The Seahawks’ most reliable factors so far this season have been their QB1-WR1 connection, their defensive front and their special teams. They lost to the Bucs last week largely due to a rare bad game by the defensive line.
They won 20-12 in Jacksonville today because that unit returned to dominance and helped out Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who continued to play as well as any QB-WR duo in the NFL.
Last week, Mike Macdonald said Baker Mayfield had too many “Mississippis” (a reference to the old backyard football pass rush rule). Well, the Seahawks got to Trevor Lawrence after one “Miss” on half of his dropbacks today.
As we wrote ahead of this game: Expect Lawrence to get fewer Mississippis. Macdonald does not make the same mistake twice, and he should have a good plan — whether that is more blitzing, better disguises or whatever.
The Seahawks sacked Lawrence seven times (one more than he had been sacked in the first five games) and also pressured him on 27 of his 50 dropbacks (54%). That is the most pressures on a QB by a defense since 2022 (per ESPN Research).
- DeMarcus Lawrence returned from a Week 5 injury absence to log two sacks, five QB hits and two tackles for loss.
- Byron Murphy II, who spent the past week visiting his preemie baby daughter in the NICU, also recorded two sacks plus four QB hits and a TFL.
- Uchenna Nwosu added 1.5 sacks and four QB hits. Leonard Williams added half a sack and two hits.
- And Drake Thomas, who has fully replaced Tyrice Knight alongside Ernest Jones IV, filled up the stat sheet with nine tackles, a sack, a TFL, a pass defensed and a QB hit.
The secondary struggled in the first half. Notably, Shaq Griffin failed to pick up Brian Thomas Jr., who scored an easy 21-yard touchdown. Macdonald talked to Griffin right after that. Griffin said he thought they were in zone when the call was for man.
”Just miscommunication getting the call,” said Griffin, who was playing his second game (first start) since returning to Seattle this year. “The main thing is we stuck together and got it fixed.”
Macdonald also rallied his patchwork secondary on the sideline before the next series to make sure they were synced up. He did a good job of mid-game coaching on a unit that was down three of the top five guys and playing a lot of young and new dudes.
Griffin added, “I feel like every time they got us, we weren’t on the same page. We corrected that going into the second half, and it worked out.”
The offense really struggled beyond Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who tallied his fourth 100-yard game of the season with 162 yards on eight catches – including a 61-yard touchdown. He and Darnold continue to carry the offense with All-Pro performances week after week.
“It’s just great to see,” Nwosu said. “Jax is an explosive player, and I played with Sam in college (USC), so I know what he can do. I knew when those guys got together and hooked up, it would be like magic. That’s what everybody is being able to see.”
The game actually was a lot like the Week 1 loss to the 49ers. The Hawks could not run the ball and JSN received over 50% of the targets. The big difference this week was that Cooper Kupp also got into the end zone for the first time as a Seahawk and AJ Barner helped clinch the win late with a 61-yard reception.
Macdonald did not seem too concerned about the JSN-heavy offense: “People are going to focus on him, but when you play complementary ball on one side of the ball — if you’re able to run, throw it, action, do the whole thing — it’s very hard to take one player out of the game when the ball can go anywhere. He’s taking advantage of his opportunities. We’re doing a great job of getting him open, and Sam’s got a lot of confidence in him, too.”
The Hawks got away with the imbalance this time because of the consistently great play of the defensive front. But they took another step back in the running game, after a couple of promising weeks. They have now had three games over 100 yards and three under, but they are 2-1 in each case — the running game has not been a determining factor in their games so far because Darnold, JSN and the D-line have carried the team.
Here’s a look at some of the key numbers from the win over the Jaguars:
0
The Jaguars led the NFL in takeaways and had pulled at least one in every game, but they got none against Seattle – the first time the Seahawks had not given the ball away all season.
“Thought our ball security was tremendous,” Macdonald said.
4.5
Murphy leads all NFL defensive tackles with 4.5 sacks. He had had seven pressures, the most by a Seahawk since Carlos Dunlap in 2021 (vs. Chicago), according to ESPN Research.
9
The Hawks won on the road for the team-record ninth straight time – also the longest active streak in the NFL. Macdonald is 10-1 on the road – the only loss at Detroit in his fourth game last year.
9.6
Darnold leads the NFL at 9.6 yards per pass attempt. He completed six throws of 16 yards or more, including passes of 32, 61 and 61, on his way to 295 yards. He’s 17 of 24 with two TDs and no interceptions on passes thrown 20 yards downfield this year, per ESPN Research. According to PFF, he leads all quarterbacks in deep passing over the past two seasons: 48 completions, 56.5%, 19.6 yards per pass.
JSN said of Darnold: “He’s just going to take what the defense gives him. And once there’s an opportunity to hit a big one, you know he’s going to be ready for it. (He’s) all the things you’d want to believe in your quarterback.”
10
Macdonald became the fourth coach in NFL history to win 10 of his first 11 road games. The others: Sean McVay (2017-18 Rams), George Seifert (1989-90 49ers) and Paul Brown (1946-47 Browns).
696
Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with 696 receiving yards. That’s the 15th most by any player through the first six games since the 1970 NFL merger, according to Stathead. He has 550 yards on deep passes, proving wrong the doubters who thought he was only a slot receiver. (That always seemed like silly talk to us.)
JSN’s pace of 1,972 yards would blow away the team record of 1,303 set by DK Metcalf in 2020. Steve Largent was over 1,200 three times.
Amid all of the accolades from teammates and the league at large, JSN said, “I definitely have it in myself to go out there and to dominate.”
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