal from inside the one, New York running back Eric Gray ran behind right guard. Baker and Pro Bowl safety Julian Love combined to tackle Gray short of the goal line. Baker ripped the ball from Gray trying to extend it to the goal line for a touchdown.

The ball bounded 2 yards into the end zone. Seahawks safety Rayshawn Jenkins picked it up. The other 21 players on the field stopped, as if the play was over. It was not. Jenkins ran alone to the opposite, south end zone. He skipped the final few dozen yards for a strolling, 102-yard fumble-recovery touchdown.

A replay review confirmed Baker had dislodged the ball from Gray before he had reached the plane of the goal line.

The Seahawks had been dominated that entire drive, yet led 7-0.

It was the longest defensive touchdown in Seahawks history, besting a 98-yard interception return for a score by Bobby Wagner against San Francisco in 2018.

That’s how the Seahawks were getting out-gained 92-25, had just one first down to the Giants’ nine — yet led 7-0 early in the second quarter.

In fact, 173 of the first 200 yards of offense in the game were by the Giants.

Riq Woolen, Uchenna Nwosu injured

Late in the second quarter, Woolen went down injured. A team doctor checked his lower right leg. He went into the medical observation tent behind the Seahawks’ bench.

A couple plays later, Uchenna Nwosu was outside the tent, waiting for Woolen to exit so he could enter. The outside linebacker was bent over, in obvious pain.

He was playing his first game in 12 months. He missed the final 11 games of 2023 with a torn pectoral. He missed the first four games of this season with a sprained knee from the final preseason game Aug. 24.

At that point, the Seahawks had one more first down in the game than medical tents needed.

Woolen emerged and jogged back onto the field. He re-entered the game. Nwosu stayed out the remainder of the day with what the Seahawks said was a thigh injury.

During the drive Woolen then Nwosu went out injured. Tre Brown, Woolen’s replacement at cornerback, got a penalty for defensive holding on a no-gain third-down run that gifted the Giants a first down. Jones broke two more tackles on an 8-yard run.

That got New York in position for a 38-yard field goal by Greg Joseph for a 10-7 lead with 25 seconds remaining in the half.

At that point, the total yards were Giants 226, Seahawks 45. The first downs were 15-3 New York. The possession time was Giants 21:53, Seattle 7:45.

Smith and the Seahawks offense responded with completions to running back Kenneth Walker for 17 yards and Tyler Lockett for 28. Lockett got down quickly after his catch at the Giants 25. That preserved the final 6 seconds of the half with Seattle having all three time outs.

Jason Myers took advantage of Lockett’s wise play to kick a 43-yard field goal at the end of the half.

The Seahawks were getting dominated yet were improbably tied at 10.

Woolen got hurt again late in the third quarter, an ankle injury. Rookie Nehemiah Pritchett replaced him.

After the game, Macdonald didn’t specify the severity of the injuries to Woolen or Nwosu.

DK Metcalf fumbles again

Seattle’s defense got a stop to begin the second half. Then Smith connected with Lockett for 33 yards, to the Giants 38.

After a 7-yard run by Walker, by far the longest rush in a mere three carries to that point, Smith completed a pass to Metcalf for a first down. But for the second time in two games after a catch in opposing territory, Metcalf lost a fumble. This one was on a low hit by Banks as Metcalf was falling on a tackle.

The Giants recovered at the Seattle 21, then drove to the go-ahead touchdown.

Inability to run is a problem

In Detroit the previous Monday night, 18 of offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s first 22 play calls were passes. The Seahawks trailed 21-7.

Sunday, 15 of Seattle’s first 17 plays were pass calls. Lead back Kenneth Walker had two carries for 2 yards in the first half. The Seahawks had 45 total yards on 15 plays and just three of the game’s 14 first downs to show for it.

Walker finished with 19 yards on just five runs. Charbonnet had two carries for 11 yards.

After the game, Macdonald was asked, essentially, why Walker didn’t get to run the ball more.

“That’s a fair question,” the head coach said.

“We definitely need to get the run game going. The way the game started we were thinking about trying to get Geno going early. And I’m not sure how many plays we had (in) the first half, but it wasn’t many (it 17, to New York’s 39). The game started to kind of get out of hand there. We had to get going.

“You’re right, we need to get the run game going. We need to get Ken the ball more.”

The Seahawks’ inability and disinterest in running the ball is going to get them annihilated against the 49ers and better teams. They must establish Walker and the run more Thursday night, or Nick Bosa and San Francisco’s defensive front that has dominated Seattle for years will swarm Smith by running straight up the field at the quarterback with no regard for running plays.

Derick Hall injured

Hall left in the fourth quarter with a foot injury.