Seattle Seahawks 31, Buffalo Bills 25
These are the highest-graded players and top takeaways from the Seahawks' win over the Bills.
Quaterback Grade: Russell Wilson: 94.9
Wilson’s deep ball key in putting up points for Seattle’s offense
Russell Wilson had an outstanding first half on Monday night, especially with his deep passing. He hit three key deep balls, the first being a 50-yard pass to Doug Baldwin that put the Seahawks at the Bill’s three-yard line, leading to a touchdown on the next play. The other two were perfectly placed balls to Jimmy Graham in the back of the endzone. Wilson also had another potential deep touchdown pass that bounced out of Jermaine Kearse’s hands as he hit the ground. Wilson finished with just six incompletions, two of which were throw aways. On passes that traveled 20 yards or more, he was four of six for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
Top offensive grades:
QB Russell Wilson 94.9
TE Jimmy Graham 94.1
G Mark Glowinski 77.5
WR Doug Baldwin 73.4
WR Jermaine Kearse 72.8
Graham’s highlight-reel plays spark Seahawks offense
Jimmy Graham, who has struggled to get in the endzone for the Seahawks this past season and a half, did so in a big way on Monday night. He caught two passes brilliantly with only one arm while the other was being held off by the defender in the back of the endzone. He also sparked a second half-ending drive with his athleticism by hurdling Stephon Gilmore and taking a short pass for 15 yards. Graham finished with eight receptions on all eight targets for 103 yards and two touchdowns.
Top defensive grades:
LB K.J. Wright, 80.4
LB Bobby Wagner, 77.2
ED Cliff Avril, 77.1
S Earl Thomas, 75.8
ED Damontre Moore, 73.4
Linebackers lead the way
K.J Wright had three pressures on Tyrod Taylor on just five pass-rush attempts (including a sack and a hit) and was third on the team with three stops (a stop is a solo tackle which constitutes as a loss for the offense, given the situation). Bobby Wagner had four pressures (also on five attempts) to go with a team-high 15 tackles, with seven of those being stops. One area where Seattle really struggled was tackling. Coming into Monday night’s game the most tackles they'd missed all season was 10, which was back in Week 7 against the Cardinals. On Monday night they missed 11 in the first half alone and finished the game nearly doubling their season high with 18.
Quarterback grade: Tyrod Taylor, 89.4
Taylor saves his best game of the season for Monday night
It’s incredible that Taylor is the second-highest graded QB from this game, considering the performance he put on Monday night. Taylor completed 27 of 38 passes on Monday but of those 11 incompletions, seven were either balls that were thrown away, balls in which he was hit on his release or balls which were dropped by his receiver. Taylor’s 87.9 accuracy percentage (a stat we have at PFF that accounts for those three things) actually led all QBs in Week 9. When Taylor wasn’t pressured he completed 21 of 26 passes for 209 yards to go with a touchdown and an interception (the interception was a result of a miscommunication between himself and Robert Woods). When he was pressured he was able to hold it down, completing six of 12 attempts to go with a workable 71.5 passer rating. Taylor also found success working the ball down field — he attempted 10 passes that traveled at least 10 yards in the air, completing seven of them for 132 yards.
Top offensive grades:
WR Robert Woods, 86.4
RG John Miller, 77.4
LG Richie Incognito, 77.2
WR Marquise Goodwin, 74.8
LT Cordy Glenn, 74.4
Robert Woods has career game
Robert Woods had his best game since Week 12 of 2014 on Monday night in Seattle. Woods was QB Tyrod Taylor’s go-to target — seeing 13 balls thrown his way, he caught 10 of them for 162 yards. Marquise Goodwin also caught all four targets thrown his way and LeSean McCoy (50.3) was productive catching balls out of the backfield as well, hauling in four of five targets for 46 yards. The offensive line was responsible for 12 pressures on Tyrod Taylor, but only two of those were given up by Cordy Glenn, John Miller or Richie Incognito (both hurries, allowed by Miller). Jordan Mills and LeSean McCoy made up for their productivity though, allowing 12 total pressures between them. McCoy allowed six pressures on just 11 pass-blocking snaps.
Top defensive grades:
ED Lorenzo Alexander 83.3
DI Jerel Worthy 82.6
DI Kyle Williams 78.8
LB Zach Brown 77.3
S Corey Graham 75.7
Bills’ secondary dooms dominant defensive front
The calling card for the Seahawks offense in the past four years of dominance has been their running game. This year, without a competent offensive line, the Seahawks have struggled to run the ball. The Bills defense completely shut their run game down, allowing only 33 yards on 12 carries. Alexander again was the star of the front seven with one sack, two hits and three hurries and an 81.7 pass rush grade. The back end was not successful, particularly in the first half. Ronald Darby was benched after allowing two catches for 62 yards on 19 snaps and a 39.0 coverage grade. Nickell Robey-Coleman and Stephon Gilmore were not much better with coverage grades of 38.3 and 45.1, respectively. Combined, the two allowed seven receptions on all seven targets for 90 yards and a touchdown.
PFF Game-Ball Winner: QB Russell Wilson
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