Tag Archives: Jaxon Smith-Njigba

It’s time for Darnold to stand up and get his first playoff win

January 15, 2026 cc 4 Comments

As Sam Darnold and the Seahawks prepare for the rematch Darnold predicted was coming, everyone is wondering whether he and the offense will snap out of the slow-start funk that has plagued them for the past couple of months.

Everyone is wondering how many interceptions he might throw against the 49ers – and how many times the defense might have to bail him and his side out.

He is seeking his first playoff win as a starter, and he needs to play up to the challenge – not force his defense to carry the entire day again.

“Sam’s a great quarterback, a Pro Bowler, and he’s going to play his best football now,” AJ Barner said. “He’s already starting to do that. We’re extremely confident in him and the offensive group as a collective. We’re going to start playing our best football.”

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#SEAvsSF, X's & O's

Offensive fade is not all Darnold’s fault

January 1, 2026 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have scuffled along on offense for most of their six-game winning streak, scoring just two first-half touchdowns and ranking 29th in EPA per play.

In their 27-10 win at Carolina last Sunday, it was more of the same — another slow start followed by a second-half surge sparked by defense (in some games, it has been special teams).

A lot of people are continually putting the blame for the offensive struggles on Sam Darnold — partially because he continues to turn the ball over a couple times a game (he had a fumble and interception vs. Carolina).

But most of the blame belongs where we always thought it would: on the offensive line. And Klint Kubiak has not done enough — either with his opening play scripts or his other play calls — to help Darnold.

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#INDvsSEA

Hawks barely survive Colts to make Rams rematch matter

December 15, 2025 cc Leave a comment

“Games are going to be like this coming down the stretch. You’ve got to figure out ways to win them, and I’m proud that we did.” – Mike Macdonald, after the Seahawks beat the Colts 18-16 in the final seconds

Even with Old Man Rivers at quarterback, the Colts gave the Seahawks all they could handle Sunday – but the Hawks survived and are still in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

If the Hawks had embarrassingly lost to Philip Rivers (the newly unretired 44-year-old), their rematch against the Rams on Thursday would not have carried the same meaning. But it remains as big as they come — both teams tied atop the NFC at 11-3, with the winner taking the lead for the No. 1 seed. If the Hawks win, their odds of getting the bye and home field in the postseason will jump from 26% to 51%.

They are going to have to come to that game a lot more prepared than they were for the Colts. Shane Steichen outcoached Mike Macdonald in the first half, the defense seemed to be looking past Rivers to the Rams, and the offense continued its recent pattern of slow starts and its seasonlong trend of bad third-down play.

Macdonald told his team afterward: “We’re gonna have games like that coming down the stretch, OK? They can come in all shapes and sizes. All we gotta do is just go to the next play and figure out a way to win.”

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#MINvsSEA

Bears, Rams, Hawks lead frantic NFC race for top seed

December 1, 2025 cc Leave a comment

“We’re in the death zone now. The NFC’s jumping, it’s popping, there’s great teams all around. You’ve got to win these games.” — Ernest Jones IV

The Seahawks’ defense was not happy that it did not hold down the lowly Titans properly in Seattle’s Week 12 win at Tennessee. Well, DeMarcus Lawrence, Ernest Jones IV and the rest more than made up for it in Week 13, leading a 26-0 shutout of Minnesota.

That helped the Seahawks catch the Rams, who lost 31-28 to surging Carolina (6-3 in the last nine) on Sunday. The Hawks, Rams and 49ers (who beat Cleveland) all have nine wins – matching the current top seed, Chicago, which beat Philadelphia on Friday and has lost just once since an 0-2 start.

The Packers and Eagles have eight wins, so the race for the NFC’s top seed is going to be fast and furious over the final five weeks.

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Contracts, The roster

JSN is earning a big payday — let’s look ahead to 2026

November 26, 2025 cc Leave a comment

With every passing week that he helps the Seahawks notch another win, Jaxon Smith-Njigba makes himself a lot more money.

He had perhaps his best game of the season in a 30-24 win over Tennessee in Week 12, catching eight passes for a season-best 167 yards and scoring twice, including a season-long 63-yarder.

JSN set the franchise record for receiving yards in just the 11th game. His 1,313 yards are 10 more than DK Metcalf had in 16 games in 2020. JSN is on pace for 2,029 yards, which would break Calvin Johnson’s record of 1,964 from 2012 (in 16 games). JSN is just 0.4 yards per game behind Johnson’s pace through 12 weeks.

With JSN eligible for a contract extension after this season, it is time to start looking at what he will cost — and how it all fits with the rest of the roster.

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#SEAvsLAR

Blowout wins send Hawks, Rams into huge Week 11 clash

November 10, 2025 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks and Rams are clearly the class of the NFC West and among the very best in the NFL as well, as they both proved by eclipsing 40 points in blowout wins against division opponents Sunday.

They have been on a collision course for division dominance for weeks now – and that head-on clash is coming in Week 11 as the pair of 7-2 teams finally square off.

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#ARIvsSEA

By the numbers: Hawks put together back-to-back blowouts

November 10, 2025 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks are playing dominant football right now — following up a blowout of Washington on Sunday Night Football last week with a 44-22 blasting of Arizona this week.

This sets up a monster matchup with the also 7-2 Los Angeles Rams in Week 11.

Before we look at that game, let’s look at the best numbers from the big win over Arizona.

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The roster, Trades

The promising future of the Hawks this year and beyond

October 23, 2025 cc Leave a comment

As the Seahawks take a week off to rest, self-evaluate and prepare for the final 10 games, they are in great position – both for this season and beyond.

At 5-2, they are one of seven NFC teams with a winning percentage over .700 – and right where we thought they would be, positioned for a second-half run into the playoffs.

By DVOA, they actually are rated the best team in the league – thanks to the top-ranked special teams and the No. 2 defense. Their net point differential (plus-57) is fifth.

The Hawks are blowing away Vegas projections, which had the Hawks finishing with seven or eight wins (a 7.5 over/under). We had predicted at least 11 wins. Well, this team is on a pace for 12. Looking at the rest of the schedule, the Hawks look capable of a 7-3 finish – thus a 12-5 record for the season.

This is clearly a playoff team. The bigger question: What happens once the playoffs arrive? Do the Hawks have what it takes to go all the way?

Let’s look at what they have and what they might need to make a Super Bowl run this year and beyond.

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#HOUvsSEA

Defense dominates; Mike Mac dreams of ‘all three phases clicking’

October 21, 2025 cc 1 Comment

“Just imagine when it’s all three phases clicking.” – Mike Macdonald to his team after a mistake-filled 27-19 win over Houston

If you had told us the Seahawks would score 27 points and beat Houston by eight on Monday night, we would have taken that. Heck, we still will – since the Hawks moved to 5-2 and kept pace with the NFC leaders with a 27-19 win.

But, as the quote above shows, even Mike Macdonald was dreaming about the blowout that should have been – and the day his team plays a complete game.

Early on, it looked like this might be one of those. The Hawks jumped to a fast 14-0 lead and kept threatening to blow the game wide open in the first half. But they kept turning the ball over, committing penalties and having other odd things happen. What should have/could have been a 24-0 halftime lead instead was just 14-6. And despite their dominant defense, the Hawks never could put away the Texans until the final seconds.

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#HOUvsSEA, X's & O's

Hawks are winning with play action, not giving up on run game

October 16, 2025 cc Leave a comment

“We need to improve on our run game. It’s pretty cut and dry.” – Mike Macdonald

The Seahawks have the NFL’s No. 5 scoring offense (27.7 ppg), the No. 10 offense by EPA and the No. 4 offense by DVOA – all without any consistent running attack.

There are two schools of thought about the Seahawks’ struggling running game – and both have their merits.

The first is what Mike Macdonald said on his radio show Monday: The running game is not good enough. The second is that the threat of the running game via play action has enabled the passing game to thrive and it’s a fair sacrifice to make.

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