Seattle gives up safety, huge penalty, every bit of momentum vs. Falcons

ATLANTA — Life comes at you fast.

The Seattle Seahawks were rolling. Early in the second quarter, they were up 10-7 on Atlanta and had forced the Falcons to punt. The Seattle return man, the legendary Devin Hester, had uncorked several legendary runs in the Georgia Dome as a Falcon, and here he was unleashing another one, barreling through the entire city of Atlanta before getting bum-rushed out of bounds at the Falcons 7.

Great chance for a hammer-blow to the home team, right? Oh, no. No, the Seahawks’ troubles were just beginning.

A holding penalty on Seattle’s Kevin Pierre-Louis called the Hester return back … way back, all the way back to the Seahawks 12. That’s an 81-yard penalty. Bad news, right? It got worse.

The first play from scrimmage, the Falcons caught Thomas Rawls 5 yards behind the line. The next: disaster. Rookie right guard Rees Odhiambo stepped on Wilson’s foot, and he stumbled back into the end zone for a safety.

On the ensuing possession, the Falcons drove down the field for a field goal. You can’t prove a negative, but you could’ve anticipated that the Seahawks could have bulldogged Rawls into the end zone. If you assume that, then you’re looking at a 12-point swing, from 17-7 Seattle to 12-10 Atlanta.

Should the Falcons go on to win this game, that sequence of plays, and the complete shift of momentum that accompanied them, will likely prove decisive.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.