SEATTLE – Even for an athlete as well-conditioned as an NFL football player, 110 yards is a long way to run.
After Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV covered that much ground while making the pivotal play of Sunday’s 26-0 win over the Minnesota Vikings – officially an 85-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter – he didn’t try to deny the obvious.
“So tired,” Jones said of how he felt once he finally crossed into the end zone to score the TD that put the Seahawks ahead 10-0. “So tired. Luckily the next drive was a short one. It was worth it, though.”
No doubt. Jones’ return not only helped lift the Seahawks on a day when the offense struggled to carry its own weight, it also jumped them back into first place in the NFC West at 9-3 with the Rams, who suffered an upset loss at Carolina.
Even more important, the Seahawks control their own destiny.
Simply put, win the rest of their games – including a rematch with the Rams at Lumen Field on Dec. 18 – and the Seahawks will win the NFC West.
“That don’t even matter,” insisted defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who spark-plugged the play that resulted in Jones’ interception by putting a heavy rush on Vikings rookie quarterback Max Brosmer and forcing him into a wild off-target toss to try to make something out of nothing.
“We’ve got to just continue to play our style of ball. Go out there week after week one and oh. Don’t look at what’s down the road, just handle business, what’s in front of us.”
When Lawrence was asked it if meant something that they can control their own destiny, he had this to say:
“I don’t care,” he insisted. “They line up, excuse my language, they get (expletive) up. Thank you.”
Maybe that’s the best approach to take.
As evidenced by the win by Carolina over the Rams, when many around the league were beginning to think L.A. was good enough to win out, anything can happen on any weekend in the NFL.
Also indisputable is that the defense indeed was able to disrupt the Vikings’ offense Sunday every time it lined up, especially with the inexperienced Brosmer behind center.
The Seahawks got their first shutout since beating the Bears by the same 26-0 score in September of 2015, allowed just 83 yards through three quarters and forced five turnovers.
“It’s a big deal,” defensive tackle Byron Murphy II said of holding the Vikings scoreless. “That’s hard to do in this league. It means a lot. We haven’t had a shutout, I just learned, in 10 years, so that’s big and we’re going to celebrate that.”
The Seahawks’ offense won’t look at the tape of this one with the same enthusiasm.
Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores is known for his aggressiveness and lived up to his rep Sunday, bringing a variety of blitzes that kept the Seahawks off-guard much of the day.
Sam Darnold was sacked a season-high four times in the first half alone, had six of his passes batted down at the line or deflected in the secondary and threw for a season-low 128 yards. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was held to two catches for 23 yards – his previous season-low was 79 against the Cardinals on Sept. 25.
The Seahawks had only Jones’ interception return and four Jason Myers field goals to account for its scoring before Zach Charbonnet scored on a 17-yard TD with 9 minutes, 11 seconds left in the game – a score set up by Jones’ second interception of the game.
“We need to start faster, especially in terms of protection and making sure we’re on the same page,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “On paper it’s nice to say we have it protected, but when they’re doing it full speed we got to be ahead of plays faster on offense.”
Darnold played for the Vikings last year when Flores was the DC and faced what he saw Sunday daily in practice. But that knowledge didn’t seem to matter.
“They just did some really good things,” Darnold said. “Some stuff we’ve seen from them in the past. But yeah, I think just their scheme and players making it come to life, they did a really good job. Again, it’s stuff that we’ve got to continue to look at for ourselves to be able to look at it, and for me personally I got to get the ball out in certain situations.”
That was especially true when he was hit and fumbled on a first down from the Seattle 22 late in the second quarter, with the Vikings recovering at the 13. The Seahawks led only 3-0 at the time.
But the Seahawks defense held firm and the Vikings were faced with a fourth-and-1 at the 4, deciding to go for it.
The Vikings called a bootleg with Brosmer rolling right and appearing to want to hit running back Aaron Jones Sr.
Jones was covered and Lawrence broke through quickly and chased down Brosmer. The undrafted free agent, playing in place of injured J.J. McCarthy, decided to try to salvage the play as he was being dragged to the ground, throwing a side-armed pass, apparently to Aaron Jones.
The ball instead went right to Ernest Jones, who had no one in front of him and had only to outrace teammate Riq Woolen to the end zone and score with 2:59 left in the first half.
“I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way he’s about to throw this,’ ” Jones said. “He let it go, then I catch it, and I’m like, ‘There’s nobody in front of me.’ So, I immediately started running.”
Said Lawrence: “I’m thinking he was throwing it out of bounds. But when I heard the crowd roar I am trying to find out what was going on, and I just see E.J. just chucking right beside me. I got up and ran and celebrated.”
Brosmer said he was hoping that at the worst, it would be incomplete and the Seahawks would have to start at their own 4.
“Fourth down, he’s trying to make a play,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “Just ends up being obviously catastrophically bad.”
There was only one other time there was any possible suspense, when the Vikings used a 29-yard Brosmer pass to T.J. Hockenson to move to the Seattle 39 early in the third quarter with the score 16-0.
Three plays later, Brosmer hit Jones with a short pass only to watch as Lawrence raced from the backfield to catch up to Jones and force a fumble recovered by Seahawks safety Ty Okada.
“Probably my new favorite play of all-time,” Macdonald said. “Just an incredible, incredible play. I just saw a blur coming down and just violently attack the ball.”
The shutout was at risk when the Vikings drove to the Seattle 28 with just over five minutes left. Woolen picked off a Brosmer pass, only to fumble the ball away at the Seahawks 37. No matter. Two sacks moved them back and the shutout was secured.
“Obviously an interesting game,” Darnold said. “As an offense I don’t think we played necessarily our best football, but we were able to come out with a win. That’s all that matters.”