Battle Red Blog
Set your watches and drink your coffee. The Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks will be playing the late game on Monday night. Game time is 9 PM Central standard time. It’s a school night folks. Some of us have work early the next morning. Be that as it may, it promises to be an exciting game between two very accomplished defenses. John Gilbert is joining us from our sister site Field gulls. We may be rivals on the field, but in the press box we try to help each other out as much as we can. Gilbert was kind of enough to answer my questions and I helped him out with his. We started with their change at quarterback.
Battle Red Blog: The Seahawks have switched from Geno Smith to Sam Darnold. How do they differ? Is he the real deal or merely better than Smith?
John Gilbert: There was absolutely no shortage of debate during the offseason on this topic, but through the first six weeks of the season there has been no question the Seahawks made the right move.
Geno was aggressive with his decision making, and had no fear when it came to trying to thread the needle on a throw into a tight window. In contrast, Darnold has more often taken what the defense gives so far in 2025. Of course, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba blossoming into an unstoppable, always-open, sure handed receiver, what the defense has given has regularly been long completions to JSN that has allowed the Seattle offense to flourish while the run game and short passing game have struggled relative to intermediate and deep passing attack.
BRB: The Seahawks are among the league leaders in sacks. Where does the strength of their pass rush come from?
JG; Seattle has enough guys who are high end rushers, but not necessarily elite, and combining that group of rushers with Mike Macdonald’s scheme has allowed the pass rush to flourish.
Whether it’s Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, DeMarcus Lawrence, Uchenna Nwosu or one of the other front seven defenders, the biggest challenge for opponents is often figuring out exactly where the pressure is coming from.
BRB: The Texans normally don’t see the Seahawks from year to year. Who are some under the radar players on offense we should pay attention to?
JG: Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ken Walker and Cooper Kupp are the names everyone knows, but it’s second year tight end AJ Barner who leads the team in touchdowns through the first six weeks of the season.
He’s unlikely to put up huge numbers in any particular game, but he’s the best blocking tight end on the roster so is almost always on the field, meaning he’s almost forgotten until high leverage situations show up. Whether it’s in the red zone or simply an important third & short, Texans fans shouldn’t be surprised to hear Barner’s name in critical situations.
**BRB: The NFC West is one of better and more competitive divisions in the NFL. Who...
