The roost in the NFC West has been a slippery perch over the last month. Finally, though, one team seems to have broken through. After a 30-18 road win over the Cardinals, the Seahawks are on a four-game winning streak with plenty of reasons to believe they’re committed to winning the division.
Three reasons, in fact, according to The Athletic’s NFL analysts: Impressive defense, a commitment to running the ball and one of the league’s most exciting receivers, Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
That formidable defense, which produced the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week each of the prior two games, registered takeaways on consecutive Arizona drives in the first quarter on Sunday. The Seahawks (8-5) are getting key contributions from star players Leonard Williams and Devon Witherspoon, and timely plays from solid veterans Coby Bryant and mid-season acquisition Ernest Jones. According to Derrik Klassen, Jones provided a lot of optimism with an eyes-in-the-back-of-his-head interception.
“The way that Jones plays it,” Klassen said Sunday night on The Athletic Football Show, “his spacing, his timing, his awareness of it, him being able to really piece this defense together … now that the secondary is solidifying, the D-line is healthier and playing the way that they need to, it’s hard not to be really, really confident in the way this unit is playing.”
After Geno Smith cashed in the Jones interception with a go-ahead 19-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Coby Bryant picked off Kyler Murray again. Five plays later, Zach Charbonnet scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give Seattle a 17-7 advantage. They never trailed again.
Co-host Robert Mays said the way Seattle ran the ball on Sunday, while still inconsistent, felt much different. Led by Charbonnet’s 22 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns, including a 51-yard burst on which Arizona may have gotten a fingernail on him, Seattle piled up 176 rushing yards without an injured Kenneth Walker.
“Even more important than the success was the commitment to it,” Mays said, noting the Seahawks called their second-highest percentage of runs in a game this season (31 runs, 30 passes, 61 overall plays). “And that’s not just because they were winning the game; this was very balanced throughout the entire game.”
Charbonnet was a primary beneficiary of that balance. His 193 yards from scrimmage were the most by a Seattle player since Tyler Lockett had 200 on Oct. 25, 2020.
Another big difference has been Smith-Njigba. Over Seattle’s four-game winning streak, 17 of his 25 catches have resulted in first downs, including two touchdowns His 343 yards over that stretch ranks sixth in the NFL. He led the team with 82 yards on five catches Sunday, including an incredible shoestring catch from Geno Smith under duress to convert a third-and-10 on a second-quarter touchdown drive. Two plays later, Charbonnet was in the end zone.
Of course, while Seattle was pulling away from the Cardinals (6-7) on Sunday, the Rams were winning a shootout with the Bills just 463 miles to the west. The Seahawks’ one-game lead over Los Angeles (7-6) is far from safe as both teams appear destined to settle the matter at SoFi Stadium to end the regular season on Jan. 5.
This week, though, Seattle needs to focus on a potential preview of a first-round playoff game. The Seahawks host Green Bay (9-4) on Sunday.
For more information on the Seahawks and Cardinals, visit the Seattle and Arizona team pages at ProFootballPost.com.The roost in the NFC West has been a slippery perch over the last month. Finally, though, one team seems to have broken through. After a 30-18 road win over the Cardinals, the Seahawks are on a four-game winning streak with plenty of reasons to believe they’re committed to winning the division.
Three of those reasons according to The Athletic’s NFL analysts are an impressive defense, a commitment to running the ball and one of the league’s most exciting receivers, Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
That formidable defense, which produced the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week each of the prior two games, registered takeaways on consecutive Arizona drives in the first quarter on Sunday. The Seahawks (8-5) are getting key contributions from star players Leonard Williams and Devon Witherspoon, and timely plays from solid veterans Coby Bryant and Ernest Jones. According to Derrik Klassen, Jones provided a lot of optimism with an eyes-in-the-back-of-his-head interception.
“The way that Jones plays it,” Klassen said Sunday night on The Athletic Football Show, “his spacing, his timing, his awareness of it, him being able to really piece this defense together … now that the secondary is solidifying, the D-line is healthier and playing the way that they need to, it’s hard not to be really, really confident in the way this unit is playing.”
After Geno Smith cashed in the Jones interception with a go-ahead 19-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Coby Bryant picked off Kyler Murray again. Five plays later, Zach Charbonnet scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give Seattle a 17-7 advantage. They never trailed again.
Co-host Robert Mays said the way Seattle ran the ball on Sunday, while still inconsistent, felt much different. Led by Charbonnet’s 22 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns, including a 51-yard burst on which Arizona may have gotten a fingernail on him, Seattle piled up 176 rushing yards without an injured Kenneth Walker.
“Even more important than the success was the commitment to it,” Mays said, noting the Seahawks called their second-highest percentage of runs in a game this season (31 runs, 30 passes, 61 overall plays). “And that’s not just because they were winning the game; this was very balanced throughout the entire game.”
Charbonnet was a primary beneficiary of that balance. His 193 yards from scrimmage were the most by a Seattle player since Tyler Lockett had 200 on Oct. 25, 2020.
Another big difference has been Smith-Njigba. Over Seattle’s four-game winning streak, 17 of his 25 catches have resulted in first downs, including two touchdowns His 343 yards over that stretch ranks sixth in the NFL. He led the team with 82 yards on five catches Sunday, including an incredible shoestring catch to convert a third-and-10 on a second-quarter touchdown drive. Two plays later, Charbonnet was in the end zone.
Of course, while Seattle was pulling away from the Cardinals (6-7) on Sunday, the Rams were winning a shootout with the Bills just 463 miles to the west. The Seahawks’ one-game lead over Los Angeles (7-6) is far from safe as both teams appear destined to settle the matter at SoFi Stadium to end the regular season on Jan. 5.
This week, though, Seattle needs to focus on a potential preview of a first-round playoff game. The Seahawks host Green Bay (9-4) on Sunday.
For more information on the Seahawks and Cardinals, visit the Seattle and Arizona team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
Discover more from Pro Football Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.