Heading into Sunday night in Seattle, the story of the game was Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker, who was off to an outstanding start to this season after leaving the Seahawks in free agency. After the game, the story was the Seahawks’ defense shutting Walker down.
Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori admitted after the game that he and his teammates were motivated to hold Walker in check, knowing how many people were criticizing the Seahawks for letting the reigning Super Bowl MVP leave for Kansas City in free agency.
Advertisement
“I ain’t gonna lie, I did,” Emmanwori said. “I’m not gonna sit here and lie. I definitely did want to hold him under 100. I don’t really listen to all the media noise but that was my motivation. I know a lot of dudes on defense, that was their motivation, too, to stop him under 100 and play lights out on defense and I think we did that.”
The Seahawks did more than just hold Walker under 100 yards. They held him to 36 yards on 14 carries, by far his worst game of this season and almost 100 yards below his average heading into Sunday night of 133 yards per game.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ much-maligned rushing game had a big night, with running back Emanuel Wilson gaining 100 yards and a touchdown and the Seahawks as a team gaining 153 rushing yards — more than triple the Chiefs’ total.
The Seahawks won 20-3, and the defense was disappointed because they wanted it to be 20-0.
Advertisement
“We put on a clinic,” Emmanwori said. “I know the defense, a lot of dudes were upset that we didn’t give them a zero. That was our goal, give them zero. We definitely could’ve accomplished that. But that just says what type of defense we are. There’s a lot of talk out there about what type of defense we are, if we’ve still got it or whatever. But we don’t really pay attention to that, and we knew what we was fitting to do. None of us, we didn’t lose any sleep about any offense or who we’re facing.”
Who they were facing was the player who led the way as they won the Super Bowl eight months ago. But now he’s in a different uniform, and the Seahawks wanted to show that they’re the same Super Bowl team without him that they were with him.
