SEATTLE (AP) — Just seven points separate the Seattle Seahawks from a perfect start to the season.
The Seahawks, who enter their bye with a 5-2 record after beating the Houston Texans 27-19 last Monday night, are 3-0 away from home. They're 2-2 at Lumen Field because of a pair of last-minute, one-possession losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Coach Mike Macdonald described it as “cool” that the Seahawks have yet to play a complete
game.
“We’re finding ways to win games, which is, like I said, really difficult to win,” Macdonald said. “You got to celebrate those things. Look, we could be 7-0 and have won every game by 30 points and trust we’re going to find stuff we’re going to want to improve on.”
Much has gone right for Seattle during its second 5-2 start in three seasons. Third-year wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL in receiving yards with 819 in seven games. Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase, the league's second-leading receiver, is 190 yards behind.
Smith-Njigba has five 100-yard games, including the last three.
“A pretty good start,” Smith-Njigba said. “Like I said, my motive has always been to win games, get into the playoffs, get a ring, helping this team win. Anything that I can do I’m going to do.”
So far, Smith-Njigba and quarterback Sam Darnold are big reasons why the Seahawks are tied with the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams atop the NFC West.
Darnold has the fifth-best passer rating in the league and has comfortably settled into first-year offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s system.
“Sam’s doing a great job,” Kubiak said last week. “Offensive line is protecting, and that’s how it’s been throughout the course of these first couple weeks.”
Darnold has only taken nine sacks, an indication of both his mobility and the Seahawks’ improvement in the trenches. Last year, Seattle quarterbacks were sacked 54 times, the third most in the league. First-round draft pick Grey Zabel has shored up the pass protection, even though Seattle’s run game has been inconsistent.
The Seahawks’ defensive line, meanwhile, has been superb. Only the Green Bay Packers have allowed fewer total rushing yards than Seattle, which also has the third-most sacks as a team. Defensive tackle Leonard Williams, who led the team with 11 sacks last season, is one of five Seahawks with multiple sacks.
The defense figures to improve after the bye week, too. On Monday, Macdonald said All-Pro cornerback Devon Witherspoon, linebacker Derick Hall and safety Julian Love are all expected to be available after the week off.
“I think our team has a lot of potential,” Williams said. “I don’t think we still have played a full game where all three levels are playing the way we know we can really play. There are times when the defense is not playing so well and the offense is playing great. I think when we get all three phases going, we’ve got a great team.”
To Williams’ point, it hasn’t all been rosy for the Seahawks in the Pacific Northwest. Their defense yielded a season-high 38 points in their loss to the Buccaneers, and Seattle’s offense came out flat when falling 17-13 to the 49ers.
Last season, Macdonald went 10-7 in his first year as coach, and the Seahawks went into their bye with a loss that dropped them to 4-5.
“It’s always a great feeling when you’re going to a bye week after a win because it sucks when you lose and you’ve got to wait 14 days,” cornerback Riq Woolen said. “But, I’m just happy we got the win going into the bye week.”
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