Patriots-Seahawks Live Blog: Seahawks Win 24-23
Final, Seahawks 24, Patriots 23: That's all she wrote. The Patriots made far too many mistakes to earn a victory on this day, and the Seahawks took advantage.
Fourth quarter, :51, 24-23 Seahawks: Wes Welker makes a catch on fourth-and-20 but can't get to the sticks, and the Seahawks are going to win this one.
Too many mistakes by Brady and the offense in this one, and the defense eventually cracked. An all-around ugly game for the Pats.
Fourth quarter, 1:18, 24-23 Seahawks: The Patriots made far too many mistakes, and Russell Wilson made 'em pay.
Wilson launched a bomb to Sidney Rice, who got behind the entire New England defense and made the catch in the end zone.
It's going to take a rather dramatic drive by Brady and the offense to get into field goal range, especially considering the Pats have no timeouts left.
Fourth quarter, 1:59, 23-17 Patriots: At the two-minute warning, the Seahawks will face a third-and-1 from the Pats' 48.
Fourth quarter, 2:57, 23-17 Patriots: The defense forced a three-and-out, and the Pats' offense now looks to just run out the clock.
Fourth quarter, 3:56, 23-17 Patriots: Yet another mistake by Tom Brady proves costly, as he was called for intentional grounding on second down, leading to a third-and-20. Welker picked up 10 on a wide receiver screen before getting walloped, but the Patriots were forced to punt.
The Seahawks now have to drive 90 yards to win the game, and the Pats' defense needs one more stop.
Fourth quarter, 7:21, 23-17 Patriots: With no other choice but to go for it on fourth down, Pete Carroll trusted Russell Wilson to throw to the end zone. Braylon Edwards, in man coverage against Alfonzo Dennard, looked to push off the defender a bit as he made the catch in the end zone, but Dennard was actually flagged for pass interference.
It was a curious call, as to me, it appeared it was either offensive pass interference or no penalty at all. Regardless, Edwards made the catch, and it's now 23-17 Patriots.
Fourth quarter, 9:21, 23-10 Patriots: Stephen Gostkowski remains perfect on the day, this time drilling a 35-yarder from the right hash to give the Pats a 13-point lead.
The big play on that drive was a second-and-10 play by Brady, who ducked out of pressure, ran to his right and found a wide open Danny Woodhead along the right sideline. It was a nice bounceback drive for Brady, even though it didn't end in the end zone.
Fourth quarter, 12:31, 20-10 Patriots: The call on the field stands and the Patriots take over at their own 30.
Fourth quarter, 12:31, 20-10 Patriots: The Seahawks appear willing to match the Patriots mistake-for-mistake, as Zach Miller didn't hold on to the ball after making a catch and turned it over.
As with all turnovers, this one will be reviewed, and it looks like Miller's knee may have been down. There's been no definitive angle yet shown though.
The Seahawks big play of this drive came on an end-around pass, which only worked because Patrick Chung was called for pass interference.
Fourth quarter, 13:29, 20-10 Patriots: Another huge mistake by Brady, as he lobbed a change-up over the head of Welker. The ball ended up in the arms of Earl Thomas, who made the interception and returned it back to the 20-yard line.
The good news is the Patriots' defense has been strong so far this half, but the offense is putting the team in a tough spot with these mistakes.
End of the third quarter, 20-10 Patriots: The Patriots' drive looked to be stalled out after Woodhead was stopped shy of the first down marker, but Jason Jones launched his head into Brady's facemask after the pass, giving the Patriots a first down and setting them up with a first down in the red zone. That's certainly a costly mistake.
Third quarter, 3:21, 20-10 Patriots: The pick proved to not be costly, as the Patriots' defense forced a three-and-out. Welker took the punt return out to the Patriots' 32-yard line, and Brady will get the ball back.
Third quarter, 4:45, 20-10 Patriots: A bad mistake by Brady gives the Seahawks the ball back. Brady tried to force a pass into Branch up the seam, who had no separation, but the ball was picked off by Sherman.
The defense will need to keep it up now with the offense falling short.
Third quarter, 7:13, 20-10 Patriots: Tavon Wilson broke up a long pass attempt on third-and-20, and the Patriots force yet another punt.
On their two drives this half, the Seahawks have gotten themselves into a third-and-19 and third-and-20. Not surprisingly, they converted neither.
Third quarter, 9:21, 20-10 Patriots: The Patriots kick a field goal but it never could have happened without the effort of Danny Woodhead.
As you know, he's not quite as large as his NFL brethren, but he managed to drag four defenders for about four extra yards to pick up a first down early in the drive on a third down.
On the next play, Brady threw a 35-yard deep ball to Daniel Fells, who made a spectacular diving catch with his finger tips. The drive eventually stalled out, but Gostkowski drilled a perfect 35-yarder.
Third quarter, 13:04, 17-10 Patriots: A great play by Brandon Spikes to stop Lynch behind the line and then a sack by Chandler Jones leads to a Seattle punt, and the Patriots make the first stop of the second half.
WBZ-TV's Levan Reid checks in with his highs and lows from the first half:
The Highs:
Aaron Hernandez caught the first ball thrown from Tom Brady on the Pats' first possession.
Brandon Spikes madea huge play in the backfield to stop Marshawn Lynch on an early third down.
On the Seahawks' first possession of the quarter, the Pats' defense made a big play. On third and long, Chandler Jones sacked Russell Wilson. Wilson fumbled the ball and Rob Ninkovich recovered.
The Lows:
On the Seahawks' second possession of the quarter, the Pats got beat on big plays on third down twice. On third-and-6, Wilson hit Doug Baldwin for 50 yards and then on third-and-4, the Pats have him caught in the backfield but Wilson scrambles, misses four tackles and ends up with a nine-yard gain. It all leads to a 24-yard touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin. Kyle Arrington can not cover Baldwin. He's been beat twice and has been benched since.
The Pats lose a huge opportunity at the end of the half, with Brady intentionally grounding the ball, forcing a 10-second runoff and robbing them of a chance to kick a field goal.
Halftime, 17-10 Patriots: Some poor clock management and a bad second-down pass by Brady keep the Pats out of the end zone, and an intentional grounding penalty on third down forces a 10-second runoff, so they're not given a chance to kick the field goal.
If the Patriots lose this game, look to that moment as a big reason why, particularly the Patriots letting too much time run off the clock after a first-down completion to Welker. They looked like they didn't know what they wanted to do, and eventually ended up calling timeout, leaving themselves just 19 seconds to run their offense. Eventually, it cost them dearly.
Second quarter, :40, 17-10 Patriots: Punters are people, too, which means they make mistakes like the rest of us. Jon Ryan fumbled the snap for the punt, and he was unable to get away a kick. He was gang tackled by five Patriots, setting New England up in prime position at the Seattle 24-yard line to put one in the end zone before halftime.
Second quarter, 2:12, 17-10 Patriots: The 25-yard field goal is good, and the Patriots lead by a touchdown.
Second quarter, 2:15, 14-10 Patriots: Wes Welker is a tough, tough, tough individual.
The receiver got absolutely laid out by Brandon Browner. Welker took just two plays off then returned on third down to pick up a huge first down.
Welker made another third-down catch but ended up just shy of the sticks, and the Patriots look like they'll kick a field goal coming out of this timeout.
Second quarter, 6:57, 14-10 Patriots: Chandler Jones was nearly invisible for a quarter and a half. He just made his presence known.
The explosive rookie D-end blew past tight end Zach Miller and knocked the ball out of Wilson's hand as the QB went back to pass.
The play is under review, but the ball was clearly out before Wilson's hand moved forward.
Second quarter, 9:00, 14-10 Patriots: Kyle Arrington, who's been burned badly thus far, has been replaced by Alfonzo Dennard at corner.
Second quarter, 10:33, 14-10 Patriots: Aaron Hernandez has made it rain.
With a third-and-goal from the 2-yard line, Brady threw a beautiful fade to Hernandez, in man coverage to the outside. Hernandez went up over the defender to make the catch, and shortly after coming down with the touchdown, Hernandez popped up to make it rain.
The play is under review, but it will most certainly stand.
The play capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive that chewed up 6:17 of clock.
End of first quarter, 10-7 Seahawks: The first quarter ends with the Patriots driving. Rob Gronkowski just took a mighty shot to his back from K.J. Wright. I'm sure he'll be OK, but a lesser man might have broken in half.
First quarter, 1:50, 10-7 Seahawks: The Patriots' defense has some big, big problems. Kyle Arrington got burned twice for big gains, the second being a 24-yard touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin.
The touchdown came after Russell Wilson scrambled throughout a handful of Patriots to pick up a first down, slipping through an arm tackle from Jerod Mayo in the middle of it.
The Seahawks responded to the Pats' 82-yard drive with an 85-yard drive of their own to recapture the lead.
First quarter, 5:49, 7-3 Patriots: That's what talented receivers can do for you.
After Stevan Ridley had what looked to be a costly drop on second down, Brady went to Aaron Hernandez over the middle for a gain of 10 yards and a first down. Two plays later, Brady threw to Lloyd, who made an absolutely incredible spinning catch on the left sideline while somehow managing to keep his feet inbounds. On the next play, Welker lined up in the left slot and ran a simple fade route, and Brady lofted the pass over his shoulder. Welker just got the ball inside the pylon to give the Patriots a lead.
The Patriots used six plays to go 82 yards in just 1:46.
First quarter, 7:35, 3-0 Seahawks: The Seahawks had little trouble driving down the field, eventually getting to a third-and-inches in the red zone. Brandon Spikes blew up the play though, tackling Marshawn Lynch in the backfield for a loss on the play.
Steven Hauschka kicked the field goal, though, and the Seahawks take an early lead. The kick capped off a nine-play, 68-yard drive that took 5:17.
First quarter, 12:52, 0-0:The offense got off to a quick start, with Aaron Hernandez gaining seven yards on the first play of the game and Brandon Lloyd gaining five more with a catch along the sideline. It stalled out after that, though, with Stevan Ridley picking up minimal gains and Deion Branch unable to gain separation over the middle on third down. The Patriots were forced to punt it away.
First quarter, 15:00, 0-0: Following a touchback, Tom Brady and the offense will take over at the 20.
First quarter, 15:00, 0-0: Time for kickoff in Seattle. The Patriots will receive.
3:42 p.m.: From the sound of things from warmups, it seems as though we may see a heavy dose of Bobby Carpenter at linebacker this afternoon.
3:33 p.m.: 98.5 The Sports Hub's Scott Zolak checks in via Twitter with a simple scouting report on Mr. Aaron Hernandez: "81 looks good."
3:28 p.m.: The Patriots will be wearing their standard road white jerseys this afternoon, with the Seahawks wearing those futuristic dark home jerseys.
3:17 p.m.: The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe reported that safety Patrick Chung joined the group of players who require a bit of extra stretching during pregame warmups. It's an indication that Chung could be working through some sort of minor injury, so keep an eye on him throughout the afternoon to see if he shows any such signs.
3 p.m.: There weren't many surprises from the Patriots' inactive list for this one. With Julian Edelman and Dont'a Hightower already being downgraded to out over the weekend, the Patriots listed Jake Bequette, Matt Tenant and Michael Hoomanawanui as inactive. Tracy White and Steve Gregory are out as well.
For the Seahawks, the following players are inactive:
Charly Martin, WR
Winston Guy, S
Danny Gorrer, CB
Jeremy Lane, CB
Clinton McDonald, DT
John Moffitt, G
Jaye Howard, DT
