The Seattle Seahawks were “overtaken” in their surprise loss to the New York Giants.

But after a 32-yard scramble by Smith to put Seattle within field goal range, former No. 20 overall pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba dropped a potential third-down conversion to give the Seahawks the chance to give up winning the game with a touchdown.

Simmons left nothing to chance on the next play, blocking Myers’ kick – punctuating an ugly all-around performance from the NFC West-leading Seahawks.

“Talk about not doing everything in all three phases to win a football game. I have to give the Giants credit. They outplayed us today,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said after the game. “And yet we gave ourselves the chance to tie the game and even win at the end of the quarter-finals and came up short. So the message is that we don’t have enough time to sit around and keep our heads down. We need to keep our heads up, get it together and move forward.

The Giants controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes of the 60-minute game. Seattle allowed 175 or more yards rushing for the second time this season, with New York backup running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. hollowing out its defensive front for 129 yards on 18 carries. Daniel Jones made it in the second round, completing 23 of 34 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns.

On offense, Smith was sacked seven times as the unit struggled to find any tangible rhythm to the offense’s poor performance and complete abandonment of the running game. Running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet carried the ball seven times for 30 yards. Smith led the team in rushing with 72 yards on four carries.

The Seahawks’ offense and defense were equally inept, and their actual playmakers hurt them. In addition to Smith-Njigba’s costly drop, DK Metcalf managed to stop a promising 50-yard drive early in the third quarter that would have given the Seahawks a second-half lead had Seattle scored.

Instead, the Giants marched down the field with a 77-yard touchdown drive in just four plays to regain a 17-10 lead. From then on, New York never relinquished the lead. Even without two key offensive weapons in wide receiver Malik Nabers and running back Devin Singletary, the Giants looked like the team on the rise after the season — not Seattle.

Seattle was fortunate to get to halftime in a tied game. New York outrebounded Seattle 225-90 and owned the football for nearly 22 minutes in the 30-minute first half. The Seahawks only handed the ball off to Walker twice, gaining two yards. Smith had less than 100 yards passing.

The Giants, on the other hand, had three drives of eight or more plays. Seattle was fortunate to force a fumble at its own goal line on 4th-and-goal to end New York’s first offensive drive of the game – turning the Giants’ 16-play, 79-yard drive into a 102-yard Fumble return touchdown by safety Rayshawn Jenkins and a 7-0 lead.

New York rallied late in the second quarter to take a three-point lead. With 21 seconds left in the half, Seattle got the ball back and had its most productive series of plays of any game. A 28-yard completion from Smith to Tyler Lockett set up Jason Myers for a 43-yard field goal, which he converted.

When you get favors like that in the NFL, you can win football games. All it took for the Seahawks was to keep the lead on the scoreboard smaller against an opponent they were expected to beat by seven points.

In a loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 4, the Seahawks amassed 516 yards of offense and 38 first downs. They averaged 6.6 yards per play. It was a performance that seemed encouraging despite losing to a good football team to reach the ceiling of the offense.

Seattle sputtered out of the gate against the Giants and recovered only slightly, totaling 333 yards for an average of just 5.7 yards per play. At halftime, the Seahawks had 90 yards of offense.

“We played badly. That is the reality. We played poorly,” Smith said after the game. “I don’t think we performed well. I thought we got out slowly. (We’re) talking about starting fast will beat you any Sunday in the NFL.”

Most of the blame falls on the offensive line – which had perhaps its worst performance of the season – wide receivers and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Smith maneuvered his way into a few sacks, so you can’t place all the blame on him. But the unit as a whole must address its shortcomings.

Grubb and Seattle showed from the first offensive snap that they could avoid the run game entirely. Walker and Charbonnet combined for nearly 6.8 yards per carry on 14 carries against the Lions, and they received half as many runs against the Giants.

“You always expect to run the ball,” Walker said after the game. But the Seahawks didn’t.

The result was that Smith and the wide receivers had to do everything themselves. Smith completed 28 of 40 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown. Metcalf and Smith-Njigba made two big mistakes that arguably cost Seattle’s offense a shot at winning the game.

“We definitely need to get the running game going. When the game started, we thought about getting Geno going early,” Macdonald said. “The game kind of got out of control. We had to get going. You’re right, we need to get the running game going, we need to get Ken (Walker III) on the ball more.”

There are injuries. Cornerback Riq Woolen and edge rushers Uchenna Nwosu and Derick Hall all exited the game at one point or another. Seattle was already without defensive tackle Byron Murphy II and edge rusher Boye Mafe.

But so far only one team has received these excuses. Leonard Williams and Jerome Baker were back. The defense still couldn’t stop what the Giants wanted.

“I think it came down to execution,” Seahawks safety Julian Love said. “I don’t think we played well enough at any stage today to win. Obviously we kind of had a chance at the end. You can’t win in this league if you don’t play well.”

Through the first three weeks of the season (all wins), Seattle allowed 746 yards of total offense. The Seahawks have allowed 809 yards in the last two games alone (both losses). Opponents were 12 of 46 on third-down conversions in the first three games and 10 of 22 in the last two games.

“We were outplayed and overtaken today. That’s what happened,” Macdonald said. “I thought we made some good adjustments as the game went on. I’m not sure what the numbers say, but when we got third downs in the first half, we couldn’t get off the field… That’s how it is. All around, all three phases, all three levels of defense, including myself.”

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has his hands full in a short week of practice: poor tackling, lack of execution overall and poor defense of the run and pass. It starts with Macdonald, who was hired to improve this unit.

The Seahawks host the San Francisco 49ers (2-3) in a rivalry game on Thursday, October 10 at Lumen Field. It will be Seattle’s third game in 11 days.

San Francisco suffered a surprising 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals – also a division rivalry. Both teams will look to bounce back from disappointing performances in week five.