Getty The Seahawks stopped the Patriots on the goal line to seal the victory.
After appearing to have a comfortable lead, the Seattle Seahawks made fans nervous as Cam Newton marched the New England Patriots offense down the field with an opportunity to win the game. The team failed to stop Newton’s previous red-zone runs, but the Seahawks defense stood strong when it mattered most. It appears Bobby Wagner had a lot to do with the positive outcome. Prior to the snap, Wagner told the defense that Newton was running the ball to the right and the defensive line shifted over.
“What did Bobby tell the defense before the final play? ‘That ball going straight right,'” The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar tweeted. “Jamal Adams says he initially planned to jump the pile, but once he saw the formation he knew that wouldn’t work because they were going right.”
L.J. Collier Made the Game-Saving Tackle on Cam Newton
Seahawks defensive end L.J. Collier was able to hit Newton to knock him short of the goal line. Jamal Adams praised Collier after the game explaining he was thrilled for the pass rusher to “have his moment.”
“That was crazy man… I’m so proud of L.J. I just met him, but I’ve heard so much about him… He’s worked his tail off just to get to this moment and have his moment,” Adams said, per Sports Illustrated’s Corbin Smith.
Collier credited Wagner’s prediction for helping him make the play on Newton.
“L.J. Collier said Bobby Wagner made the call for Seattle’s defensive line to slant on on New England’s final play,” ESPN’s Brady Henderson tweeted. “Collier was in on the tackle of Cam Newton, along with Lano Hill.”
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll admitted that the team’s home opener felt a lot different without fans in the stands, especially on the final play.
“That was an amazing game,” Carroll said, per The News Tribune. “For the fans out there, we missed you so much…I hope you went nuts.”
Newton Threw the Ball 44 Times vs. Seahawks
It was almost an even split between Newton’s carries and passes in Week 1. Things were much different in Seattle, but Newton was still plenty effective with his legs. Newton ended up with 44 pass attempts for 397 yards and a touchdown. The Patriots quarterback had 11 rushes for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
The increased passing makes sense given the Patriots played the second half from behind. Newton had to orchestrate several fourth-quarter drives just to give the Patriots a chance to get back in the game. Leading up to the matchup, Carroll admitted that the team did not know what to expect about how the Patriots would utilize Newton in Week 2.
“We do have a real good background with Cam, but we don’t know what they’re going to do with him,” Carroll explained, per Seahawks.com. “It’s only one game. We don’t even have the benefit of the preseason games to try to kind of figure it out. And they have been notorious for changing from one week to the next in how they approach their opponents and all. So we have to go into this game with a wide open-look, it’s almost like a first game. We have some information of course—they showed they really want to run the football, ran it 42 times in the game, which is a great commitment. But we’ll see. We don’t know.”