Well, the Seattle Seahawks weren’t going to win every game. They were also going to inevitably lose to a bad team, and to suggest Mike Macdonald would be immune to this would smack of arrogance. Almost every contending team, including teams coached by all-time greats over the years, manage to throw up a clunker at least once in a season. We accept this in every other sport but football.
With that said, I did not think they would lose this game to the Washington Commanders. It was a deceptive 33-31
shootout loss given how many short drives the Commanders scored, but it’s still a loss that is about as disappointing as any I can recall in the Mike Macdonald era.
Alright, it’s been a minute since we’ve had to do a negative Winners and Losers column. I gotta dust off the cobwebs for this one!
Seattle Seahawks Winners
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a dual threat
So much for JSN being done throwing passes. He is 1/1 for 14 yards on the season after the double pass to George Holani.
But the main thing he’s paid for? He’s still great at that. Another 10 catches for 128 yards and a couple of touchdowns. There were a couple of false starts and a drop by JSN, but he produces at such a comically high level that those negative moments are a blip on the radar. Of all the players he might be competing against for OPOY, it might be… Kenneth Walker? Just saying.
Tory Horton and Cooper Kupp come alive
The Seahawks got their non-JSN targets involved a lot more than in the previous two weeks. Horton had three grabs for 48 yards and Kupp had four for 46 and a touchdown. Seattle has to have a passing offense that does not live and die off of JSN’s production, and while the Commanders pass defense is not very good, this was very welcome to see.
Brian Fleury unleashes A.J. Barner as a pass-catcher
Do the Seahawks have a screen game now? A.J. Barner had five catches for 69 yards and had his best game of the young season. Brian Fleury got his main tight end involved heavily and it worked out. Elijah Arroyo’s continued non-involvement is a tiny bit bothersome.
Sam Darnold’s pick 6 was costly, but he still played a great game
I cannot justify or defend the pick-six that Darnold threw. Bad read, bad decision, pretty much a back-breaker. But on a day when he’s coming back from injury and had no run game to support him, he carried the load on offense. He finished 31/45 for 379 yards and four touchdowns, albeit with one more interception on a tip-drill. Darnold avoided pressure expertly and did not get sacked, making some excellent throws throughout the afternoon.
Even acknowledging the picks, his performance provided some relief in terms of his mobility and what the passing offense could look like for the rest of the season.
Welcome back to the end zone, Eric Saubert!
Saubert’s previous end zone trip as a Seahawk was the most important two-point conversion in franchise history. His first actual touchdown as a Seahawk is, for now, a receiving touchdown. I do wonder if there is a stat correction coming if he did fumble before crossing the plane. It could be an “other” touchdown in the form of a rare offensive fumble recovery, but we’ll see.
Leonard Williams is still dominant
He had one of Seattle’s two sacks, three tackles for losses, and three QB hits. Big Cat has not missed a beat entering 2026.
Seattle Seahawks Losers
Jadarian Price’s ball security is a real concern
Two weeks in a row with a lost fumble. He didn’t have a high volume of carries at Notre Dame but the ball security question marks were brought up back then. I have no issue with his benching; he’s a rookie and you hope he gets better and learns some lessons. The cost is any sort of speed and elusiveness in Seattle’s backfield. If he can’t figure this out then he won’t get a heavy workload any time soon.
The Rashid Shaheed contract is looking shaky
I’ve given it another week, there’s still a lot of time left in the season, but Shaheed finished another game without a big return and he had just two catches for 14 yards. There’s just not been enough out of him in this offense to start the year, and it looks more glaring when Tory Horton immediately outperformed him when he got extended snaps for the first time this season. At $17 million/year this is not the productivity Seattle should be getting. It makes you wonder if Horton having a healthy 2025 would’ve influenced the Shaheed decision.
Sloppy penalties are not stopping
The Seahawks had eight accepted penalties against them, including multiple pre-snap penalties on Jaxon Smith-Njigba and a false start on A.J. Barner. There are some real procedural problems that are hurting them on offense, and they’ve shown themselves to be undisciplined and a little disorganized in the early portion of this season.
The run blocking, as a whole, was abysmal
The Seahawks miss Anthony Bradford, perhaps? I don’t know yet, because the Commanders run D has actually been good for two straight games and the Seahawks ran over the Arizona Cardinals last week without Bradford. But they are struggling in short-yardage in the low red zone, and are not resetting the line of scrimmage in their favor. I’ve said it for two straight weeks, but I am concerned about Abe Lucas’ ability to anchor and move laterally. The worst runs seem to come on the right side of the field. Emanuel Wilson and George Holani didn’t offer up anything more than Price on the ground, and Wilson’s plodding style is more exposed when he can’t immediately go north-south.
A grand total of 39 yards on 17 carries from the running backs. That ain’t going to get it done.
A.J. Finley’s first start will probably he his last
Tough ask to be thrust into the starting lineup after a mid-week calf injury for Julian Love. It’s a nice reminder that not every preseason star translates into regular season action. Finley was picked on all game and was spared bigger plays against him thanks to an illegal formation penalty taking away a 48-yard touchdown run, as well as expedited review wiping out a long Dyami Brown catch. The penalty he got for roughness was complete junk, so I have to defend him there. But he was brutal and Seattle needs one of Love or Ty Okada back next week. Bare minimum, D’Anthony Bell should be elevated next week.
The edge rushers don’t get home
Derick Hall recorded a sack but wasn’t noticeable in getting after Mariota. DeMarcus Lawrence at least had three QB hits, but it was otherwise a game in which neither Uchenna Nwosu nor Dante Fowler Jr made much of an impact. Leonard Williams was his usual excellent self, but Seattle needs more from its edges and not just the interior.
Michael Dickson might have had one of his worst games ever
Dickson had a touchback (his first of the season) on his first punt. His final three punts traveled 44, 38, and 40 yards while inside his own half of the field. It was a breezy day but he did nothing to flip the field, and that’s part of why the Seahawks kept gifting the Commanders favorable field position.
For what it’s worth, Seattle’s kick coverage has not impressed throughout the season and seems to default give returners the ball at the 30 or better. That’s why the defense was deceptively worse than it actually was (258 yards allowed, 3/13 on third down, four yards per play).
Seattle’s special teams losses through free agency and injury are being felt here.
Final Notes
- Josh Jobe did get picked on a bit and even beaten for a touchdown by Terry McLaurin but sometimes it’s just better offense beating good defense. McLaurin is one of the best in the business and Jobe is going to have some days in which he loses some reps.
- Devon Witherspoon looked like he was overpursuing on his angles a little too much, leaving him out of position on tackles. Wasn’t his best game to me.
- David Blough out-foxed Mike Macdonald on those last two third down plays. The blitz was beaten by Rachaad White running to the outside, while Mariota pulled on a keeper for the first time all game and secured the dagger.
- I’m oddly not too worried about this loss. It’s a bad one, but it took a lot for Seattle to still lose by two points on the road. If they drop the Los Angeles Chargers game next week? Then it’s time to worry about this squad. They definitely need some healthy bodies back in the secondary, because when the defensive line isn’t winning then the safety depth will get exposed and exploited more.
