Everyone in the NFC East extended their win streak on Sunday -- except for Brian Daboll's red-hot Giants. Looking for their fifth straight victory in a road matchup with the Seahawks, the G-Men repeatedly hurt themselves in a messy back-and-forth. Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, Daboll's highest-profile reclamation stories, both struggled to break loose in a game that remained low-scoring until the closing stretch. Pete Carroll, meanwhile, got another poised showing from Geno Smith, as well as timely plays from Tyler Lockett, the defensive front and the special teams unit, to secure a 27-13 win, the team's third straight "W."
The Giants were hindered primarily by a pair of punt-return blunders, with wide receiver Richie James fumbling on two different returns that helped give Seattle prime field position. But Smith was once again, surprisingly or not, the best QB on the field, dishing to both Lockett and DK Metcalf with the game on the line. Seattle's victory moves the Seahawks to 5-3 atop the NFC West, and drops the Giants to 6-2 in the NFC East, where the Eagles (7-0) and Cowboys (6-2) both logged blowout wins on Sunday.
Here are some additional takeaways from the Seahawks' big NFC victory:
Why the Seahawks won
They employ the better quarterback. Or at least they did on Sunday. OK, so this wasn't really all about the signal-callers, but honestly, on a day where both sides struggled to find much rhythm offensively, only one got killer crunch-time throws, and that was Seattle. Smith may have had three TDs if it weren't for Lockett's wide-open drop, and once again he protected the ball despite airing it out often in a first half where Carroll's squad failed to establish the run. Speaking of Lockett, his resilience out wide helped propel the "W," as did Metcalf's late emergence for their go-ahead scoring drive. The star wideouts were quiet overall, but still combined for 11 catches, 118 yards and two scores when it counted.
More importantly, the Seahawks' once-porous defense remained stingy. Limiting the Giants to a pair of first downs through the first quarter and a half of action, Seattle also stuffed Barkley for most of the night, only allowing him in the end zone after Lockett's uncharacteristic fumble gave New York the ball already in the red zone. Uchenna Nwosu headlined a pass rush that downed Jones five times, and the defensive success indirectly helped Seattle win on special teams, too, where Will Dissly got in on a pair of forced fumbles to win the turnover battle for the home squad.
Why the Giants lost
Return specialist Richie James is the easy culprit, fumbling a pair of punts to give Seattle great field position on two scoring drives, and his gaffes certainly lead the list of reasons New York failed to advance to 7-1. But the offensive strategy from Daboll and/or coordinator Mike Kafka left a lot to be desired out of the gate, with Barkley all but absent on back-to-back three-and-outs. Later on, as Barkley failed to break free, Jones simply could not develop steady chemistry with any receiver except for Darius Slayton, consistently throwing short of the sticks on third downs and stalling in Seattle territory.
New York's defense did its best to make it a game, with Xavier McKinney, Micah McFadden and Leonard Williams all delivering hard hits on Smith, and Adoree Jackson forcing the early Lockett fumble to give the G-Men momentum. But when you can't score points, you can't win games, and for all the work Daboll has done on Jones and Barkley this year, their headlining stars were unable to make plays before the game got out of hand. Despite easily winning the time-of-possession battle, the Giants averaged a measly 3.5 yards per play.
Turning point
Knotted up at 13-13 in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks went heavy on the aerial attack, spreading the Giants out with five straight passes to Metcalf, Lockett and Marquise Goodwin. Smith hit all five throws, with the last one going down the sideline on a perfect deep floater to Lockett -- a 33-yard score that helped the latter redeem himself from his earlier miscues. That drive didn't just swing momentum back in Seattle's favor and confirm Smith as the day's best QB, but sealed the Seahawks' lead.
Play of the game
It's gotta be that 33-yard strike from Geno to Lockett, which essentially put the Giants to rest midway through the fourth:
What's next
The Seahawks (5-3) will hit the road for a Week 8 showdown with the rival Cardinals (3-5), who barely lost to the Vikings on Sunday. The Giants (6-2), meanwhile, will rest up on their bye before hosting the Texans (1-5-1), who fell to the Titans.