Seahawks survive Monday Night nail-biter

Seahawks entered Monday night having the best record in Monday Night Football history (18-8) and looked to improve to a franchise best 7-1. It wasn't easy though. On the Seahawks opening offensive drive things turned ugly right away. Marshawn Lynch's first run went for -3 yards, Russell Wilson's 11 yard pass was brought back thanks to a J.R. Sweezy penalty, then Robert Quinn sacked Wilson to end the Hawks first drive of the game. After Jon Ryan's punt, the Rams put up the first points of the game thanks to Greg Zuerlein's 33 yard field goal. 

The Hawks caught a break on their ensuing drive as Lynch carried the ball for a gain of 16, but once again thanks to Sweezy it was brought back after his second penalty of the game and the Seahawks went 3 and out for the second consecutive time.

The Rams got two first down plays in a row and were threatening to score again, but thankfully Bruce Irvin came to the rescue with his first interception of his career. Quinn ended the first quarter by sacking Wilson for the second time. 

The second quarter didn't start off the way the Hawks wanted it to; after Robert Turbin ran for a first down the Rams stingy defense made the Seahawks punt the ball again. The Hawks #1 defense came up with another big interception this time by Richard Sherman, who ran it back 38 yards (which would be a big help). Russell Wilson came up with one of his apatite 10+ yard run as he ran 17 to put the Hawks within field goal range. But who needs field goals when your QB is Wilson? Thanks to a defensive pass interference, Wilson threw a short dart to Golden Tate for the touchdown. So the Hawks took the 7-3 lead. 

That would be the last scoring drive of the first half for any team. The Seahawks O-Line would not have a fun day at the office. Robert Quinn and Chris Long would both sack Wilson three times and allowed one more sack by William Hayes. 

In the third quarter the Rams made it a one point game with a 28 yard field goal by Zuerlin but Russell Wilson had something special up his sleeve for the 12th Man. On the Seahawks ensuing drive after Zuerlin's field goal Wilson threw up a gift to Golden Tate who took to the house for a career long for both him and Wilson 80 yard touchdown. Tate though was giving a penalty for taunting as he waved goodbye to the Rams cornerbacks. The Rams came back in the fourth quarter with one more field goal by Zuerlin to make it 14-9. 

Things though got very scary on the Rams final drive. The Rams began things on their own 4 yard line, Zac Tracy ran 24 yards on two carries. Kellen Clemons drove the Rams all the way down the field to the 6 yard line and after he threw an incomplete pass to stop the clock he handed the ball off to Daryl Richardson who was stopped at the 2 yard line by an incredible game saving tackle by Earl Thomas. After a Chris Clemons offsides call that moved the ball to the one yard line, Richardson tried one more time to win the game but was stopped by Heath Farwell. 

The Rams let the clock wind all the way down to 4 seconds before taking the final timeout of the game. It came down to this; one play, one winner. Clemons threw a high pass intended for Brian Quick that fell incomplete and Seahawks walked away with the hardest fought game of the season.

After the game head coach Pete Carroll said that they were very fortunate to come away with a win, that the offense couldn't get things done but the D did in the end. Golden Tate also apologized after the game for his unsportsmanlike penalty, "That was immature of me. Hurt my team. I've gotta stay composed. Act like I've been there before." The 135 total yards were the 3rd least amount of yards in a Seahawks win. The Hawks have a lot to improve upon before their next game on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks do have good news as they hope to have Percy Harvin on the field this Saturday for the first time this year.