Field Gulls
Another week, another blowout win for the certifiably scary Seattle Seahawks (7-2).
It was a wire-to-wire beatdown of the Arizona Cardinals (3-6), who fell behind 35-0 out of the gate and looked like they were about to get that 58-0 treatment like they did in 2012. Alas, the Seahawks didn’t get the shutout and had to settle for a mere 44-22 win. Seattle stays on top in the NFC West via head-to-head tiebreaker over the Los Angeles Rams, who are also 7-2 after beating the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba once again got in the end zone but finished just shy of 100 yards, DeMarcus Lawrence scored two touchdowns off of Tyrice Knight strip-sacks, and Zach Charbonnet and George Holani both had first half rushing scores. Seattle didn’t get any touchdowns in the second half but there was no need.
Sam Darnold was 10/12 for 178 yards and a touchdown, although he did have two lost fumbles and an interception for a three-turnover day. Seattle rushed for a season-high 198 yards, with Charbonnet getting 83 and Kenneth Walker III recording 67. Newest Seahawk Rashid Shaheed even chipped in 20 yards on the ground and George Holani had 31 yards in extended playing time.
Defensively, despite being significantly undermanned, they sacked Jacoby Brissett five times and held him under 50 percent completion rate. Outside of one garbage time carry for 54 yards by Emari Demercado, the running game was held in check. When you consider 15 of 22 points were off of turnovers, the defense was unlucky to give up 22 on the afternoon.
This team is a contender, folks. Even with the turnover problems.
For the second week in a row, the Seahawks scored an opening drive touchdown. Last week, it was Tory Horton who opened the scoring for Seattle, but since he didn’t play, the Seahawks turned to 2025’s best quarterback-wide receiver combo. Sam Darnold rolled out on play-action and hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba deep for a 43-yard score. Garret Williams fell and Jalen Thompson was late, leaving JSN with the task of just catching the pass and putting six on the board.
It got even better just a few plays later, courtesy of Seattle’s defense. Tyrice Knight, who lost his starting job to Drake Thomas at weakside linebacker, returned to his old starting role while Thomas was shifted to Ernest Jones’ spot. His first major contribution was to strip-sack Jacoby Brissett, and DeMarcus Lawrence scooped and scored to double the lead to 14-0! What a start!
Drake Thomas blew up a 3rd and 1 run play to force another Cardinals punt, continuing Seattle’s theme of outstanding run game.
The Seahawks marched down the field again, albeit with Jaxon Smith-Njigba taking a flagged helmet shot that warranted a trip to concussion protocol in the medical tent. A nice run by Kenneth Walker set up goal-to-go. Two plays later, Seattle got a 9-yard touchdown run by… not Walker, not Charbonnet, but George Holani! His first NFL rushing touchdown....
