Rites of passage differ among different cultures, religions, and regions. All are meant to mark important moments of growth that come with heightened expectations. Mike Macdonald welcomed his son, Jack David Macdonald, into the world this week. There may be a christening in his future. His football sons won’t have to wait. His defense was baptized in the fires of a flailing midseason collapse, his offense soon followed, and finally, his special teams. All facets of this Seahawks team emerged stronger, with more faith in each other. That earned strength allowed them to roll over a highly motivated division opponent on their home field to take control of the NFC West. Consider expectations heightened.
Seattle exits this resounding win with an 8-5 record, and what is effectively a 3-game lead over the Cardinals in the division. That could still matter given the ease of the Cardinals finishing slate. The Seahawks could go 2-2 the rest of the way and even an undefeated Cardinals finish would not save them. Attention for many Seahawks fans swings to the Los Angeles Rams, who were gifted a victory over the Seahawks with multiple red zone turnovers and bad snaps, and beat a great Bills team this weekend. This Seattle team should fear no one. Consider that they are 5-1 on the road, and their lone loss was to the Lions in a game where their offense had over 500 yards and had a chance to win late.
This game was the culmination of weeks of searching, experimenting, and grinding on the offense. The recipe for the defensive turnaround was a cup of personnel changes and a sprinkle of scheme tweaks. The 30 point explosion for the offense followed a similar path.
It started with a bye week that saw their starting center retire and some people outside the team starting to question the culture in the locker room. Olu Oluwatimi stepped in, and stepped up. Abe Lucas, derided by many in the fanbase for what they perceived as a longer-than-expected recovery from injury, joined the offensive line at the same time and dramatically upgraded the right tackle position. An injury to Anthony Bradford in the first game against the Cardinals opened the door for the next change. Sataoa Laumea became the surprise starter over fellow rookie Christian Haynes. The 60% turnover on the offensive line was the raw material. Shifting to a gap blocking scheme for the run game proved to be the catalyst. And, oh what a chemical reaction.
Seattle exploded for 176 yards on the ground and multiple explosive rushing plays. Arizona coach Jonathan Gannon admitted Ryan Grubb and the Seahawks caught them off guard with “things we had not seen on tape.” Laumea and Lucas have become devastating pullers on GT (guard-tackle) counter plays where they circle behind Oluwatimi and become lead blockers for the running back. Both have had multiple pancake blocks on that play. Laumea had one on the 51-yard touchdown by Zach Charbonnet.
There were times Seattle did this in the first game against the Cardinals and Kenneth Walker III was impatient, cutting back instead of following his blocks. Charbonnet was great in this game, showing the strength, burst, and patience to maximize the yards available. Per ESPN Research, Zach Charbonnet had 91 rushing yards after contact vs. Arizona, the most by a player in a game this season. He also had 59 yards receiving, making him just the second player in Seahawks history to have 130+ yards rushing and 50+ yards receiving in a game. The only other was Shaun Alexander in 2002 when he also had 5 TDs in the first half against the Vikings.
That is the player Seattle thought it was getting when they spent a 2nd round pick on Charbonnet last season. He has too often been slow, indecisive, and unable to push the pile or break tackles. None of that showed up in this game.
There will be those who overreact to the correlation of Walker missing the game and the run game explosion and come to the incorrect conclusion that he was holding the team back. It is true that Walker freelances more than Charbonnet, but he ran behind this gap scheme against the Jets and had multiple explosive rushes called back. This game would have happened with or without Walker. There are things Walker can do that nobody else on this roster are capable of. Instead of turning on a player, folks should celebrate that we might finally be able to see the immense talent of Walker amplified, not muted.
The game turned on two interceptions that put the Seahawk offense in “plus” field position. Seattle entered the game dead last in the NFL in drives started in opponents territory with only four on the season. They had two in this game on consecutive possessions. In a dictionary example of complimentary football, the offense turned both turnovers into touchdowns and took control of the game.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba starred on both drives, scoring a touchdown on the first and grabbing a 19-yard pass to start the second. He also had a remarkable shoestring catch on a 3rd and 10 later in the half that then setup Charbonnet’s 51-yard gallop into the end zone.
Since Week 8, JSN has 38 receptions in 47 targets (80.1% catch rate) for 592 yards (4th-most in the NFL) and 4 TDs. Over a 17-game season, that pace would work out to 107 catches for 1,676 yards and 11 TDs. He is a problem for every team he faces and every player.
His emergence has allowed the team to be less reliant on D.K. Metcalf, who does not seem to be fully healthy. There were a few plays in this game, including one that was called back, where Metcalf still burned by his defender.
This was the vision for the offense under Grubb. A physical and creative run game with multiple backs who can hurt you in different ways as runners and receivers, married with an elite slot receiver and a game-breaking X receiver. The coalescing of this group allowed Geno Smith to leave his Superman cape in the locker room and look super nonetheless.
He was not asked to make impossible throw after impossible throw with defenders barreling toward him. There were no sacks, and just two quarterback hits. Per ESPN Research, Smith was pressured on 17% of his dropbacks (five of 30), his lowest pressure rate faced as a member of the Seahawks. His two lowest pressure rates of the season have now come in the last two weeks.
There were times it appeared Smith was startled by the time he had to throw. He would rotate his body to move from his first, second, and third read and almost brace for impact, only to find open space. He had to time to go through those progressions, take another beat, and then decide to dump the ball off for positive yardage. It cannot be overstated how much easier the game can be when the quarterback has time to make a decision instead of needing everything to work in 2.4 seconds.
Smith was highly efficient, and Grubb was able to get deeper into his playbook. What many have mistaken for lack of creativity on his part was always more about the limitations of his personnel, how they were playing, and the situations that was creating. Not many OCs thrive in 3rd and long or when multiple blocks are blown on nearly every play.
This is still the guy who called the JSN lateral pass in the Lions game and the JSN throw to Metcalf in the Falcons game. He has the makeup to be one of the most aggressive and creative play callers in the game if he has functional parts to work with.
This is not an escalator. The Seattle offense will not just rise higher each week now that they have had this breakout. Fans should expect more bumps, especially knowing they will face the #10 (CHI), # 9 (GB), and #7(MIN) scoring defenses in the NFL over the next three games. What this game does, however, is give opponents something they need to account for that they previously could ignore.
Arizona made some adjustments in the second half and slowed down the run game. Seattle still put up over 50 yards rushing in the second half. The Seahawks will work on answers to beat predictable adjustments from opponents. It all starts, though, with having a run play and scheme that works well enough that you can repeat it each week. Seattle has the GT counter and the duo (double team) working well since Laumea entered the lineup. Just those two could go a long way.
We also saw the impact of that run game on play action passes. Seattle has had two of its highest play action utilization games of the season in the last two weeks. They used it on 23.5% against the Jets (season-high), and 16.7% against the Cardinals (5th-highest). They also used motion effectively to create some easy 3rd down throws for Smith.
Credit to Scott Huff for developing Laumea throughout the season. He was not even looking like a guy worthy of a roster spot initially. They saw something in him, and Huff knew him from recruiting at Washington. There are absolutely rough edges, but Laumea has shown a ceiling of guard play Seattle simply has not seen in a long time. His best moments are better than any drafted Seahawks guard in a long time. Damien Lewis was more polished, but I do not recall the physical dominance we have seen in just two starts from Laumea.
By the way, this was a damn good defense Seattle did this against. They had not allowed a touchdown at home in three games. They had held the last two road teams they faced to single digits. Four straight opponents and five of the last six were held to 79 yards rushing or less. They needed this game. Seattle took it from them.
Macdonald had a lot to do with that. His defense went a fifth straight game without allowing 20 points in regulation. His work with Ernest Jones and Tyrice Knight continues to pay dividends. Remember, Knight was a Macdonald pick, and it was panned by most. Where Pete Carroll was a CB whisperer, Macdonald might be a linebacker and safety whisperer.
The combination of Knight and Jones give Seattle a young duo that should last for years. It is a matter of when, not if, they will extend Jones. He is a difference maker in the run and pass game in a way that needs no advocate or film study. He makes winning plays every week. Knight plays with bad intentions and made flash plays in coverage and against the run again. He tackles with a disrespect that would make LOB members nod in approval.
Coby Bryant made a big play to pick off a pass after getting beat early for a touchdown. Macdonald called out how fortunate they are to have a post safety who can erase mistakes. There was a coverage bust on the play Bryant made and he made it right for the defense. He now leads the team in interceptions with three despite not starting until Week 7.
The safety room is humming with smart, physical, and fast players across the board. Rayshawn Jenkins got the sack to end the game.
Uchenna Nwosu made his return and appeared to exit healthy. He will only build from there. Derick Hall had his best game in weeks, drawing three holding penalties. Boye Mafe pressed the other edge and helped force Murray into the hands of Johnathan Hankins for a sack.
Devon Witherspoon made his weekly, “how did he do that?” tackle on a run to the edge that appeared destined to get by him, only to have it result in a loss of a yard.
Riq Woolen was everywhere, and finally got the offensive pass interference call he’s been begging for all season when he was in position to make an interception and opposing receivers have been hanging on him to prevent the catch. This has been a topic in the locker room, and Woolen now gets the bragging rights of being so dangerous at corner that receivers have to interfere with him to prevent picks.
Leonard Williams had a ho-hum game with just 2 tackles for loss (it’s sarcasm, folks). Byron Murphy II created pressure and made a number of stops in the run game. Jarran Reed batted down a pass and drew another holding penalty.
Arizona was primed to have a big game on offense. They had been shutdown the first time. They found their footing against a very good Vikings defense on the road. The game was at home and it would be very hard for Seattle to replicate the terrific pass rush and dominant run defense they deployed in the first game.
They scored more points on the first drive than they did in the entire first game. But Macdonald and his defense adjusted and held them down while the offense did their thing. The defense did not have to do as much because the offense was on the field more often and they were keeping the team ahead. Had the game script been different, who knows if the defense could have replicated this performance.
This team has proven they can beat “Tier 3” teams. Those are squads like the Cardinals, the 49ers, and the Falcons. They now welcome in two “Tier 2” teams in Green Bay and Minnesota, who are not only certain to make the playoffs, but have what it takes to win a few games and maybe even play in the NFC Championship. This will become the next rite of passage for this team. The whole nation will watch as the Packers come to town for a Sunday Night Football game this week. Seattle looked unworthy in their previous primetime opportunities this year. They are 5-1 on the road, but have struggled at home. Beating a team like Green Bay would open a new level of discussion around what this team is capable of should they make the postseason. That notion would have been laughable a few weeks ago. It may be the Seahawks who laugh last.
