Seattle Seahawks fall with crushing loss to Buffalo Bills

Before Seattle's late touchdown, Buffalo had a 409-141 yard lead. There was little positive to be taken from the worst performance of the season on both sides of the ball.

Seattle's first-half story was told through its self-inflicted wounds. Buffalo took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter after outscoring the Seahawks 145-12 in the opening period. Seattle appeared poised to tie the game midway through the second quarter by going on a long drive that took up more than seven minutes of game time.

But on 2nd-and-goal from the Bills' 3-yard line, Seahawks center Connor Williams sailed the shotgun snap well over quarterback Geno Smith's head in rainy conditions – eventually recovered by running back Kenneth Walker III, who caught it and came back to the 22-yard line.

Any attempt to make up for lost yardage was feeble, and Jason Myers got Seattle on the board with a 38-yard field goal.

On Buffalo's next drive, Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe grabbed the first interception of his career – also the first Allen had thrown all season – and returned it to the Bills' 7-yard line. Back-to-back runs put Seattle on Buffalo's doorstep, but also put the Seahawks in a 4th-and-goal situation.

In a must-have situation, Williams grabbed the ball and immediately dropped his right foot back. This caused Williams' cleat to land directly on Smith's, who took the snap, causing him to stumble and fall backwards. The Seahawks turned it over on downs.

“It felt like we had a chance to really turn the momentum around there and Josh (Jobe) had great technique on that play and then when he had the opportunity he took it,” Macdonald said. “It was great back then. It felt like we had a chance to get things rolling.”

Instead, a 12-play, 93-yard drive by the Bills extended their lead to 14-3 at halftime. Allen found tight end Dalton Kincaid for his second touchdown pass of the day.

When Buffalo got the ball in the second half, they secured three more points. Smith threw his seventh interception of the season on an attempted screen pass to Walker on Seattle's next drive. Since they had the full game, the Bills took advantage of the Seahawks' mistakes. Running back James Cook was in the end zone seven plays later, extending the lead to 24-3 late in the third quarter.

The Seahawks reversed on their next drive, and Buffalo continued to chip away. Buffalo completed its fifth drive of the game, which spanned at least seven plays, and Cook reached the end zone on a 7-yard run for his second rushing score of the day. Buffalo took a commanding 31-3 lead.

With just over eight minutes to play, Zach Charbonnet reached the Seahawks' end zone with a 1-yard touchdown run. With less than three minutes to play, Williams' fumbled punt was the final nail in Seattle's coffin.

Williams was the main culprit on Seattle's two stalled drives near Buffalo's end zone. Had Williams not sent a snap over Smith's head and stepped on his foot on the next drive, the Seahawks should have had a 14-7 lead late in the first half.

“We had too many self-inflicted wounds,” Smith said after the game. “That's kind of our story this season, you know, we got into the red zone twice, had a chance to score points and came away with nothing. Well, we got three points. But we want to score touchdowns.”

Instead, Buffalo took a 14-3 lead. When you force these mistakes on a good team like the Bills, you have to convert those chances into touchdowns. The Seahawks didn't and the game went the other way.

It's a boring topic, but it's probably the biggest recurring problem for the Seahawks this season: The ground attack is nonexistent. Seattle is 3-0 this season when they pass the ball to their running backs at least 20 times and 1-4 when they don't.

Charbonnet and Walker had 16 rushing yards on 12 carries against the Bills. Smith led the Seahawks in rushing for the second time this season (16 yards on five carries). Sure, it was a rough ride, but that continues to be a disgrace to Seattle's failing offensive line.

The team fared no better as they sent Smith (21 of 29 passes, 212 yards and one interception) into direct dropback scenarios time and time again – especially in a game that featured DK Metcalf, the NFL's fourth-best player Receiver entering Week 8 is out.

“Yeah, I would say it’s a big problem,” Macdonald said of the running game. “So we have to do it right. If I knew the one answer I would give it to you in a heartbeat, but it seems like it's a litany of things. We have to work on it. Right.” Now we can no longer control the pace of the games.

The Seahawks and Bills combined for a total of 24 penalties, the most combined fouls in an NFL game this season. Buffalo received 13 penalties for 85 yards while Seattle committed 11 fouls for 82 yards.

This added more to the Seahawks' already abysmal performance. Buffalo kept recovering from its unforced errors while the Seahawks dug themselves deeper and deeper into a bigger and bigger hole.

Smith was even assessed a taunting penalty late in the third quarter after being pushed out of bounds during a scramble and then throwing the football at a Buffalo defender's helmet.

Seattle hosts the Los Angeles Rams (3-4) for a Week 9 contest at Lumen Field. It will be Seattle's second division game of the season after they lost at home to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.

The Rams are coming off a surprising 30-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night for their second straight win. The Seahawks will try to avoid suffering their fifth loss in their last six games.

Quick Reaction: Seahawks are defeated by Bills in 31-10 win

Seahawks EDGE Dre'Mont Jones is questionable to return against Bills

Halftime Observations: Seahawks undone by offensive errors, trailing Bills 14-3