The Seattle Seahawks get to enjoy a couple extra days of rest during Christmas Week after their thrilling 38-37 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football started Week 16 action that will be hard for the rest of the week’s slate to top.
The victory puts Seattle in first place in the NFC West, as well as the driver’s seat for the top overall seed in the NFC, in spite of calls off offseason, through training camp and for the first sixteen weeks of the regular season for the team
to start someone, anyone, other than Anthony Bradford at right guard.
Yet, in spite of fan horror at the willingness of the front office and coaching staff to put someone else at right guard, the Seahawks continue to run Bradford out at the spot each week, with Bradford having started all 15 games so far this season. That stretch includes the Week 16 win on Thursday night in which Bradford was on the field for all 68 offensive snaps, pushing his season total to 903 snaps, the third highest total of all offensive players on the roster and the fourth highest snap count on the entire 53-man roster.
And, as noted, the payoff for starting the 24-year old Bradford is that the Seahawks are the third highest-scoring team in the NFL in 2025, and with just 17 points over the next two games can finish the year as the highest scoring team in franchise history.
Elsewhere on offense, snap counts fell pretty much where they would have been expected. The five starting offensive linemen all played every snap, while AJ Barner played all but three snaps in the game. The receiver rotation was similar to what it has been since the midseason acquisition of Rashid Shaheed, With Jaxon Smith-Njigba the unquestioned number one receiver, Cooper Kupp right behind him as the number two and Shaheed a distant third.
Interestingly, in spite of materially out producing Zach Charbonnet, Kenneth Walker played more than twenty percent fewer snaps and had only two more carries, he just happen to have a pair of carries that combined for 72 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, injuries threw a wrench in things, especially in the secondary. All three of Nick Emmanwori, Riq Woolen and Coby Bryant left the game with injuries. Mike Macdonald later stared that Emmanwori cleared concussion protocol and should be good to go for Week 17, while awaiting the results of imaging on the knees of Bryant and Woolen before providing any further update.
When Jay Harbaugh’s special teams units were on the field, Dareke Young made his presence felt in his first game back after coming off injured reserve with 23 snaps. That’s a workload that tied Nehemiah Pritchett and Patrick O’Connell for the second most special teams snaps, while Brady Russell continued to lead the team in special teams snaps, just as he has done all season.
And almost a footnote for those who have been clamoring for the team to give Christian Haynes a shot at right guard or for Bryce Cabeldue or Mason Richman to get a look at tackle. Against the Rams Haynes saw the field as much as Amari Kight, a practice squad tackle who was elevated for the matchup, while Cabeldue and Richman were both healthy scratches. In short, the team thinks so much of Cabeldue and Richman at tackle that a player was elevated from the practice squad rather than roll with either as the swing tackle.
Up next is a road trip to Seahawks East to take on Dave Canales and the Carolina Panthers after a well-deserved long week of rest for the top ranked team in the NFC.
