The Seahawks have reached 50 points for the second straight week, although the way they got there might not sit well with everyone.
Pete Carroll drew some criticism last week for throwing the ball in the second half against the Cardinals en route to a 58-0 victory. Carroll defended that by saying backup quarterback Matt Flynn needed to throw the ball a little bit. It seems backup running back Michael Robinson needed to run the ball a little bit with the Seahawks up 47-17 with 12 minutes to play.
Facing fourth-and-five on the Bills’ 44-yard line early in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks ran a fake punt that resulted in a 30-yard gain for Robinson. The Bills were quite reasonably not expecting a fake punt in those circumstances and their coach Chan Gailey looked less than thrilled while Carroll celebrated with his team on the sideline. To be fair, Gailey’s got plenty to be less than thrilled about so there may be no objection to the play.
I’m firmly in the camp that it isn’t up to the offense to stop itself in blowouts. Carroll could have gone for it on fourth down and it would have sat a lot better. You can also argue it gives future opponents something else to think about and that they didn’t have too many other chances to try it out on Sunday, but it felt like rubbing it in.
The drive resulted in a Steven Hauschka field goal after a pass to Sidney Rice was correctly ruled out of bounds after a replay review. It’s the third time in NFL history that a team has put up 50 points in back-to-back games. We’re heading for a good one next week when the 49ers get to town.