Sam Darnold, Seahawks hang on to beat Texans despite 4 turnovers

The Seattle Seahawks did their part to help the city out on Monday night after an ALCS heartbreaker for fans watching along next door. It just wasn’t pretty.

The Seahawks, despite committing four turnovers, held on to a 27-19 win over C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans at Lumen Field in the second game of a “Monday Night Football” doubleheader. That pushed them to 5-2 on the season and kept them tied atop the already crowded NFC West standings.

Advertisement

[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]

The win also came just hours after the Seattle Mariners fell 4-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the ALCS. Though the game was in Toronto, fans had packed T-Mobile Park across the street to watch as their team tried to make the franchise's first World Series trip. That, though, will have to wait.

On the football side, Seattle jumped up to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, thanks to a 1-yard run from Zach Charbonnet on the Seahawks' second drive of the night and then a perfect 11-yard slant to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, which prompted an incredible celebration on the goalpost that is sure to lead to a fine in the coming days.

They should have taken a three-score lead in the first half, but the Seahawks got a little lax and committed a bad turnover while trying to run a trick play before halftime. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp went to throw to Smith-Njigba from the backfield, but completely overthrew him for the easy pick. That led to Houston’s first points of the night, and their first of two field goals before the break.

Advertisement

Defensive end Will Anderson Jr. scored the first touchdown of the night for Houston in the third quarter. He swallowed up QB Sam Darnold in the backfield, forced an easy fumble and then landed on the ball to suddenly make it a five-point game.

But the Seahawks immediately went down and kicked a field goal minutes later to make it an eight-point game again, and then Charbonnet scored his second touchdown of the night on a quick drive after a fourth-down stop to give the Seahawks complete control of the game again.

Though Seattle committed two more turnovers in the second half, the Texans couldn’t take advantage. They even made it down to the 1-yard line, and then proceeded to get stuffed at the line of scrimmage twice and then failed to convert on fourth down in a bad offensive sequence. While the Texans eventually scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, it came too late.

Advertisement

Stroud went 23-of-49 for 229 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the loss. The Texans had just 56 yards on the ground as a group, led by Stroud, and Dalton Schultz led them with 85 yards on eight catches. The Texans failed to have a drive longer than five plays in the third quarter, converted just twice on third down in 15 tries, and couldn't get much of anything going offensively despite a good defensive showing.

Darnold went 17-of-31 passing for 213 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Seahawks. Kenneth Walker III had 66 yards on 17 carries, and Smith-Njigba had 123 yards and a score on eight catches. While the Seahawks won, a four turnover night isn't likely to lead to victory very often. Thankfully for them, the Seahawks are entering their bye week, which should give them some extra time to clean things up.

Advertisement

The Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-9 in the first game of the “MNF” doubleheader. Jahmyr Gibbs had a pair of touchdown runs as part of his 136-yard outing for Detroit, which also holds a 5-2 record. The Buccaneers lost Mike Evans, likely for most of the rest of the season, with a broken collarbone in that loss.

Click here to read article