Seahawks survive Philip Rivers’ return, beat Colts with six field goals

Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV revealed Sunday that among the team’s nicknames for kicker Jason Myers is one that plays off his jersey number.

“Big five, man,” Jones said in referencing Myers.

What the Seahawks needed from Myers on Sunday was a really big sixth.

With 18 seconds left against the 13.5-point underdog Indianapolis Colts, Myers, who had already made five field goals, lined up for a potential game-winner looking into the open end of Lumen Field — where the winds typically swirl the most and the nastiest.

All he was being asked to do was kick it 56 yards through the upright to prevent the Seahawks from suffering their most disappointing and maybe costliest defeat of the season.

The kick stayed true to the middle and had enough distance that it likely would have been good from 60.

read more seahawks 18, colts 16

More

“That’s what he does, man,” Jones said. “We put him out there; we have all trust (in him).”

The kick was the longest game-winner in franchise history, allowed Myers to set a team record for most made field goals in a game and was only the fourth time in team history the Seahawks won a game without scoring a touchdown.

“It’s not what you want,” coach Mike Macdonald said of needing six field goals to win the game. “But when needed, it’s great to have them.”

Myers, who also hit a 52-yarder on the final play to win a game at Arizona in September and has eight game-winning kicks in his Seahawks career, considered it all just part of a day’s work.

“You’re trying to make every kick the same, whether it is a PAT in the first quarter or a game winner,” Myers said. “You’re sticking to the routine and just trusting that and trusting all the work you’ve done and the preparation. Just attack the ball, for sure.”

Myers’ celebration was similarly restrained. He gave helmet taps and handshakes to teammates and that was about that.

“I knew I hit it well,” he said. “It was a little pull slice there, but once it got up I knew I hit a really strong ball.”

And with that, the Seahawks could breathe a sigh of relief that they staved off what would have been the most unfathomable defeat of the Macdonald era and start preparing for what looms as the biggest game of the Macdonald era, a showdown Thursday night for first place in the NFC West against the Rams.

“Turn the page on this one, learn from the mistakes and get ready for Thursday,” said safety Coby Bryant of the quick turnaround.

L.A. won the first one 21-19 when Myers was short on a 61-yarder that could have won it.

More critical in that one was the Seahawks’ mistakes, namely four Sam Darnold interceptions.

The Seahawks haven’t lost since that game to keep pace with the Rams, both tied at 11-3 and with the best record in the NFC.

For a while Sunday, it was tempting to wonder if the Seahawks were already looking ahead to that game.

The Seahawks were held to just 3 yards rushing in the first half as the offense could manage only two field goals and just 80 yards overall.

It was the third consecutive game the Seahawks were held without an offensive touchdown in the first half.

“I think for us we’ve just got to start faster as an offense, finish in the red zone,” Darnold said. “I feel like it’s becoming a theme the next few weeks, and we’ve got to get it figured out.”

That they do with the offensive line struggling with a few blown assignments on some pressures.

The defense also had to figure out exactly what it was getting from 44-year-old Philip Rivers, who worked out for the Colts on Monday and signed on Tuesday in the wake of a season-ending injury to Daniel Jones.

Rivers started and played the entire way and showed he could still manage a game well. But what he wasn’t going to do was test the Seahawks deep — just eight of his passes traveled longer than 10 yards in the air, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats as he threw for just 120 yards, completing 18 of 27.

Sponsored

“We knew there wasn’t going to be too many deep throws,” Jones said.

But Rivers could still throw accurately, such as when he hit Josh Downs for an 8-yard TD late in the second quarter that put the Colts ahead 13-3.

It was only the third time all season the Seahawks had trailed by double digits at any point of any game. The other two came in losses to the Bucs and Rams.

A quick drive that resulted in a 52-yard Myers field goal as time ran out in the first half made it 13-6.

Still, the Seahawks were not a happy group at the break.

“We came in at halftime talking about what type of game this was and what type of team we want to be,” rush end Uchenna Nwosu said. “We made up our minds on how we want to go out there in the second half and perform. We knew the first half wasn’t up to our standards. So as men, we made up our mind and went out there and executed.” 

Statistically, the Seahawks did just that, outgaining the Colts 234-65 in the second half and scoring on four of their five possessions.

But they kept bogging down in the red zone, and had to settle for a 30-yard Myers field goal with 2:27 left in the game that capped the best drive of the day, an 82-yard march.

That gave the Seahawks the lead for the first time in the game at 15-13 with 2:27 left.

Rivers showed again why he’s a future Hall of Famer, finding Alec Pierce for a 16-yard gain on a third-and-seven to move the ball to the Seattle 49.

The Seahawks decided to use their time outs, hoping to hold the Colts to at least a field goal with enough clock left to win the game on offense.

The Colts ran three more plays in the next 20 seconds, all followed by Seahawks time outs. Facing a third-and-seven at the Seattle 46, Rivers checked into a run to Jonathan Taylor, who got 4 yards.

That set up a 60-yard field goal for third-year kicker Blake Grupe, whose career-high was 57.

The silence of the crowd as the kick continued to arch to and go through the goal posts said it all.

But the Seahawks had 42 seconds left and the ball at their own 37 following a 28-yard kickoff return by Rashid Shaheed.

Darnold hit Shaheed for 17 yards and after spiking the ball hit him for 8 more to the 38.

The Seahawks got no closer, but it was close enough for Myers.

“There is plenty we want to work on and improve,” Macdonald said. “But the way we closed that game out was just phenomenal just in terms of the fight.

“… Games will be like this coming down the stretch. So you’ve got to learn, figure out ways to win them. I’m proud that we did.”