Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Congratulations to the Pistons for losing by only six points last night.
In today’s SI:AM:
🏈 The Seahawks get back in the playoff hunt
🎙️ How NBC disrespected Al Michaels
The NFC playoff race is fascinating
The Seahawks are back in the thick of the playoff hunt after an upset victory over the Eagles last night—thanks to a game-winning drive by a quarterback who wasn’t even sure he was going to start the game.
Usual starter Geno Smith missed last week’s game against the 49ers after injuring his groin in practice. Backup Drew Lock started that game (his first start since the last week of the 2021 season) and got the majority of the first-team reps in practice this week as Smith worked his way back. But Smith felt good enough during pregame warmups last night that the Seahawks made him active for the game, which added some uncertainty to Seattle’s plans.
“[Smith is] going to be active, and we’ve got, what, 54 minutes here to figure out what’s going on,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said in a pregame radio interview.
In the end, it was Lock. He didn’t do anything to spark a quarterback controversy, but he was good enough to get the job done as the Seattle defense stifled the Eagles.
Lock’s big moment came after a Philadelphia punt, as the Seahawks got the ball at their own 8-yard line with 1:52 on the clock and one timeout, trailing 17–13. Lock picked up a couple of first downs, then, on a third-and-10 from the Seattle 37, threw a perfect pass to DK Metcalf for a 34-yard gain. The ball arced over the head of one Philly defender and landed in Metcalf’s hands just before a second defender arrived to lay a big hit on him.
Two plays later, Lock hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba in stride in the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown that gave the Seahawks the lead with 28 seconds to play. (Watch both of Lock’s clutch throws here.) Julian Love’s interception on Jalen Hurts sealed the game with 13 seconds to play.
The win snapped the Seahawks’ four-game losing streak. They’re one of four teams at 7–7 fighting for the final two NFC wild-card spots. They’re currently in eighth place in the conference because the Rams (also 7–7) have the better record against NFC West opponents. Seattle will need some help to reach the playoffs, but its remaining schedule (at Titans, vs. Steelers, at Cardinals) isn’t too difficult.
The result also had significant playoff implications for the Eagles. They’re now 10–4 and have lost three in a row as they jockey with the Cowboys for the NFC East title. A win would have moved Philadelphia into a tie with the Niners for the conference’s top seed, although San Francisco owns the tiebreaker over the Eagles by virtue of its win in Philadelphia in Week 13.
The Eagles’ race with the Cowboys for the division crown will be one of the NFL’s most interesting subplots over the final three weeks. Both are excellent teams and have already clinched postseason spots, but one will be forced to play on the road in the playoffs as a wild-card team. As it stands now, the Cowboys hold the No. 2 seed in the conference, which means they would face the No. 7 seed in the first round. The Eagles, meanwhile, hold the No. 5 seed and would open the playoffs against the No. 4 seed (almost assuredly the NFC South winner).
The good news for the Eagles is that their schedule over the rest of the season looks like a breeze. They’ve got two games against the Giants and one against the Cardinals. The Cowboys, on the other hand, face a much more difficult stretch beginning with a road game against the Dolphins on Sunday and a home game against the Lions before finishing the season against the Commanders. Comparing the two schedules, the Eagles have a slight edge in the division race. But it would have been a lot easier if Lock and the Seahawks hadn’t knocked them off last night.
The best of Sports Illustrated
Joe Nicholson / USA TODAY Sports
- Greg Bishop was in Seattle for the Seahawks’ big win and wrote about how their unsung heroes were the key to victory.
- Bishop also spoke with Brock Purdy’s private quarterback coach about how the 49ers’ star recovered from his offseason elbow surgery for the potential MVP season.
- Albert Breer wrote about a pair of quarterbacks who are thriving in new settings. Baker Mayfield got a fresh start in Tampa Bay this year and has the Buccaneers leading the division. Joe Flacco’s situation was different, as he sat around all year waiting for a team to call. That call finally came from the Browns, and now he’s helped salvage Cleveland’s season.
- The Eagles’ loss dropped them out of the top five in Conor Orr’s newest NFL power rankings.
- Jimmy Traina believes NBC gave Al Michaels a raw deal when it decided not to assign him to an NFL playoff game this season.
- One of the best high school quarterback recruits in the country flipped his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska.
- Georgia’s current quarterback, Carson Beck, will return to school next season.
The top 10...
… things I saw last night:
5. Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin’s textbook give-and-go.
4. Noah Hanifin’s interception and quick pass to set up Mikael Backlund’s shorthanded goal.
3. James Harden’s animated reaction after his step-back three.
2. Kenneth Walker’s vision and patience on his 23-yard touchdown run. (He got some great lead blocking, too.)
1. Drew Lock’s emotional postgame interview after leading the Seahawks to victory. It was his first win as a starter since Dec. 13, 2020.
SIQ
The Steelers beat the Colts in a playoff game in Baltimore on this day in 1976, 40–14. But the most newsworthy event of the afternoon occurred just a few minutes after the game ended. What happened?
- Johnny United announced his retirement
- A plane crashed into the stadium
- The field caught on fire from a heater on the bench
- The entire city of Baltimore lost power
Yesterday’s SIQ: Pitcher Brien Taylor, one of two MLB No. 1 draft picks not to appear in a single big league game, injured his shoulder on Dec. 18, 1993, and never fully recovered. What led to Taylor’s injury?
- A motorcycle crash
- A fight
- A skiing accident
- A pickup football game
Answer: A fight. The Yankees took Taylor with the top pick in the 1991 draft, and his pro career started well enough. But it came to a screeching halt that night in ’93.
Taylor went to the home of a man who had previously fought with Taylor’s older brother, Brenden. When Taylor confronted the other man, another fight broke out. Taylor dislocated his shoulder and tore his labrum as a result of falling to the ground during the altercation.
“I can remember [surgeon] Frank Jobe sitting me down,” Taylor’s agent, Scott Boras, told Yahoo in 2006. “He said, ‘This is one of the worst shoulder injuries I’ve ever seen,’ and I believed it. The way he tore it was unnatural.”
Taylor missed the entire 1994 season recovering from the surgery. He played four more seasons in the Yankees’ system but never got above A ball and was released after the ’98 season. He made five disastrous appearances for Cleveland’s Class A affiliate in 2000 (nine walks, two hit batsmen and seven wild pitches in 2⅔ innings) before hanging it up for good. He and Steve Chilcott are the only players since the draft was introduced in 1965 to be taken first and never make the majors.
