Seahawks’ Wide Receiver Gives Brutal Reality Check After Win Over Texans
The Seattle Seahawks put up 27 points on one of the best defenses in the NFL on Monday night in a 27-19 win over the Houston Texans. Seattle put up 14 points in the first half and led 14-6 at halftime. It felt like the Seahawks should have been up more.
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp threw a pick in the second quarter deep in Texans territory, when they were looking for a commanding three-touchdown lead. Houston managed two field goals before halftime.
The turnovers continued into the second half for the Seahawks, but in the end, they escaped with an eight-point win. Following the game, the turnovers were a hot topic, and Kupp didn’t hold back his feelings on them.
Cooper Kupp Calls Seattle’s Second Half “Losing Football”
The Seahawks turned the ball over three times in the second half, including a Sam Darnold fumble that Houston recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Another fumble and interception plagued Seattle, which still was able to improve to 5-2.
“Just losing football offensively for the second half there,” Kupp said. “I think (Jaxson Smith-Njigba) did a good job making some plays for us. We were just losing football. A lot of that, when we came out the first few drives, did a great job moving the ball down the field, finishing in the red zone. Then from then on it was pretty poor.
“You love coming out of these hard games with the W as we did. Do everything you could offensively to lose it. Defense just played great. There were guys throughout the course of the game stepping up offensively. As a collective unit, that was just losing football. We’ll make some corrections and be ready to come out and respond to that.”
They get an extra week to make corrections as the Seahawks enter their bye after the win. They won’t play again until November 2, with a trip to Washington to play the Commanders on Sunday Night Football.
Sam Darnold Overcomes Turnovers In Win
Despite the turnovers and mistakes, Seattle picked up the win thanks to Darnold. He went 17-for-31 for 213 yards and a touchdown. Smith-Njigba was his top target, racking up 123 yards on eight receptions and a touchdown. The Texans’ defense entered the game allowing the fewest points in the league per game.
The turnovers and mistakes are correctable for Seattle, and if they do that, the sky is the limit for them this year in the NFC.
“There is (potential), we know that,” Kupp said. “We know our standard is much higher. Shoot, when we can put together all three phases, complementary football, I think we can be a really, really dangerous football team. Then, offensively still being able to come up with points and things like that here and there, I think the defense put us in some good spots. There’s good stuff today. I’m not saying it’s all bad. There’s good stuff on tape. It’s just being able to do that consistently, just play our brand of football play in, play out. Yeah, we’ll be better.”
They will have to be better after the bye in the loaded NFC West and NFC come postseason time. It starts against the Commanders in two weeks.
Anthony Volpe Reveals Yankees Lineup Plans
The New York Yankees were finally able to nab one more win against the Boston Red Sox in the final of a four game series from Yankee Stadium, winning the ballgame 7-2. There was one player conspicuously absent from New York's lineup: shortstop Anthony Volpe.
To say that Volpe is a divisive figure amongst fans and analysts alike would be underselling the situation. Calls to remove Volpe from the team or demote him to the minors have only gotten louder since the trade deadline. Now, those calling for his removal may just get their wish, with Volpe out of the lineup for the Yankees' next game.
According to a post by The Athletic's Brendan Kuty, Volpe will be absent from the Pinstripes' first game of a three game series against the Washington Nationals. While some fans may be rejoicing at the error-prone shortstop's exclusion, he also told Kuty that he would be back for the second game.
Volpe ranks second in the league for errors committed this season, with 17, just behind Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, with 19. On a team that has been plagued with embarrassing, game-losing errors all season, it's getting more and more difficult to justify keeping him in the lineup. On top of that, he's also slashing just .208/ .274/ .400. Those are not bad numbers by any means, but they aren't fantastic ones either.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone has been a staunch defender of Volpe's this season, but even he could not back up the struggling short stop after the Yankees' 1-12 loss to the Red Sox.
“It’s just been a scuffle offensively here over the past week, 10 days,” Boone said about Volpe (h/t MLB.com's Bryan Hoch).
In lieu of Volpe, trade deadline addition José Caballero got the start for the Yankees' win. Caballero has done well in Pinstripes, hitting two home runs and slashing .286/ .382/ .536 in his 15 games played since the trade deadline. If Volpe continues to struggle, the Yankees could opt to start Caballero more and more often.
As the regular season draws nearer to the end, it's do-or-die for a Yankees team that has lost their lead on the AL East and is just sneaking into the AL Wild Card standings. With everything on the line, New York has to be more willing to experiment with finding an effective lineup: that means Volpe's benching could extend beyond more than just the team's first game against the Nationals.
