JSN's first three games are historic. Seattle lost anyway.

The pressure was there. The sacks weren't.

Seattle's box score at Washington shows two sacks, which reads like a quiet day up front. The tape says otherwise. Seattle pressured Marcus Mariota on 16 of 35 dropbacks, 45.7%, its highest rate of the season and well above the league's 39.6%.

Sumer charting

Most of it came without extra rushers. Thirteen of the sixteen pressures came on four rushers or fewer. Seattle also got there fast: on the fourteen pressures Sumer timed, the average time to pressure was 2.29 seconds. Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) called that the second fastest average time to pressure of any game this season. Our own count, still missing three Week 3 games, has it third of 94.

Sumer charting

Sumer charting. Rank is our own count among defense-games with 5+ timed pressures this season; three Week 3 games hadn't loaded when checked.

The rush got results. It just didn't finish them. On the 16 pressured dropbacks, Washington gained +0.09 EPA per play and converted 43.8% of the time, well above the league's -0.35 EPA and 32.1% success rate when a defense gets pressure, and far better than Seattle's own -0.70 EPA and 17.9% success when it pressured a quarterback in Weeks 1 and 2. Two of the sixteen ended in a sack, two in a throwaway, and seven in a completion. Mariota threw no interceptions and never scrambled.

Sumer charting

DeMarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams led the pressure with 4 each, Williams adding a sack. Derick Hall had 3 pressures and a sack despite playing only 16 dropbacks, and Byron Murphy II had 3 more.

Sumer charting

Three plays did the damage. On a 3rd-and-10 blitz in the first quarter, Mariota beat a 5-man rush in 2.21 seconds for an 11-yard conversion. In the second quarter, pressure arrived in 1.83 seconds and Mariota still got a touchdown out in 1.90. In the third, pressure took 2.32 seconds and Mariota held the ball until 3.21 to hit Terry McLaurin for a 30-yard score. Two of Washington's three offensive touchdowns came with Seattle in the quarterback's face.

Sumer charting, nflverse play-by-play

Pair that with the season: Seattle has 7 sacks and 21 quarterback hits through three games, against 6 and 22 over the same stretch in 2025. The pressure is real. It hasn't shown up in sacks yet.

nflverse play-by-play

Seattle's offense against Washington

Seattle leaned on 12 personnel, two tight ends, more than any other grouping against Washington: 45.3% of its snaps, up from 23.5% earlier this season and well above the league's 22.7% average. Its usual base, 11 personnel with one tight end, held about steady at 32.8%. The bigger shift came out of its fullback groupings: 21 personnel fell from 28.7% of snaps to 17.2%, and 22 personnel disappeared entirely, down from 10.4%. League-wide, 21 personnel is used on about 6% of snaps.

Sumer charting. sumer_charting.correct_personnel shifts Brady Russell (fullback, charted at TE by Sumer) into the back digit. In Weeks 1-2 that shift was needed; in Week 3 Sumer had already charted him as a back, so applying it again double-shifted 11 of his snaps into a false '30' grouping. This table applies the shift only to Weeks 1-2.

Seattle also played more shotgun than its own recent average, 53.1% of snaps against a 39.1% rate earlier this season, though still below the league's 54.8%. Under center made up the rest, 46.9%, well above the league's 41.2% average.

Sumer charting

Pass rate climbed on every down compared to earlier this season: 61.1% on first down, 83.3% on second, and 88.9% on third. Seattle's EPA per play was positive on first and third down, negative only on second.

Sumer charting

Inside the 20, Seattle passed 75.0% of the time, well above its 33.3% earlier season rate, and it was the most efficient work of the day: 0.12 EPA per play and a 58.3% success rate.

Sumer charting

Darnold's protection actually held up better than earlier in the season. He was pressured on 42.6% of dropbacks, down from 48.1% in Weeks 1 and 2, though still above the league's 39.4% rate. He averaged 3.15 seconds to throw, his slowest pocket time of the season.

Sumer charting

Seattle's defense against Washington

Seattle's defense played less nickel than usual against Washington, 63.1% of snaps, down from 71.9% earlier this season, and more dime, 20.0% of snaps against a 4.4% early season rate. Base actually dropped, to 15.4% from 22.8%.

Sumer charting

Seattle blitzed Mariota on 20.0% of dropbacks, down slightly from 21.9% earlier this season. Washington still turned Seattle's coverage into a positive 0.02 EPA per dropback allowed.

Sumer charting

Seattle can't finish drives close to the goal line

Seattle's running backs have combined for 12 carries and 7 yards on goal to go plays this season, with no touchdowns. Emanuel Wilson has 7 carries for 5 yards, George Holani 3 for 2, and Jadarian Price 2 for 0.

nflverse play-by-play

Leaguewide, running backs are averaging 1.9 yards a carry and scoring on 26.0% of goal to go carries this season. Seattle's backs have been shut out entirely. Seattle's only goal to go rushing touchdown this year came on a direct snap to tight end AJ Barner.

nflverse play-by-play

Two drives have already ended in a turnover on downs inside the 2 yard line this season. That happened once in all of 2025.

nflverse play-by-play

Overall, Seattle is converting goal to go plays into a success on 31.6% of snaps this season, 26th in the league, and averaging -0.38 EPA per play, also 26th. Last season it ranked 21st in success and 12th in EPA. The league is averaging 45.0% success and 0.02 EPA per play this season. Six drives is a small sample.

nflverse play-by-play

Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens: how the guards played

Anthony Bradford went on injured reserve before Week 2. Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens have split right guard since, in Weeks 2 and 3. At Washington they alternated by series more than by down: Haynes played 8 snaps in the first quarter, 17 in the second, 3 in the third and 15 in the fourth. Stephens played 6, 8, 15 and 2. Stephens took most of the third quarter; Haynes finished the game.

Sumer charting

Neither allowed a pressure in pass protection at Washington: Haynes on 29 pass-block snaps, Stephens on 18. Neither was penalized. Over the season, the only two games either has played, Haynes has 0 pressures allowed on 47 pass-block snaps. Stephens has allowed 2, both hurries, in Week 2 at Arizona, on 27. League guards this season allow a pressure on 5.5% of pass-block snaps. Haynes is at 0.0%, Stephens at 7.4%.

Sumer charting

Sumer charting

Sumer marked Haynes 1 high, 35 neutral and 2 low on his 43 snaps at Washington, and marked Stephens 0 high, 22 neutral and 4 low on 31. Haynes's high mark came on the game's first offensive snap, an 11-yard Jadarian Price run. Two of his low marks came on plays that still gained yardage, a 7-yard run and a 17-yard catch. One of Stephens's low marks came on the third-quarter interception, a pass for Jaxon Smith-Njigba that Washington picked off. Another came on Eric Saubert's 12-yard catch to the 1, which Seattle turned into a touchdown when Saubert recovered his own fumble in the end zone. Across the season, low marks come on 7.3% of league guards' pass-block snaps. Haynes is at 4.3%, Stephens at 11.1%.

Sumer charting

Running the ball with each on the field at Washington: 9 carries for 26 yards with Haynes in, 9 for 18 with Stephens. That is a small sample, and the whole offense struggled to run the ball at Washington regardless of who was at guard.

Sumer charting

Haynes has been cleaner in pass protection this season, with no pressures allowed and fewer low marks. Stephens hasn't allowed a pressure since Week 2, but carries more low marks. Neither looked like a liability at Washington. Two games is a small sample for both.

Seattle ran into Washington's strength, then found the pass

Washington's defense entered the game ranked among the league's worst against the pass: 28th of 32 in EPA allowed per dropback. Against the run it was one of the stronger units, 7th in rush DVOA and 3rd in stuffed rate. Screens were a strength too, 6th best in EPA allowed per target.

nflverse, FTN and Sumer Sports, through Week 2

Seattle's first three drives ran into the tougher half of that matchup: 4 runs for 10 yards at -1.70 EPA per run, against 4 passes for 15 yards. All three ended without points: a punt, a Jadarian Price fumble that set up a Washington touchdown, and another punt.

nflverse play-by-play

From the fourth drive on, the passing game took over: 42 dropbacks for 378 yards and 0.17 EPA per play, against 14 runs for 34 yards and -0.08 EPA per run.

nflverse play-by-play

Seattle also aimed at the right receivers. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, in the slot Washington's pre-game numbers ranked 30th against, drew 14 targets and caught 10 for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns. AJ Barner, in the tight end slot ranked 32nd, drew 9 targets and caught 5 for 69.

FTN

nflverse play-by-play

Throws of 10 or more air yards, against the league's 28th-ranked pass defense, went 13 of 17 for 208 yards, 37.0% of Seattle's dropbacks. Darnold's average depth of target for the game was 6.3 air yards, below the league's 8.0 mark through three weeks.

nflverse play-by-play

nflverse play-by-play

Seattle also found room behind the line, into a defense that had defended screens well before the game: 9 throws for 100 yards and 8 completions. One of those nine was the pick six, a 2nd-and-15 throw intended for AJ Barner that Washington's Kain Medrano intercepted and returned 50 yards for a touchdown.

nflverse play-by-play

In the second half, with the score close, Seattle passed on early downs well above what the situation called for, about 18 percentage points over expected on 14 plays in the third and fourth quarters while the game was still competitive. That is a small sample, but it lines up with a plan to keep attacking through the air once the run had stalled.

nflverse play-by-play