The defense, of course, was only part of the issue on Sunday. Seattle’s offense struggled to move the ball consistently for much of the afternoon, and saw one promising third-quarter drive end with a DK Metcalf fumble in Giants territory. Smith and company were able to lead a 95-yard scoring drive late in the game, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba scoring Seattle’s only offensive touchdown, then they got back into field goal range for a game-tying attempt that was blocked and returned for a game-clinching touchdown. But those late-game drives weren’t enough on a day in which too many miscues, in all three phases, allowed the Giants to take control of the game in the first place.
“I think it came down to execution,” said safety Julian Love. “I don’t think in any phase we played good enough today to win. Obviously, we had a shot, kind of, there at the end. You can’t win in this league if you don’t play well.”
The Seahawks, who were playing on a short week coming off a Monday night game, while the Giants had extra rest after a Thursday game in Week 4, now face another short week with the 49ers coming to town on Thursday.
It’s a tough stretch for the Seahawks, but all they can do is move forward and focus on cleaning up their mistakes before the 49ers get to town later this week.
“Doesn’t matter how hard it is; nobody cares,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got to work harder. That’s the way it is. I mean, it’s an opportunity to go make it right in four days. That’s really what we need to focus on.”
While a short week will present its challenges for both teams, both in terms of physical recovery and game-planning, the quick turnaround also represents, for a team coming off consecutive losses, a chance to quickly put the negatives behind them and move forward.
“We want to get this taste out of our mouth,” guard Laken Tomlinson said. “We’ll go right back to work tomorrow. It sucks, but we’ll watch the tape, correct our mistakes, we’re going to get better for it. It’s a short week, that’s the good thing about Thursday night, because it’s right there. We have an opportunity to correct our mistakes on Thursday.”
