By CNN
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The Seattle Seahawks cruised past the New York Giants with a blowout 24-3 victory at MetLife Stadium on Monday.
The Seahawks built the win off the back of a strong defense, ending the game with a franchise record-equaling 11 sacks – including 10 sacks on Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.
Linebacker Bobby Wagner led the way for the Seattle defense – tallying 17 tackles and two sacks – while Jordyn Brooks, Devon Witherspoon and Uchenna Nwosu tallied two sacks each.
Rookie cornerback Witherspoon enjoyed the best play of the night, intercepting Jones in the third quarter for a 97-yard touchdown return, turning what could have been a potentially close game into a runaway victory.
“We’re not a finished product, we’re just getting rolling,” said Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.
“It’s really exciting to be able to tell you that because it feels like what I’m probably altogether most proud of is how we played the second half of the last three weeks.”
Asked about Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, Carroll added: “I’ve never thought he wouldn’t play like this. This is why we took him: to be active and to show that he gets this game of football, and this comes easy to him. He’s an explosive, dynamic player.”
The Seahawks are now 3-1 ahead of a bye in Week 5. The Giants are 1-3 having led for a total of 19 seconds across all four of their games this season, according to ESPN.
Despite the excellent defensive performance, Seattle’s night was somewhat dampened by the loss of safety Jamal Adams, who – playing for the first time in 13 months after a quadriceps injury – suffered a concussion on the ninth play of the game.
“He’s going to be okay,” said Carroll. “He got kicked in the head, and so he misses this game. But the preparation to get him to this, then with the week coming off, he’s going to be fine, I’m sure, and he’ll be back out there. It’s just a little glitch right now.”
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith found DK Metcalf with a touchdown pass in the first quarter to open the scoring, before Noah Fant broke two tackles for a 51-yard gain that set up a touchdown for Kenneth Walker III on the next play.
Smith injured his knee after catching his own pass that was batted back to him in the first quarter but returned to the game in the second half. He later said that there was “some slight pain” but was happy that he “came out okay” after Isaiah Simmons’ tackle.
The Giants were restricted to 248 yards of total offense and, not for the first time this season, paid for a slow start as they were outscored 14-3 in the first half.
“We had a good week [in practice],” Giants head coach Brian Daboll told reporters. “I thought, defense, we did a lot of good things and didn’t get the job done. Had too many penalties on special teams and didn’t score on offense. We’ve got to figure out a way to make that better.”
The Giants now have two road games – against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday and the Buffalo Bills on October 16 – while the Seahawks are next in action against the Cincinnati Bengals on October 15.
