Seattle Seahawks vs Jacksonville Jaguars: Winners and Losers from Seattle’s road win

Win by any means necessary, and the Seattle Seahawks did just that.

Seattle’s defensive front was tremendous, the offense hit enough explosives in the passing game, and the Seahawks did benefit from some wayward Trevor Lawrence throws, horrible special teams, and some bad drops by Jacksonville Jaguars receivers. The end result is a 20-12 win that means so much given the tightness of the NFC West race.

Last week they lost a classic, this week they won a slog. It doesn’t matter how you win; this ain’t college football. It’s time for Winners and Losers, which is a lot more cheerful even if the game was a bit of a snoozer.

For the second time this season, Macdonald entered a 10 am road game with significant injuries (particularly in the secondary), and on both occasions the Seahawks defense stepped up. They held the Pittsburgh Steelers to 17 points without Devon Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori, and now they’ve shut the Jacksonville Jaguars down for 12 points without Julian Love, Witherspoon, Riq Woolen, and Derick Hall. Were there iffy moments in the secondary? Absolutely, but it’s to be expected. Pretending Ty Okada and practice squad era Shaquill Griffin can operate the defense as effectively as the starters is a foolish thought.

What we did see from Macdonald was more blitzing without going overboard, and even without blitzing the Seahawks still recorded seven sacks and a staggering 17 quarterback hits. For context:

Macdonald had a rough time against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but with a week to prepare for injuries to hit in the front and back, he coached a defensive masterclass. And unlike the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, and Buccaneers games, the defense did not relinquish the lead late.

What a dominant performance by the second-year player. He leads the team in sacks with 4.5 and set the tone early with a hustle sack of Lawrence on the game’s opening play. This is exactly what we wanted to see after not having a standout rookie season.

What a return! He missed the Buccaneers game but took over against the Jaguars, providing his usual run-stopping prowess while also recording his first two sacks as a Seahawk. Seattle’s Lawrence proved to be superior to Jacksonville’s Lawrence, and this was a massive performance especially given Derick Hall’s absence.

Amazing. Simply amazing. Another eight catches for 161 yards and a career-long 61-yard touchdown. He just knows how to get open at a level I’ve only consistently seen from Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett over the last 15 years of Seahawks football. This is not just an amazing start to the season, it’s the kind of start that makes you wonder if JSN could eventually start challenging Steve Largent’s all-time franchise records many years down the road. I cannot wait to see JSN against that elite Houston Texans secondary, led by Derek Stingley Jr and Jalen Pitre.

The passing offense without him most likely falls apart, because the gap between him and everyone else is massive. There are few receivers playing as well in the entire NFL than JSN, and we could seriously be looking at a First-Team All-Pro selection when this regular season ends.

Definitely some shaky moments for Darnold in the second half, but he was still delivering timely dimes and almost broke 300 yards with just 16 completions. Above all else, Darnold does an excellent job of throwing in rhythm and with accuracy. I am a little concerned about some iffy decisions when pressured in this game, as the Houston Texans defensive line is unrelenting, but as a whole he just continues to be better than advertised. His chemistry with Jaxon Smith-Njigba is supreme.

At long last, he’s on the scoreboard for the Seahawks. His two catches were on the same drive and totaled 40 yards. He’s still a slot master and his hands are still great. Kupp is not going to put up gaudy numbers anymore but he still has an important role as Seattle’s WR2.

Turns out JSN wasn’t the only one with a 61-yard gain. Barner had the dagger off of play action, and I’m willing to bet (without me researching) that he just had the longest reception by any Seahawks tight end since Will Dissly against the Denver Broncos in 2018. In the most important offensive drive of the game, Barner stepped up huge.

Yes, he got his ankles snatched by Travis Hunter. Yes, he may have been at fault for the first touchdown on the coverage bust. Yes, he’s still uber talented and was all over the field making great open field tackles close to the line of scrimmage. Emmanwori led the team with nine tackles, including a TFL. His run defense looks as good as advertised.

Add another 1.5 sacks to Nwosu’s total in addition to four quarterback hits. This is one of the best possible developments, especially as Boye Mafe continues to do much of anything impactful as an edge rusher who’s in a contract year. I’d give a hard look at increasing Nwosu’s snaps and reducing Mafe’s if one will continue to be more productive than the other.

No penalties for ‘Big Cat’ and another 0.5 sack, multiple pressures, and stellar run defense. Still one of the unquestioned best in the business.

Anthony Bradford has the bad PFF grade and the negative reputation, but Sundell has been one of the worst centers in the league if you want to use the same metric. He committed two extremely unsubtle holding penalties and is not holding up well in the run game. I really don’t rule out at some point in the season they consider Olu Oluwatimi, because Sundell has been a nice story but he’s not actually playing well.

Jobe didn’t have a wholly terrible performance, but his misplays of the ball were the type of errors that would have fans incensed if that was Riq Woolen with the same mistakes. He had an interception turn into a touchdown for Brian Thomas Jr, only to be bailed out by Travis Hunter’s offsides penalty. Then one play after a good rep against Hunter, Jobe fell asleep and had a terrible misplay on the touchdown to Tim Patrick. Jobe has been getting picked on a bit more in recent weeks, which should be a nice dose of reality for anyone who wants to trade Woolen and work with this existing CB group.

It was always a tough ask for Griffin to come off the practice squad and play significant snaps, but that first half was pretty brutal. He consistently looked a step slow and either he or Nick Emmanwori was culpable on that busted coverage touchdown to Brian Thomas Jr. Hopefully he’s not called upon too much more often than he was this afternoon.

Klint Kubiak’s curious red zone playcalling

Not for the first time, the Seahawks got deep into opposition territory and Sam Darnold suddenly had the ball taken out of his hands by his OC. Three straight goal-to-go runs with Zach Charbonnet after Darnold moved the ball down the field is just puzzling. This was a bad day for the rushing offense and Kubiak was forcing something that wasn’t there in an area of the field where Darnold has been outstanding.

I’d like to see more trust in the passing game in these situations; it’s been warranted.

This is less of what he did on the field and more of the fact that he’s off the field. Drake Thomas had nine tackles and a sack, while Knight had a single tackle and was seldom playing. It looks as if Knight’s sophomore slump (possibly injury/health related) is real and he’s lost his starting job to Thomas. It’s hard to see him getting that job back, either.

Good grief, this was a pretty big game and the production values were a step above public access. Chris Myers and Mark Schlereth (who actually did amuse me a lot with his distinct dislike of Trevor Lawrence’s performance) will not go down as the next Summerall and Madden. We barely started the game and got news that Jordan Love was out for the Seahawks (that was from the sideline reporter) and Brian Murphy had the first sack of the game. Zach Charbonneau also made an appearance. The audio cut out, the video froze, it was just terrible to watch. Seattle is off FOX for a month, thankfully.