Ailing Seahawks secondary shuts down Falcons' Ryan

Nov 21, 2017 - 7:35 AM SEATTLE -- The Legion of Boom looked more like the Legion of Boo-Boos on Monday night.

Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor (neck) and cornerback Richard Sherman (Achilles) were sidelined, leaving safety Earl Thomas as the only original member of the Legion of Boom to dress against the Atlanta Falcons.

Cornerback Shaquill Griffin joined Chancellor and Sherman on the bench after the second play of the game, as he sustained a concussion.

"It's unfortunate because we've been practicing with him all week," Thomas said, "and then it was a sweep or something like that, he made a great tackle, and he probably hit his head. I didn't see it, but it sucked that he went out."

Even with the Seahawks' secondary ailing, Seattle held Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan to 195 yards, ending his 64-game streak of passing for 200-plus yards. Ryan did toss two touchdown passes, though, in Atlanta's 34-31 win.

Cornerback Jeremy Lane had a costly 25-yard pass interference to set up first-and-goal at the 1-yard line for Atlanta's first touchdown of the game. The Seattle secondary also struggled with underneath passes that led to the Falcons converting 64 percent of their third downs.

Without Chancellor and Sherman, the Seattle defense gave up the most points in the first half (24) since 2011, four weeks before Sherman entered the starting lineup as a rookie and began his streak of 99 consecutive starts.

However, Thomas was encouraged by the depth of the Seahawks secondary.

"I mean, how many passing yards does he have? 200?" Thomas said. "And couple times the referees bailed them out because we play physical on the outside."

Sherman and Chancellor don't just have an effect on the numbers that the other team is going to put in the box score. Communication, leadership and consistency are hallmarks of the back end of the Seattle defense.

Cornerback Byron Maxwell, who signed with the Seahawks just six days earlier, was credited with three tackles.

"The thing that I took from it is that no matter who was out there, we always have a chance to win," Thomas said. "Guys stepped up, but (Atlanta) also made some big plays on us, too. We have to keep our hands clean because the refs aren't going to let us play physical. ... We have to be better there."