It got a little hairy there near the end of the game with all the chances that the Seattle Seahawks kept giving the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Mike Macdonald’s crew stepped up when it counted and walked away with the 20-12 road victory – the ninth in a row for the franchise.
Jacksonville got on the board first, scoring an easy walk-in touchdown on what looked like a coverage breakdown. Both defenses were playing good ball early on besides Seattle’s snafu. Then, the Seahawks offense broke out of their malaise when Sam Darnold found the red-hot Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 61-yard receiving TD.
For the most part, this game was a story about the Seahawks defense. They were in Trevor Lawrence’s grill all game long, sacking him seven times!! That was a career-high for Lawrence, and the Jaguars offensive line came into the game giving up only six total sacks ton the season. With Devon Witherspoon, Julian Love, and Riq Woolen all standing on the sidelines, that defensive output was sorely needed.
Seahawks Droppings
- Of the Seahawks seven sacks, six of them came courtesy of the defensive line. DeMarcus Lawrence had 2.0 in his first game back from a quad injury to lead the team along with Byron Murphy’s 2.0 sacks. Uchenna Nwosu had 1.5 sacks, with Leonard Williams picking up the other 0.5 sack. The only non-defensive line sack came on a well-timed blitz by linebacker Drake Thomas. Along with the sacks, the defense had 17 QB hits on Lawrence. Byron Murphy is turning into the first-round game wrecker in the middle that the Seahawks were hoping for as they had him as the highest graded defensive player on their draft board. Murphy, Lawrence, and Big Cat is a devastating combo.
- Jaxon-Smith Njigba is on an absolute heater and is no doubt a true WR1 in the NFL as he reeled in eight catches for 162 yards and a TD. I just wish he wouldn’t have committed that taunting penalty that knocked the offense back 15 yards after a big conversion. That seemed to sap the energy out of the offense, and they sputtered up until the final drive.
- Cooper Kupp had a few key catches once again, snagging his first TD as a Seahawk on a beautiful route and throw by Sam Darnold. AJ Barner was used sparingly until his huge catch on the final drive which essentially clinched the game.
- Speaking of Sam Darnold , I thought he was very good once again despite having a few throws I’m sure he’d like back. Particularly, I’m thinking of the deep throw to Tory Horton who had a step on the defender and had to slow down for the ball which was then knocked away. If Darnold had gotten just a little more on that toss, he would’ve had another long TD.
- Nick Emmanwori had some really nice tackles for short gains in what is basically only his second full game as a pro....
Field Gulls
