The Seattle Seahawks snapped their losing streak in triumphant fashion, handing the previously undefeated Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the season. Seattle dominated to the tune of 20-3 under the lights of "Sunday Night Football."
It was a win the Seahawks desperately needed, not just for the obvious reasons like division standings, but also for the much more nebulous "vibes" reason. Ask any 12th Man, Woman or Child out there if the "vibes" were good about this team and the answer would almost assuredly be an emphatic "No!"
But when push came to shove, the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks showed up, and boy howdy they sure shoved the Chiefs all over the field. As such, here are our top takeaways from Seattle's Week 7 win.
No. 1 - The Power of the Dark Side
The only
way this Seahawks defense could be more terrifying is if they could find a way to sign Darth Vader himself. Seattle's Dark Side defense completely sucked the life out of the Kansas City Chiefs, who had the No. 1 offense in the NFL going into the game. The Chiefs were averaging 414 yards per game, but Seattle held them to 213 on Sunday night. Kansas City only picked up 11 first downs and was held to a lone field goal for the first time since 2021. Shoot, the Chiefs didn't even make it to the red zone! Patrick Mahomes was a pedestrian 19-of-33 for 165 yards, no touchdown passes and an interception. Meanwhile, Seattle's former Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker was held in check. The Seahawks have now gone 36-straight games without allowing a 100+ yard rusher, and fittingly, Walker only had 36 yards against them.
No. 2 - I'm running out of creative ways to say "JSN is incredible!"
Seriously guys, I'm starting to struggle, because what Jaxon Smith-Njigba is doing is making the extraordinary completely ordinary. It's routine at this point! JSN made life miserable for Chiefs rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane, hauling in nine receptions (on 12 targets) for 150 yards and a touchdown. Not only does JSN lead the NFL in receiving yards with 867, but he does so by an incredible margin as no one else in the league has more than 650! Jaxon Smith-Njigba made NFL history with at least 850 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns in his first seven games to begin a season in the Super Bowl era.
No. 3 - Emanuel Wilson continues to hold down the fort
Emanuel Wilson deserves plenty of praise for what he is doing this season. Seattle signed him to be their No. 3 running back, maybe No. 2 at best. But with Zach Charbonnet still not ready to play and first round rookie Jadarian Price on injured reserve, Wilson has been thrust into a starting role. And you know what? He's done a fine job keeping Seattle's ground attack together. He had his best game of the season against the Chiefs, rushing for 100 yards on 24 carries. He also scored his third touchdown of the year, which proved to be the dagger on Sunday night. Of course the Seahawks want Charbonnet and Price back, and they likely will this year. However, I firmly believe all this playing time Wilson is getting is going to help the Seahawks down the stretch as he has clearly shown what he is capable of doing.
No. 4 - Sam Darnold's turnover problem did persist
Seattle kind of got away with it, but Sam Darnold did throw another interception, bringing his season total to eight on the year. With the Seahawks leading 10-0, Sam Darnold got the Seattle offense all the way to Kansas City's three yard line. Darnold threw an interception in the back of the end zone to Chiefs defensive back Nohl Williams who had an astonishing 65 yard return. As Williams kept avoiding Seahawks on his return, visions of Kamren Kinchens's 102-yard pick-six of Geno Smith from 2024 haunted every 12th Man witnessing the game. Fortunately for Seattle, the Chiefs did not have enough time to do much with their sudden turnover. Kansas City did attempt a 58 yard field goal, which was short. Ironically, the Seahawks benefitted from some questionable officiating. The zebras stopped the game to review a potential defensive pass interference penalty, which they determined did not qualify as one. But since it was an administrative clock stoppage, Seattle lost ten extra seconds on a run off. Had those ten seconds been there, perhaps the Chiefs could have done something more, like a closer field goal. Of course, given how the Dark Side was playing, it probably wouldn't have mattered at all.
No. 5 - The Seahawks gained ground in the NFC West
By far the biggest of big picture takeaways from Week 7 is the fact the Seahawks inched closer to the San Francisco 49ers. Earlier on Sunday, the 49ers lost their first game of the season with a 29-20 road defeat to the Atlanta Falcons. Seattle had an opportunity to close the gap with a win. While it's great they were able to do just that with their win over the Chiefs, a much darker threat loomed: matching records with the Rams. Los Angeles improved to 3-4 with a dominant win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Seahawks were staring down the barrel of being right here with them had they lost. The only positive takeaway from Seattle's losing streak was the fact the Rams kept losing games the same weekends as the Hawks. Seattle's cushion of being a game ahead of Los Angeles remains in tact for at least another week. This is beyond crucial, as the Rams are facing a particularly soft portion of their schedule with the Chargers, Commanders and Cardinals being their next three games. Although... Arizona did already beat the Rams this year...
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Top Seahawks takeaways from 20-3 win over Kansas City Chiefs
