SEATTLE (AP) — Things got so frustrating for the Seahawks in Sunday's 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills that a pair of Seattle players exchanged blows and had to be separated on the sideline.
In the seconds after linebacker Derick Hall was flagged for a 15-yard penalty for a late hit on Josh Allen, defensive end Jarran Reed got in Hall’s face on the field. The penalty came on a third-and-15 play where Allen threw an incompletion. The Bills were awarded a first down and eventually scored a touchdown.
Once they were on the sideline, Hall and Reed continued their spat by shoving and grabbing at each other’s facemasks before being pulled apart. The ugly moment encapsulated the Seahawks' dispiriting loss at home.
“There’s some frustration there,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “Look, our guys are connected and they have each other’s back, but they are emotional and there’s going to be flare-ups and stuff. It seems like it calmed down, but it wasn’t a smart penalty. That’s not how we how we train our guys to attack quarterbacks. And so that wasn’t a smart move.”
It was just one of many miscues by the Seahawks. Fumbles, interceptions, penalties, personal fouls — Seattle did it all.
“That’s the result of good football team that outplayed us in three phases,” Macdonald said. “And then it gets out of hand when you’re doing the things we did today. We didn’t help ourselves as well. It’s a laundry list of things, we could go line item by line item if you want, but the long and short of it is, we got outplayed, we got outcoached, and we’ve got to go make it right.”
It started in the second quarter, when the Seahawks had second-and-goal at the 3-yard line and a chance to tie the game. But center Connor Williams snapped the ball over quarterback Geno Smith’s head. Seattle recovered the fumble but took a huge loss on the play and settled for a field goal.
On Seattle’s next drive, Smith fell down after Williams stepped on his foot on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1.
Hall was flagged on Buffalo's next drove. After the game, he seemed to understand why Reed reacted so angrily.
“He’s the leader of our group and you know, when when stuff hits the fans, you have to lean on those guys. Maybe we both could do something a little bit better, but he just wants me to go out, play smart, play fast, play physical,” Hall said. “And that was basically his message in that moment.”
In the third quarter, Smith threw an interception that ended a 25-yard drive for the Seahawks, and he drew a taunting penalty on the next drive. Late in the fourth quarter, Dee Williams muffed a punt, which Buffalo’s Mack Hollins recovered.
The Seahawks fumbled the ball three times while losing one, and were flagged 11 times for 82 yards.
“I thought we prepared really well this week, you know, I thought the guys were dialed in. I thought we had great energy, and obviously didn’t show up on game day today,” Smith said. “We had too many self-inflicted wounds. That’s kind of been our story this season.”
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