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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Three Takes: Seahawks 9-17 loss to Green Bay Packers

Leave it up to a strip sack of Russell Wilson near his own goal line to ultimately snag the Seattle Seahawks.

Sure, Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay cohorts were able to manufacture a couple nice second-half drives in a 17-9 win, but that offense was mostly neutralized through three quarters by Seattle’s suffocating front seven.

The Seahawks’ eighth straight loss at Lambeau Field, a run of futility dating back to 1999, was squarely on the shoulders of an offensive line that appeared as shaky as it did the previous two seasons.

When defensive lineman Mike Daniels barreled though the Seahawks’ interior in the third quarter, his strip sack of Wilson on the six-yard line set up a short touchdown run for Ty Montgomery, giving the Packers a 7-3 edge.

The same offensive line that yielded three sacks and a slew of hurries and plowed the way for all of 225 total yards, and just 90 on the ground.

Because of this, Green Bay had the ball for over 39 minutes, nearly twice as long as Seattle (20:47); a deflating statistic for a team that kept Rodgers out of the end zone most of the game.

Rodgers was sacked four times and picked off once, a stark contrast from his 38-10 shellacking of Seattle in Week 13 of 2016.

Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable’s unit just needs to do a decent job for its team to flourish. It still has a ways to go.

Dumb penalty: When defensive tackle Nazair Jones got his big mitts on an Aaron Rodgers pass, the rookie rumbled 64 yards for what appeared to be a swift defensive touchdown for Seattle.

The pick 6 was negated, however, after Cliff Avril was called for a clip on Rodgers, who wasn’t going to catch Jones, anyway. The Seahawks retained possession but another fruitless drive would ensue.

Compounding that penalty was defensive back Jeremy Lane’s ejection for throwing a punch during the aforementioned play, but video shows Lane never threw a punch.

Nice day for Walsh: Seahawks fans may remember Blair Walsh during his time in Minnesota, when he missed a last-second chip shot that would have eliminated the Seahawks from the 2015 NFC playoffs.

He’s been efficient in a Seattle uniform, though, and on Sunday he hit all three of his field goals –from 33, 21 and 41 yards out – when his team went an afternoon without reaching the end zone.