Dave Boling: Seahawks eke out win, but Philip Rivers teaches them to respect their elders

SEATTLE – Maybe when the opponent wheels out Gaylord Perry to start at quarterback, it tends to drain a little bit of the competitive fervor from your team.

Nobody wants to be accused of disrespecting their elder, right?

That might stand as an alibi for the Seattle Seahawks defense, but the offense? Dreadful most of the day, except for the right leg of kicker Jason Myers, whose six field goals salvaged an 18-16 win over the visiting Indianapolis Colts at Lumen Field on Sunday.

The Seahawks did almost everything they could to lose this game. But Myers wouldn’t let them, booting through the game winner in the final seconds to keep Seattle at the top of the NFC West standings with an 11-3 record.

Seattle coach Mike Macdonald has preached the importance of complementary football. He might want to clarify that message to his team, as the Hawks played below standard on both sides of the ball for much of the day.

Except for Myers and holder Michael Dickson, and snapper Chris Stoll.

The story all week for the Colts has been how they would replace their three injured quarterbacks.

Coming off three straight losses, the Colts brought 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement. The former Chargers great hadn’t played in the NFL in five years.

Father Time catches up to every athlete, and Sunday, the role of Father Time should have taken the embodiment of Seattle defenders Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence and the other pass rushers.

Surprisingly, though, not much pressure was brought to bear. Rivers threw 27 passes with only one sack and four quarterback hits. In the second quarter, Rivers threw his first touchdown in five years, putting the Colts ahead, 13-3. At that point the game took on a seriously surreal quality.

An example of first half offensive futility: After a kickoff return to the Seahawks 42, the Hawks offense marched backward with two penalties, a fumble and tackle for loss, to have to punt on fourth down from their own 8.

The Seahawks defense had been so dominant this season, considered among the very best in the NFL. But at that point, they were being out-gained and outscored by a grandfather quarterback who could have been otherwise employed filming TV ads for reverse mortgages.

The 13-6 halftime deficit seemed a small concern after last week’s second half against Atlanta, when the Hawks awakened in the second half to outscore the Falcons 31-3.

Yes, they’d only rushed for a total of 3 yards (on 9 carries) in the first 30 minutes against Indy, and star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a mere three catches for 31 yards – and had, gasp, a very uncharacteristic drop.

Still, surely, they’d pull off another reversal as they did in Atlanta.

They didn’t, and still won. Failing on 11 of 13 third-down conversion attempts, they put their trust in Myers’ foot.

In the second half, the defense held the Colts scoreless until the final minute of the game, when kicker Blake Grupe booted a 60-yard field goal to give Indy a 16-15 lead.

With 42 seconds left and the ball on the Seattle 37, quarterback Sam Darnold completed two passes to Rashid Shaheed to set up Myers for the 56-yard game-winner.

“Wins in this league come in all different shapes and sizes,” Macdonald said. “The great teams figure out ways to win. (We were) mentally tough and stuck together, and the way we closed that game out was phenomenal.”

Absolutely right, the really good teams find ways. The real good ones don’t have to.

They have to rack it up again Thursday with division positioning on the line when the Los Angeles Rams visit.

With that on the line in a few days, this win felt like a fortunate escape.

Get a win without scoring a touchdown?

Get a win with only 49 total rushing yards (22 carries)? Get a win without getting pressure on a largely inert quarterback?

Macdonald gave a hat-tip to Rivers and the Colts staff, devising an attack that kept him vertical.

The plan actually seemed a little audacious, and maybe a little insulting to the Seattle defense.

The Colts made it clear from the start that Rivers was going to hand the ball off to back Jonathan Taylor and maybe toss a few short routes when he had to.

They dared the Hawks to shut them down, and they took the lead and held it until the final minute of the game.

“We responded and we were able to get the win, that’s all that matters,” said linebacker Ernest Jones IV.

Macdonald reeled off at least half a dozen things the Hawks needed to improve on before they face the Rams.

Although the most important prep for Thursday’s game might be to get a few days of ice treatments on Myers’ overworked right foot.