In what may go down as one of the more exciting matchups of the entire season, Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks outpaced the Houston Texans, 41-38 in an offensive slugfest.
Wilson threw for 452 yards and four touchdowns to bring the Seahawks back, multiple times in the fourth quarter after rookie phenom, QB Deshaun Watson kept his team in it with four passing touchdowns of his own. Both quarterbacks led their respective teams in rushing as well as Watson tallied 67 yards on the ground and Wilson finished with 30.
The two teams combined for 42 points in the first half and another 37 in the second half as they were knotted at 21-21 at halftime. After an exchange of field goals in the third quarter, the quarterbacks went off in the final frame, each throwing two scores a piece as Wilson connected with TE Jimmy Graham for their second scoring connection of the quarter with :21 seconds left for the game-winning touchdown. With that, we give you our PFF exclusive takeaways from the contest for each team.
Top 5 Grades:
QB Russell Wilson, 89.5 overall grade
CB Richard Sherman, 88.8 overall grade
TE Jimmy Graham, 87.7 overall grade
DE Frank Clark, 87.0 overall grade
WR Paul Richardson, 85.8 overall grade
Performances of Note:
QB Russell Wilson, 89.5 overall grade
An ominous performance from Wilson who was flawless for the majority of this game even if he left owing his defense a big thank you for getting him the ball back after a potentially back-breaking interception. Even with that he was remarkable, faced with pressure on over a third of his dropbacks he was still able to work at all levels of the defense, completing a remarkable 14 passes further than 10 yards in the air with five over 20 yards. The play of his line isn't getting any better, but he's adjusted and has really upped his game after a slow start to the year.
WR Paul Richardson, 85.8 overall grade
All Richardson seems to do is make big plays. Today was no different and his crucial catch late in the fourth will have sent Seattle delirious. He came up big for Wilson when it mattered most and in the process had himself a career day. He led the wide receivers in snaps and is becoming the player Seattke hoped he would when they invested a second-round pick on him in 2014. His 118.8 passer rating when targeted was tops on the team among wide receivers.
Edge defender Frank Clark, 87.0 overall grade
Faced with a favorable matchup against Texans' RT Breno Giacomini, Clark took advantage in a big way with a career-high nine pressures. Seven of those came in the first half when he got in to pressure Watson at will but couldn't finish. In the second half, the volume dropped but both pressures were sacks including the decisive sack prior to the game-ending interception. Clark's production in this game tallies to more than one third of his total pass-rush production of the season so far (9-of-26).
CB Richard Sherman, 88.8 overall grade
Early on it looked like Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins had the measure of the Seattle secondary. Sherman gave up 84 yards on four catches, his most yards allowed since Week 4 of last season. That said you just can't count Seattle out and Sherman rebounded in style with his first two interceptions of the season, each at crucial junctures. The first came when Watson tried to force a crossing pattern late to the sideline with Sherman peeling off of his coverage to make a play in front of Stephen Anderson. That setup a go-ahead field goal for Seattle while the latter closed out the win.
Top 5 Grades:
Edge Jadeveon Clowney, 96.6 overall grade
WR DeAndre Hopkins, 94.0 overall grade
DT D.J. Reader, 85.4 overall grade
LB Benardrick McKinney, 81.6 overall grade
QB Deshaun Watson, 80.8 overall grade
Performances of Note:
QB Deshaun Watson, 80.8 overall grade
This was a remarkable back-and-forth game, encapsulated no better than by the result of the Texans' opening two possessions. Watson casually did what no quarterback ever does and launched a strike directly over Earl Thomas for a deep touchdown on the opening series before Thomas responded with a pick-six on the second series. This was the duel from then on with Watson lighting up the Seattle secondary with the kind of production you rarely see against them but balanced by key mistakes that the Seahawks were able to exact the maximum value from. Through the air and on the ground Watson more than held his own against one of the league's best defenses but ultimately the balance of the game favored the quarterback who made fewer mistakes.
WR DeAndre Hopkins, 94.0 overall grade
224 receiving yards, a late score on a screen pass and 40-plus yards on four different Seattle defenders, Hopkins definitely got the better of the Legion of Boom. 107 yards on four deep catches was paired with a couple of snags at the intermediate level and that weaving screen reception that would have been a worthy game winner. The overall production with Watson may not be consistent yet but Hopkins is finding the end zone and when he connects with Watson he goes off in a big way and is utterly unstoppable on days like today.
Edge defender Jadeveon Clowney, 96.6 overall grade
A performance so dominant it's hard to fathom Clowney didn't end up on the winning team. It looked a mismatch on paper as he went head-to-head with Rees Odhiambo, and so it proved with Clowney too quick, too strong and just too good for the Seahawks left tackle. He ended the day with a sack, hit and seven hurries as well as two tackles for loss in the run game, with countless victories the stat sheet doesn't count. Clowney can do it against below average players, but the challenge for him is to do it against better players. Todays pressure totals accounted for 33 percent of his totals on the year.
Edge defender Lamarr Houston, 78.3 overall grade
Houston debuted before the bye week with a solid effort, and showed he can still be an effective player going up chiefly against Germain Ifedi. He didn't get to the quarterback but did have himself five pressures. That was his single biggest output in any game since Week 14 of the 2015 season.
PFF Game Ball: Russell Wilson, QB
*Grades are subject to change upon review
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