It wouldn’t be a Seattle Seahawks game if the team wasn’t causing the 12th Man to age prematurely from stress. Despite an explosive 17-point first quarter, the Seahawks looked completely lifeless for almost the remainder of the game, until the last two minutes. As head coach Pete Carroll preaches religiously, you can only win the game in the fourth quarter.

It was hardly a clean win, and towards the end it sure looked like it was going to be a disappointing Sunday for Seattle. But the Seahawks took advantage of Cleveland’s miscues late and grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat.

Through eight weeks, Seattle is now 5-2 and in sole possession of first place in the NFC West. It wasn’t an easy road to this point, and there’s still plenty of distance left to travel. But for now, we’ll dive into some takeaways from this 24-20 win over the Browns.

Geno Smith finds redemption

For a while, it looked like Geno Smith was going to have to start doing some hand stretches for all those letters he was about to write back. After a pristine first quarter, Smith and the offense almost fell apart entirely. Up until the second to last possession, every Seahawks drive after the first quarter was either a three-and-out or ended in a Smith interception.

Things looked bleak, until the final drive. Smith went 3-for-4, 45 yards and the game winning touchdown to rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Smith redeemed his off performance, and likely bought himself more slack. It had been a tough three-week stretch for Seattle’s starter. Hopefully his game winning drive ignites more consistent play moving forward.

Third down is an issue once more

The Seahawks offense has had a serious issue extending drives this season. Going into this game, Seattle’s struggles when it came to scoring in the red zone were notable. Against the Browns, the Seahawks did go 3-for-5 in the red zone, and one “miss” was taking a knee in the red zone when the game was won.

But another issue (re)appeared: third down offense. Seattle was a miserable 4-for-12 on third down. There was a stretch in this game where four out of six possessions were three-and-outs. The Seahawks were fortunately bailed out by their defense, but that won’t always fly against better teams.

Rookies continue to shine

Last week, Jake Bobo and Jaxon Smith-Njigba became the first pair of rookie wide receivers to score a touchdown for the Seahawks in the same game. It took all of seven days for this to happen again.

Bobo and JSN were bookends for Seattle. Bobo got things started with this three-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep to get the Seahawks on the board first. JSN closed it out when he scored the game-winning touchdown with 0:38 seconds left on the clock. We knew going into the season Seattle’s receiving corps was going to be deep, but perhaps we didn’t realize the totality of its depth.

Geno is trying to feed DK Metcalf

DK Metcalf was back in action after missing last week’s game due to injury. The gameplan for Smith was clearly trying to get his star receiver involved early and often, with mixed results.

Overall, Metcalf finished the game with five receptions for 67 yards, which trailed only Tyler Lockett for most on the team. But he had five receptions… on 14 total targets. On one target, it directly resulted in an interception as the Browns defender undercut Metcalf’s route and snagged a takeaway, denying Seattle points right before the half.

It’s been a bit of an odd season for Metcalf. He hasn’t had many truly dominant games, has only found the end zone twice, and has been mired in a bit of controversy due to his penalties. Yet it’s clear he’s still one of the best players on the field, and when it mattered most, Smith still had faith in No. 14 to make plays late.

Rush defense showed some cracks

Overall this season, it’s been night and day for the Seahawks’ rush defense. It was clear they wanted to improve from their listless performance last year, and so far the results have been positive. Unfortunately, they did struggle against Cleveland.

The Browns had their way with Seattle on the ground, rushing 40 times for 155 yards and a touchdown. In fact, had Cleveland continued to run instead of pass the ball at the end, this thrilling Seahawks victory might’ve had a more unfortunate ending.

Still, it’s hard to be too critical. The Browns run the ball better than almost every other team, especially since they need to overcompensate from a lackluster passing attack. It’s a brutal matchup for any rush defense. However, Seattle will need to clean things up before traveling to the Charm City to play the Ravens.

A pair of "firsts" for the secondary

Last week marked the first career touchdown for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and the trend of “firsts” continued on Sunday. Against the Browns, cornerback Riq Woolen and safety Julian Love both recorded their first interceptions of the year. For Love, it was his first as a Seahawk.

Woolen’s interception denied Cleveland a chance for crucial points, as the ball was taken away at Seattle’s 16-yard line.

Love’s proved to be the turning point in the game. Facing a 3rd-and-3 from their 41-yard line, the Browns were looking to convert and essentially ice the game. It would have been the two minute warning and the Seahawks had only two timeouts left. Instead, it was Love to the rescue – with an assist from Jamal “Messi” Adams – who gave Seattle a renewed lease on life with his interception.

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Story originally appeared on Seahawks Wire