What We Saw: Seahawks at Football Team

Russ looked good, but Antonio Gibson looked better

Corey Saucier
What We Saw 2 Years Ago

Seahawks @ Football Team

Final Score: Football Team 17, Seahawks 15

Writer: Corey Saucier (@Deputy_Commish on Twitter, /u/Lights_Kamara_Action on Reddit)

 

Monday night gave us a defensive struggle between the Seahawks and the Washington Football Team, but Washington leaned on RB Antonio Gibson and the ground game to secure the victory. Gibson saw career-highs in rushes, targets, and receptions on Monday night, yet he failed to score while conceding two TDs to fellow backfield mate RB J.D. McKissic. Seattle’s offensive struggles continued in a big way – leading to the first 4-game losing streak of QB Russell Wilson‘s career. At one point, the Seahawks went 3-and-out on five consecutive possessions, being the first team to do so since – Seattle, back in Week 4 of this year. As a result, Washington absolutely dominated the time of possession battle, 41:40 – 18:20, and kept Wilson and the Seahawks’ offense off the field.

Wilson doesn’t seem like himself, and at this point, it’s hard not to wonder if his finger injury is still giving him trouble. Wilson had several uncharacteristic misfires on Monday night, often slinging the ball several feet over his intended targets’ heads. With all of Seattle’s offensive struggles, they still found themselves with a chance to win the game in the end, but a failed 2-point conversion sealed their fate after a late TD. But I must say, the absolute coolest play from Monday night’s game didn’t have much fantasy impact, but was still awesome to see – a blocked extra point attempt returned for 2:

 

 

Did your players do enough to get you a victory this week? Let’s dive into what we saw:

 

Seattle Seahawks

 

Quarterbacks

 

Russell Wilson: 20/31, 247 yards, 2 TD | 2 carries, 16 yards

 

Seahawks’ QB Russell Wilson just hasn’t looked like himself this season. To be fair, Wilson’s finger injury was gruesome – and he did make it back on the field as quickly as the team doctors even thought possible. But since his return, Wilson and Seattle’s offense has been awful. All of that being said, Wilson’s fantasy performance on Monday night was his best since back in Week 4 against San Francisco. Wilson didn’t turn the ball over and he did throw two TD passes for the first time since Week 4, as well. His first was this absolute dart to TE Gerald Everett who made a great effort to hang onto it:

 

 

Russ’s second TD late in the game was also a bullet to a wide-open WR Freddie Swain:

 

 

All in all, Monday night’s performance was encouraging from a fantasy perspective for Wilson as he continues to recover from his finger injury.

 

Running Backs

 

Alex Collins: 7 carries, 14 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 13 yards, Fumble (Lost)

DeeJay Dallas: 3 carries, 4 yards | 5 targets, 5 receptions, 27 yards

 

It’s tough to find anything encouraging to say about Seattle’s RBs’ performance on Monday night. In fact, Russell Wilson led the team in rushing with just 16 yards on 2 carries. RB Chris Carson‘s season-ending neck injury has paved the way for RB Alex Collins to take over the backfield touches – and Collins just can’t seem to do anything with them. We assumed that Collins would have to hold off RB Rashaad Penny for touches down the stretch, but not much of a surprise to anyone, Penny has been saddled with injuries and can’t stay on the field. Washington has been bad defensively this season, especially against fantasy RBs – but you wouldn’t have known it watching them frustrate the Seahawks’ rushing attack. Here’s a highlight video that includes a Seattle RB:

 

 

Unfortunately for the Seahawks, it’s a highlight for Washington’s defense.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Tyler Lockett: 5 targets, 3 receptions, 96 yards

D.K. Metcalf: 4 targets, 1 reception, 13 yards

Gerald Everett: 9 targets, 5 reception, 37 yards, TD

Freddie Swain: 2 targets, 1 reception, 32 yards, TD

 

With how much Seattle struggled to keep their offense on the field, their pass-catching group honestly put up decent fantasy performances – other than WR D.K. Metcalf, that is. Metcalf had just one catch and failed to even see a target until the second half. WR Tyler Lockett was limited to just 3 catches but made the most of them – turning them into 96 yards on the night.

 

 

Lockett added another huge gain of 39 yards late in the second quarter on yet another deep crossing route. While Seattle’s offense has struggled lately, Lockett has quietly amassed at least 95 receiving yards in three of Seattle’s last 4 games.

 

Washington Football Team

 

Quarterback

 

Taylor Heinicke: 27/35, 223 yards, TD, INT | 4 carries, 3 yards

 

Washington QB Taylor Heinicke hasn’t been on anyone’s fantasy radar very much this season, but he has played well enough to supply some decent production for his pass-catchers. Heinicke was glad to see TE Logan Thomas return to action after a 6-week absence with a hamstring injury, and he also got WR Curtis Samuel back in the mix on Monday night as well. Heinicke and the Washington offense leaned heavily on the running game on Monday night to control the clock, but Heinicke did deliver this short 10-yard TD strike to RB J.D. McKissic:

 

 

Heinicke also had a tough break on this deflected ball that ended up intercepted:

 

 

Running Backs

 

Antonio Gibson: 29 carries, 111 yards | 7 targets, 7 receptions, 35 yards

J.D. McKissic: 7 carries, 30 yards, TD | 5 targets, 5 receptions, 26 yards, TD

 

The fantasy star of Monday night was clearly Washington RB Antonio Gibson. Gibson was a huge part of Washington’s game plan to keep the Seahawks’ offense off the field (luckily Seattle’s offensive gameplan helped accomplish this, as well). Gibson was tackled awkwardly at the end of Washington’s second possession and appeared to be in pain on the sidelines, but he wasn’t forced to miss any time. We know that Gibson had career highs in touches, carries, receptions, and targets, but he could have had an even bigger night. Gibson had a huge gain that was called back due to a holding penalty early in the 4th quarter. It was J.D. McKissic who scored twice on the night for Washington: once on the 10-yard reception we looked at earlier, and then again on this nifty 10-yard rush:

 

 

Unfortunately for Washington, McKissic was carted off in the 4th quarter, so his status will be worth monitoring.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Terry McLaurin: 7 targets, 4 receptions, 51 yards

DeAndre Carter: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 42 yards | 1 carry, 4 yards

Logan Thomas: 6 targets, 3 receptions, 31 yards

 

With Heinicke’s struggles through the air and his only TD pass going to a running back, the Washington pass-catching group had a fairly quiet night. TE Logan Thomas appeared to have a TD catch late in the game to ice it for Washington, but it was eventually overturned after a lengthy review. I couldn’t see anything clear and obvious enough to overturn the call on replay, but that’s possibly why I’m not an NFL official:

 

 

It’s tough to get a great shot from this clip, and for that, I apologize. But Thomas looked like he got in, to me. WR Terry McLaurin had a quiet night after his big performance last week against the Panthers.

 

Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)

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