Boykin leads spectacular final drive to lift Seahawks over Chiefs



KANSAS CITY – Well, that was certainly more exciting than it had any right to be.

The Seattle Seahawks beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-16, Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium, with backup quarterback Trevone Boykin’s theatrics elevating the final score to more than a mere preseason footnote.

Boykin led a four-play, 88-yard drive in the final seconds, completing a Hail Mary touchdown pass to Tanner McEvoy with time expiring to set up the game-winning two-point conversion.

Until that point, it was a promising if unspectacular preseason performance.

The Seahawks got their first new fan favorite of the season. The offensive line looked solid. There was some great special teams play.

And, most importantly, nobody got hurt.

As expected, most of the starters didn’t see much playing time.

Russell Wilson, for instance, was only in for one series. He went 3-for-6 for 34 yards, but threw an interception to Marcus Peters on his way out the door.

“That's why you practice man,” Wilson said. “That's why you keep trying to do better. Hopefully it won't happen again.”

Christine Michael got the start at running back in place of the still-recovering Thomas Rawls, carrying the ball seven times for 44 yards.

George Farmer – who was converted from cornerback to running back during training camp – also got seven carries, picking up 15 yards.

The first round in the battle for backup quarterback clearly went to Boykin. He got most of the snaps, completing 16 of 22 passes for 188 yards, and showed some snazzy moves on his feet at times on his way to 21 yards rushing.

Jake Heaps – one of the best high school quarterbacks in the county when he was at Skyline – came on next, completing 3 of 10 passes for 33 yards.

Oddly, Boykin came back out and replaced Heaps with just over 9 minutes left in the game.

The first-team offensive line played about as well as could be hoped, given that all five positions are manned by new players. The Seahawks didn’t give up any sacks until the third-string was on the field in the fourth quarter, though they also didn’t manage to get much of a running game going.

“Everybody was engaged, everybody was communicating great,” Wilson said. “We made some good calls. We did some great things.”

Undrafted rookie Tyvis Powell became the first new fan favorite of the year, thanks in large part to some incredible play on special teams – including a hellacious block and an aggressive play to keep a punt out of the end zone - and a fourth-quarter interception.

Backups got the fair share of playing time, as usually happens in preseason football. And with an ending like that, players and fans alike are certainly ready for more.

“You know me,” Wilson said. “I wish I could play a whole bunch more.

“I wish I could play the whole game.”