The Seattle Seahawks beat the Jacksonville Jaguars last week on the road and now have another game against the Houston Texans. Despite trailing Jacksonville in the AFC South race, I believe Houston will
be a much tougher game. I think this is the biggest challenge the Seahawks have faced so far. The Texans have a cornerback truly capable of covering Jaxon Smith-Njigba in Derek Stingley, and Kamari Lassiter is also an excellent CB. Furthermore, they have the best edge duo in Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson. On the offensive side, the pass rush will be tested with an attack of fast concepts.
Finally, it’s worth remembering that the Texans come into this game after a bye week and essentially without any starters mentioned in the injury report.
It’s going to be a great matchup.
Let’s go!
The toughest challenge for the Seahawks offense – Part 1: Trenches
It’s well known that our offensive line has its ups and downs (sometimes more downs than ups). Charles Cross is certainly the most solid and consistent name so far. He’ll face an elite duo against the Texans. And that means Anderson or Hunter will be lining up against Abe Lucas, who hasn’t yet performed at the level we expect from him. Could this matchup be the chance for a change for Lucas? A chance for Cross to show he can play against elite opponents?
The interior of the defensive line isn’t often discussed, but Tim Settle and Sheldon Rankins are good players, especially against the run game. Jalen Sundell, Grey Zabel and Anthony Bradford need to play a lot more than they have so far, in both phases of the game. The run game needs to be there to take the pressure off Sam Darnold, who, again, needs to avoid turnovers and release the ball quickly.
The toughest challenge for this offense – Part 2: Klint Kubiak
A game to test Klint Kubiak’s capabilities., see what he’s made of.
Can he put together a good game plan?
Can he adapt during the game?
The Texans are the best team in the NFL when it comes to defending play-action, which is the main factor in the Seahawks’ offense’s success. Another point is that JSN will face the best cornerback duo until now. The Texans could even use Derek Stingley on JSN for every snap. Let’s take the game against the San Francisco 49ers as a starting point, which was arguably the Seahawks’ worst offensive performance. Even so, JSN had 13 targets and 9 receptions, clearly being Darnold’s go-to man. With him potentially being neutralized by Stingley or double-teamed with Jalen Pitre, can Kubiak give the QB other options?
I believe this game is a good opportunity to include Elijah Arroyo more in the middle of the field and other options to produce in yards-after-catch situations, taking advantage of the high number of missed tackles by the Texans, especially in the secondary. Furthermore, the 12-man personnel should be present, and the team should insist on outside zones, something the Texans have struggled to defend and could be a chance for Ken Walker to excel. It’s worth remembering that the Jags also had this problem, and the Seahawks failed to exploit it, mainly because they insisted on using Zach Charbonnet for this type of run.
In summary:
Outside Zones -> this stretches the defense horizontally -> Darnold can exploit the backs of the LBs, especially with the TEs on intermediate passes, releasing the ball quickly.
The keys for the Seahawks defense
The Texans’ offense has improved significantly compared to last season. Nick Caley revived concepts that the Texans had previously had success. So, the offense, in short, features a lot of play-action, RPOs, and CJ Stroud releasing the ball quickly.
The last two QBs the Seahawks faced released the ball quickly, but the results were very different. Baker Mayfield made Seattle’s pass rush disappear, while Trevor Lawrence was sacked seven times. Which defense will show up on MNF?
The Texans’ starting lineup is unreliable, and perhaps their most vulnerable point is rookie LT Aireontae Ersery, who is fourth in sacks allowed this season. The issue is that the Seahawks have been more effective pressing inside than on the edge. Is there a chance we’ll see Boye Mafe’s first sack of the year?
Now let’s move on to the running game. The Texans have Ed Ingram, who has been fantastic this season. He’s the second-best guard in run-blocking, behind only Quenton Nelson. The Seahawks defense has been most consistent in stopping the run game. The Texans are coming off two games of rushing for 167 yards against the Titans and Ravens. Of the team’s three losses, they failed to reach 100 yards in two of them. Therefore, it’s important to keep Nick Chubb and the other cornerbacks, as well as CJ Stroud, who is also a key player in the running game, with low numbers.
“Defend the run to earn the right to pressure the QB.” I think this saying will be very important for this game.
Final Thoughts
I think this game could be a turning point for the Seahawks’ season. Not that a win means automatic qualification, nor that a loss means total failure. But the Texans offer the biggest test for both offense and defense at the same time, and a win, after beating the Jaguars, could cement the team’s confidence and consistent performance. Finally, it would be great to win again at home and in an important prime time game.
