Seahawks snap 3-game losing streak with road win vs. Falcons

ATLANTA — Throughout the wins during the Seahawks’ 3-3 start, coach Mike Macdonald said the team was still trying to forge its identity, becoming who he thinks it can become.

The Seahawks took a big step Sunday in doing just that, pairing a varied and big-play offense with a defense that bent but mostly didn’t break — until turning in a backbreaking play of its own — to upset the Atlanta Falcons 34-14 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak and got the Seahawks back over .500 at 4-3.

The only negative was the sight of receiver DK Metcalf being carted off the field in the fourth quarter after suffering a knee injury late in the third quarter. Metcalf appeared to be injured when he was upended on the sidelines trying to make a third-down catch.

After being examined on the sidelines and listed as questionable to return and sitting on the bench for an offensive series, Metcalf was carted into the locker room.

Metcalf was carted off just as kicker Jason Myers booted a 59-yard field goal to cap the Seahawks’ most complete effort of the season.

The win came after a week of soul-searching following the three-losses-in-11-day stretch capped by a crushing home loss to the 49ers.

Consider all the messages to have gotten across as the Seahawks took an early 10-0 lead, scored a touchdown with four seconds left in the first half to stun the Falcons and the home crowd, responded again in the third quarter when Atlanta again cut into the lead and got the game-sealing play when Boye Mafe forced a Kirk Cousins fumble that Derick Hall turned into a touchdown.

Hall skipped into the end zone to complete a 64-yard scoop-and-score fumble return with 12:46 left to put the Seahawks ahead 31-14 and ended all suspense.

They would add interceptions by Julian Love and Coby Bryant in the final minutes finishing with a 3-0 turnover margin after forcing just one takeaway in the previous five games.

The win came in a game when the Seahawks used a makeshift secondary with cornerbacks Tre Brown and Riq Woolen out with ankle injuries. That had practice-squad call-up Josh Jobe and rookie Nehemiah Pritchett starting and playing most of the snaps on the outside.

The Seahawks used a no-frills defensive game plan to force Cousins into checking the ball down time and time again and allowing the pass rushers to eventually get to him.

Offensively, Geno Smith might have played his best game of the season, completing 18 of 28 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns aided by some tough running by Kenneth Walker III — who was listed as questionable with an illness — who scored a rushing touchdown and also caught one, as well as some good play calls from Ryan Grubb and a huge hookup with Metcalf for a 31-yard touchdown with four seconds left in the first half.

The Falcons had had the ball just a few plays earlier, looking as if they might tie the game or even take the lead heading into halftime.

A Leonard Williams sack helped force a punt and when the Seahawks had the ball at the Atlanta 31 with 10 seconds left, they got aggressive and Smith got time and hit Metcalf for a 31-yarder that put them up 17-7 at halftime.

Atlanta took the second-half kickoff and drove patiently down the field to get back in the game, a 79-yard, 14-play march capped by a 5-yard Cousins to Drake London pass on fourth-and-one.

London was matched up in the slot against Pritchett and had no problem getting the step needed to reel in the pass.

That made it 17-14 and it seemed as if the Falcons, now 4-3, might be in the midst of another comeback win.

But the Seahawks quickly responded, keyed by a fourth-and-one conversion at the Atlanta 44 on a 7-yard run by Zach Charbonnet and then a roughing-the-passer penalty on Atlanta’s Demone Harris on an incomplete pass on third-and-five at the Falcons’ 32.

The Seahawks immediately cashed in as Smith hit Walker out of the backfield for a 17-yard TD on the next play to make it 24-14 with 3:18 to play in the third quarter.

Each team exchanged punts and when Atlanta got the ball back, good coverage allowed Mafe to break through on a third-and-nine and hit Cousins as he threw to force a fumble and Hall’s recovery.

The Seahawks led 17-7 at halftime after the Smith-to-Metcalf TD that seemed to leave the home crowd stunned.

It capped what was maybe Smith’s best half of the season as he hit on 15 of 19 passes for 181 yards a TD and no interceptions.

The Seahawks had 264 yards in the first half, which included 54 on 12 rushing attempts (45 on six by Walker) as well as 35 from Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a pass off a lateral.

Metcalf, who looked frustrated throughout a loss to the 49ers a week ago Thursday in which he had just three receptions on 11 targets, had 99 yards on four catches in the first half alone.

The home fans finally got something to cheer about with Bijan Robinson’s 5-yard TD to cut the lead to 10-7 and even more by forcing a Seahawks punt and getting the ball back with at its own 10 with 2:15 left.

At that point, it felt like the worst thing that would happen for Atlanta was being behind 10-7 at the half. But with the way the Falcons had just moved it, at least getting a tying field seemed the most likely option, and maybe even a touchdown, especially after a 24-yard Tyler Allgeier run on first down.

But after a 7-yard Robinson run, Williams sacked Cousins. And on third down Devon Witherspoon hung on to Kyle Pitts to keep the Falcons three yards short of a first down on third-and-10.

The Seahawks took over, stayed aggressive on offense and Smith hit four straight passes for 47 yards to get them to the Atlanta 21. An intentional grounding penalty made it third-and-15 at the 31. But with little to lose, Smith dropped back, got some time, then stepped up in the pocket and hit a stunningly wide-open Metcalf.