Seahawks emerge from mess of game with win vs. Jets, sole possession of first

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was a game in which the Seahawks came out looking dazed and the New York Jets left appearing confused.

How could the Seahawks have won a game in which they allowed a 99-yard kickoff return and fumbled away two other kickoff returns?

How could the Seahawks have won a game in which one of the greatest QBs of all time needed only to complete a 9-yard pass to a wide-open receiver for a TD that would put the Jets ahead by three touchdowns?

And how, mere seconds later, could 6-foot-5, 310-pound Leonard Williams be motoring more than 17 1/2 miles an hour with a pick-six that got the Seahawks back in the game?

”What a crazy game,’’ Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “I think that’s the first time that that ever happened in the NFL, the whole series of events in the first half.’’

It’s impossible to know that for sure as there have been a lot of NFL games since 1920.

But as Seahawks safety Julian Love said, “That game had everything.”

When it ended, what it most important for the Seahawks was more points on their side of the scoreboard.

They rallied from 14-point deficits twice in the first half to finally put away the Jets 26-21 with Zach Charbonnet scoring the winning TD with 5:18 remaining.

The real moment when the game tilted the Seahawks’ way came during the back-to-back plays in the second quarter when a potential 28-7 Jets lead turned into a 21-13 difference.

The Jets had just recovered another Seahawks fumbled kickoff and had a second-and-seven at the Seattle nine. At the worst, the Jets seemed destined to get a field goal and a three-possession lead.

They went for the jugular with Jets receiver Garrett Wilson using a double move to break wide open in the corner of the end zone past cornerback Josh Jobe.

Rodgers, the NFL’s all-time leader in passing efficiency, seemed about to have one of the easier TD passes of his career.

Only, the ball sailed over the head of Wilson, who made a vain attempt to rein it in with his right hand.

“I tried to throw it about 5 [yards] inside,’’ Rodgers said. “Wind was a little inconsistent. Maybe I should have thrown it a little flatter because he was wide open. I’ve got to hit that, doesn’t matter, windy, I’ve played in wind before. It was inconsistent, but I’ve got to hit that.’’

Rodgers had a mostly clean pocket. Williams thought maybe Rodgers sensed an oncoming rush.

“I think he’s an older guy, doesn’t want to take big hits like that anymore,” Williams said of Rodgers, who turns 41 on Monday. “So sometimes if he feels a guy coming full speed at him, he’s just gonna chuck it and duck.’’

A play later, Rodgers tried to make amends. This time, feeling more of a rush, Rodgers tried to hit Wilson on a slant route.

Instead, the ball hit Williams, who had dropped into coverage. Williams bobbled, caught the ball and took off down the sidelines using a few blocks to break into the open and down the sidelines and eventually into the end zone.

“I kind of read behind the right guard,’’ Rodgers said. “I couldn’t see him.’’

According to statistics from Pro Football Reference, it was just the eighth time all season Williams had dropped into coverage.

“We just tell everybody, ‘Hey, you owe us two drops a game, so you can rush the rest of the time,’” Macdonald said with a smile.

Said Williams: “I mean, that’s pretty much what that drop was meant to be. Our technique is to like rush the touch, so I rush the guard, as soon as I get hands on him he thinks I’m coming, and then last second I pop out. And the ball just happened to be in arm’s reach, and I pretty much just stuck my arm out, poked it out, and I got a lucky bounce, it went straight up in the air and gave me time to catch it. I didn’t expect to get that far with it, though, to be honest. I mean, I remember running with it, and I thought I was running fast, but you never know, you know what I mean?“

It was the second pick-six for the Seahawks in two weeks, the first time that happened since 2012, and the second in two years at MetLife. Devon Witherspoon had a 97-yarder against the Giants here in October 2023 here.

“There were a lot of things [that happened],’’ Rodgers said. “But I think the two-play stretch where I missed Garrett open to go up 28-7 and threw a pick-six, it kind of changed the momentum of the game.’’

Indeed, the roughly two-thirds full MetLife Stadium seemed resigned that the worst was likely to happen.

The Seahawks rode their defense, the most consistent unit for either team all day, to eventually get the win, as they shut out the Jets for the final 49:40, holding Rodgers to just 21-of-39 passing for 185 yards.

The Seahawks began digging an early hole when a facemask penalty on Williams — the only thing he’s done wrong in a few weeks — kept alive a Jets drive that ended in a Rodgers TD to Davante Adams.

Dee Williams fumbled away the kickoff leading to a short Jets TD drive and a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Seahawks responded with an 88-yard drive to make it 14-7. But New York’s Kene Nwangwu returned the kickoff 99 yards for a TD to make it 21-7.

Laviska Shenault Jr. fumbled away the next kickoff, and it felt like maybe it was just going to be one of those days for the Seahawks.

“We have to protect the ball better [in the] the kicking game for sure,’’ Macdonald said. “We’ll definitely review that.’’

Then came Rodgers’ misfire and Williams’ rumble and the Jets never seemed to recover.

“Really good teams, when adversity hits and you do something like a self-inflicted wound, you respond and we didn’t respond like we needed to,” Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said.

The Seahawks eventually did, with a Jason Myers field goal early in the fourth quarter, making it a 21-19 game, and Geno Smith lead a bizarre nine-play, 71-yard drive capped by Charbonnet’s TD.

The drive featured five Jets penalties, all on third or fourth downs, for 46 yards.

It also included the Seahawks going for it on fourth-and-six from its own 33 with 9:33 left because punter Michael Dickson was momentarily unavailable while dealing with back spasms. No matter, a penalty on the Jets for 12 men on the field made it fourth-and-one, where another penalty for pass interference got the Seahawks a first down.

The Jets drove to the Seattle 29 with two minutes left. But a few minutes later it was fourth-and-15 and a blitz by safety Coby Bryant forced Rodgers into one final, futile misfire into the end zone.

That play arrived at about the same time Minnesota’s 23-22 win over Arizona went final, giving the Seahawks a one-game lead in the NFC West.

“It’s what you want,’’ Smith said. “You want to be playing meaningful games in December.”