Seattle hosts one of the NFL's two unbeaten teams today

No weather factor at Lumen Field today

National Weather Service

Kickoff is 1:25 PM Pacific. It's 57 degrees and sunny at the opening snap, climbing into the upper 50s by the fourth quarter. Rain chance stays at 1% or less all game, and the wind holds light, 7 to 9 mph out of the north.

None of that gets in either team's way today.

National Weather Service

Seattle places Julian Neal on injured reserve, signs Trevon Diggs outright

Seattle placed cornerback Julian Neal on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. He had played 2 defensive snaps this season, so the move costs the team little beyond a roster spot.

To fill it, Seattle signed cornerback Trevon Diggs to the 53-man roster. Diggs has played 9 defensive snaps for Seattle this season on game-day elevations; signing him outright means he no longer needs one to suit up.

San Francisco activated edge rusher Mykel Williams off PUP and elevated tight end Jack Stoll and edge rusher Ogbo Okoronkwo from the practice squad ahead of Sunday. Williams, the 11th overall pick in 2025, played 439 snaps as a rookie before landing on PUP; he hasn't played a snap this season. He returns to a defensive line that's already lost four players to injured reserve (Sam Okuayinonu, C.J. West, Alfred Collins and Mikail Kamara) and has ruled out Nick Bosa (knee, calf) for Sunday. Stoll steps in at tight end for Jake Tonges, also on injured reserve; he played 347 snaps there last season. Okoronkwo, elevated from the practice squad again, already has 113 snaps on earlier call-ups this year after playing just 4 snaps all of last season.

Sumer charting

Dante Fowler Jr. rushes the passer fine. Seattle barely lets him.

This newsletter has been tracking how effective Dante Fowler Jr. is as a situational pass rusher. The rate stats say he's fine. The workload says Seattle doesn't trust him with much of it.

Five keys to beating the 49ers

San Francisco is unbeaten and favored around the league. Here's what Seattle actually needs to do on the field to change that at home.

The Seahawks who decide this one

The five keys above need someone to actually go make them happen. Here's who that falls on, all on Seattle's side of the ball.

This week's NFC playoff race

Seattle plays its own NFC West game today, at home against San Francisco. Everything else on the slate is about the rest of the conference race, and Thursday night moved more than it looks like it should have: Tampa Bay's win dropped Dallas to 2-3 and out of wild-card position, a team Seattle still visits in Week 13, while that same result put Atlanta one spot behind Seattle for the final wild card. The four division leaders claim the top four seeds no matter their record, and Seattle sits at the 6 seed, the second wild card, entering Sunday.

nflverse

This one matters more than the usual AFC-vs-NFC game. Atlanta is 2-2 and holds the 7 seed, the third wild card, one spot behind Seattle. The Falcons are also tied in the loss column with Carolina for the NFC South lead, and Carolina is on a bye this week, so a Falcons win puts Atlanta at 3-2, likely good enough to jump the Panthers for the division, while pulling the Falcons to within a game of Seattle in the loss column. Lamar Jackson is out with an ankle injury, which is the reason Baltimore is now the underdog on the road, but a Ravens win keeps Atlanta buried behind Seattle and out of first place in its own division.

Chicago holds the 5 seed, the first wild card, ahead of Seattle on net points scored (plus 47 to Seattle's plus 32) despite the identical 3-1 record. Green Bay is on the outside looking in at 2-2. Seattle still plays Chicago itself in Week 8, so a Packers win just keeps the Bears from padding that cushion until then.

Minnesota is the 2 seed, the NFC North's leader and 4-0. Seattle doesn't play Minnesota again this season, so the only way to close the gap is for someone else to beat them, and the Saints, at 1-3, are the underdog here.

The Giants hold the 3 seed, the NFC East's leader, ahead of Seattle, even though Washington actually grades better in net EPA per play (20th to New York's 25th). Seeding is the bigger lever here: a Giants loss opens the East back up. Seattle still faces New York in Week 14 and can settle that matchup itself.

nflverse

Neither team threatens Seattle's seed right now, so the call comes down to who's more dangerous later. Detroit ranks 19th in the league in net EPA per play; Arizona ranks 29th, a far weaker team. Seattle already beat Arizona 31-7 in Week 2 and holds that tiebreaker, so there's more value in keeping the stronger Lions down than in beating up on a division rival that's already 1-3.

nflverse

Monday night. The Rams are Seattle's division rival, and the Bills are the AFC side anyway, so both rules point the same way.

The rest of today's games, Denver-Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia-Jacksonville, Cincinnati-Miami, Las Vegas-New England, Cleveland-New York Jets, Indianapolis-Pittsburgh and Houston-Tennessee, have no NFC stakes for Seattle.

nflverse, DraftKings

Atlanta's defense has quietly gotten a lot better

Atlanta has used three different quarterbacks already this season and still sits at 2-2. Here's what's actually carrying them, and when it gets tested.