Sound Victory

With Sunday’s 41-20 win against the Vikings, the Seahawks became the first NFL team to reach 10 wins this season. The 10-1 Seahawks also pulled 3.5 games ahead of nemesis San Francisco, which lost at New Orleans to fall to 6-4.

Now, the Seahawks get 15 days off before hosting the 8-2 Saints on Monday, December 2, a game that could decide homefield advantage in the NFC playoffs.

Turnovers dashed any hope of the 2-8 Vikings surprising the Seahawks in Seattle. Quarterback Christian Ponder was picked twice in a little less than two minutes in the fourth quarter, with one interception setting up a touchdown and the other directly returned for a score by cornerback Walter Thurmond. Ponder was then pulled for Matt Cassel, who threw an interception on his first possession.

In this sequence — which took less than minutes off the game clock at the start of the fourth quarter — Seattle extended a 24-13 lead to a 41-13 margin.

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was sharp in victory, completing 13-of-18 passes for 230 yards and two TDs. Running back Marshawn Lynch rushed for two scores and caught a TD on a little flip pass from Wilson, too.

The Seahawks also got a positive contribution from wide receiver Percy Harvin, who appeared in his first game for Seattle after hip surgery. Harvin, formerly of Minnesota, caught the only pass thrown to him, and it was a beauty, as he batted the ball to himself with his right hand and secured the reception on a third-down play in the second quarter. That drive would end in Lynch’s second TD run.

Then, in the final minute of the first half, Harvin broke away for a 58-yard kickoff return, which set up Seattle at the Minnesota 46. Five plays later, Wilson connected with wideout Doug Baldwin for a 19-yard TD with 10 seconds left in the quarter. The score gave the Seahawks a 24-13 cushion, and the NFC West leaders never trailed by double-digits thereafter.

Wide receiver Jarius Wright scored both of Minnesota’s touchdowns — a 38-yarder in the second quarter and a 21-yarder in the fourth quarter. However, there weren’t many highlights for the Vikings’ offense. Adrian Peterson was held to 65 yards rushing, and Ponder again made too many mistakes.