The 2025 Seattle Seahawks have been a very good team, seemingly standing on the precipice of breaking through to greatness. And yet, there are some clear flaws that could prove fatal later on this season if Seattle can’t get things corrected.
Seattle’s inability to close out games at times, regardless of the opposition, reared its ugly head once again in their 30-24 road victory against the Tennessee Titans. Seattle seemingly had the game in the bag, going ahead 23-3 in the third quarter. It looked
like those games against the Washington Commanders and the second game against the Arizona Cardinals where they would storm out to a big lead and slam the door shut on the now 1-10 Titans. Instead, they allowed a punt return TD to make the score 23-10.
Later, Seattle would go up 30-10, only to give up a TD drive shortly after to make it a two-score game once again at 30-17. The offense had the ball back with around six minutes left and a chance to close out the game. However, Seattle couldn’t get the job done and punted the ball back to Tennessee who would go on a scoring drive to make the game 30-24 with under one minute left. At least the defense made them work for it a bit and drained the clock. Tennessee’s onsides kick attempt failed due to a penalty, and the Seahawks snuck out with a narrow victory. We’ve already seen this story too many times this year, and it has me worried that it will come back to bite them come playoff time.
Seahawks Droppings
- Seattle keeps getting bit by the injury bug at the safety position, this time with Ty Okada going out with an oblique injury. He’s acquitted himself quite well to the starting lineup after a few shaky initial outings filling in for Julian Love. As Love is eligible to come off IR this week, Okada’s absence may not have to be felt. If Love isn’t ready, the already razor thin safety depth will be tested even further.
- Hats off to Cam Ward. There were a lot of off script plays that he made today against the Seahawks defense. Those are the types of frustrating plays that will annoy Mike Macdonald just as much as those of us watching it, but sometimes you just need to tip your cap to the other guys. Except for the poor tackling on a few of them, that’s another recurring problem.
- Seattle’s special teams units have generally been excellent this season, but that 90-yard punt return was awful. No one on Seattle’s coverage units were even remotely close, and Macdonald seemed pretty miffed about no one having the edge. Was this due to the rash of injuries and having backups to backups playing?
- Speaking of backups, with Ernest Jones IV sitting out against his most recent former team and Tyrice Knight unavailable due to a concussion, we were treated to the LB duo of Drake Thomas and Patrick O’Connell. They combined for 19 tackles, 2 TFL and 1 sack. Not too shabby!
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba is so damn good. It’s only November, and he’s already set the franchise record for receiving yards in a season after having 8 catches for 167 yards and 2 TDs. He can’t be stopped…at least I hope that’s the case because the other receivers haven’t really stepped up. Tory Horton is out for another 3 games at least, Cooper Kupp is good for only a few catches a game, and Rashid Shaheed has yet to make much of an impact. I’d like those boys to take some of the heat off of JSN, but at this point I have to say that he might not even need it.
- Lastly, it was awesome to see Grey Zabel back in the lineup and make it through the game. I was worried last week after the game (and rightfully so) that he may have to miss some time with his knee injury. Everyone lucked out, and I’m SO glad that Zabel is fine. He’s one of the keys to a successful postseason run for the Seahawks.
The Seahawks are 8-3, and in the thick of the NFC West and playoff races. They also have plenty to work on if they want to have a chance to go deep in the postseason, including recapturing that killer mentality that they showcased in the middle of the season. End of game performances like today’s against good teams down the stretch isn’t going to cut it.
