The Seattle Seahawks earned a crucial win against the Minnesota Vikings in primetime on Monday night to move to 10-2 on the season.
The defense was exceptional – earning three takeaways and consistently frustrating Kirk Cousins and Minnesota’s offense – but it was a consistent offensive attack that ended up getting the job done against a stout Vikings defensive front.
A big factor was the absence of penalties on Seattle’s offense, something that has been a big issue throughout the year and has been a big emphasis in recent weeks.
“It’s always a point of emphasis for us to have clean hands and no holding penalties, no pre-snap penalties,” left tackle Duane Brown said after the game. “Last week (against Philadelphia) we had some rough areas with that. It’s always a point of emphasis for us. Tonight we played clean and that’s been the difference.”
Seattle as a team did not get penalized until the fourth quarter, when Tre Flowers was called for a defensive pass interference on Stefon Diggs. That was the only penalty called on Seattle all game, a remarkable feat for a team that normally ranks among the most penalized teams in the NFL.
“There’s not been very many times like that,” coach Pete Carroll said after the game. “I’m not quite sure what got into us on that one, but I like it. It was great, it was a really clean game.”
For now, Seattle is atop the NFC West and sits in second place in the entire conference. For that to hold, they’ll need that disciplined offensive line to show up in each of the next four weeks, as penalty issues will certainly hamper their chances of staying atop the very competitive NFC.
