Given how the season opened for the Seahawks, the position the team finds itself in heading into its bye week feels about as positive as could have been hoped.
The home loss to the 49ers on Sept. 7, which came after Seattle let San Francisco drive the field for a late go-ahead touchdown and then saw Sam Darnold lose a fumble in the final minute 9 yards away from the winning TD, was disappointing enough.
But the Seahawks also took a hit in injuries suffered to rookie safety Nick Emmanwori and cornerback Devon Witherspoon, each suffered in fluky fashion when they collided with teammates, sidelining each for multiple weeks.
“I can’t sugarcoat it,” veteran safety Julian Love said afterward. “It sucks.”
In that moment, few might have envisioned what has happened since – wins in five of six games, Darnold becoming one of the most productive passers in the NFL, receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba suddenly on pace to set the all-time league single-season receiving yards record, and the defense ranking in the top five in both fewest yards allowed per rush (second at 3.3) and per pass (fifth at 5.4).
As Seattle takes the weekend off, it sits at 5-2, tied for the lead in the NFC West and having won 11 of 15 since the midway point of last season.
In coach Mike Macdonald’s eyes, the Seahawks are in a good spot to make a second-half run while also having played far from their best.
“There are a lot of things to work on, which is great,” Macdonald said on Tuesday. “It’s a good position to be in, figuring out ways to win games when you also feel like you have a lot of room to grow, as well. The importance of this week is we get some rest, we regroup, get a great feel for the things that we’re doing well, things we need to improve on, and then have a great plan of attack going into next week.”
Once the Seahawks return, they’ll play 10 games in 10 weeks, six on the road, including four of the first six.
Here are five questions we have about the Seahawks as they enter the stretch drive:
Can Sam Darnold avoid a drop-off?
While Darnold has committed a few notable turnovers, in general he has played better than maybe even the most optimistic Seahawks fans expected. He’s first in Pro Football Focus’ QB rankings this week, leads the NFL in yards per completion at 13.4, has a passer rating of 109.2 – which would shatter his career-high – and has the fourth-best TD percentage at 6.3.
He also has one of the lowest sack percentages in the NFL (4.48%, seventh).
Those are all lofty numbers to continue. But coming on the heels of Darnold’s breakout 2024 season with the Vikings, there’s reason to believe he can keep playing at this pace. If he does, a long postseason run is more than possible.
Can Jaxon Smith-Njigba keep up his torrid pace?
Everyone expected that Smith-Njigba’s production would go up with DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett moving on.
No one could really have anticipated that Smith-Njigba would be on pace to set the all-time single-season receiving yardage record with 1,989 yards (Detroit’s Calvin Johnson holds the record with 1,964 in 2012, when the NFL played only 16 regular-season games).
The obvious point to ponder is if opponents will unveil even more defensive looks to try to contain JSN.
“That is a possibility,” Smith-Njigba said earlier this month. “But like I always say, we’ve got threats all over the field like Tory Horton coming alive, Cooper Kupp obviously, K9 (Kenneth Walker III) in the backfield and our O-line. This is a group effort. If they shade my way, we can bring somebody else open, and that’s good for us.”
Will the running game become what Seattle believes it will be?
The biggest area of improvement for the Seahawks is the running game. Seattle is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry, which ranks 30th in the NFL.
That’s come back to haunt them a little bit each of the last two weeks when the Seahawks couldn’t close out games easily on offense.
It also plays into having converted just 27 of 81 third downs, 33.3%, which ranks 28th.
The hope entering the season was that an experienced running back corps of Walker and Zach Charbonnet, and the shift to a zone blocking scheme, would give the Seahawks a reliable rushing attack, if not necessarily a dynamic one.
So far, there have only been glimpses. Seattle needs more to be a consistent Super Bowl contender.
Macdonald said he thinks the running game is heading in the right direction.
“There are opportunities there for even more explosive yards, and it’s just going to come with more detail,” Macdonald said. “I think we’re figuring out what we do well, which is positive. Coaches are working well together, and we’re not there yet but it’s positive.”
What’s one defensive stat that has to change?
Most of Seattle’s defensive stats rank among the best in the NFL.
Two that don’t are also real oddities: fumbles forced and recovered.
The Seahawks are not only the sole team in the NFL that has yet to recover a fumble, they are also the only team in the NFL that has yet to officially force one. There have been two fumbles by Seattle opponents this year, each officially recorded as unforced.
The Seahawks also ranked near the bottom in fumble recoveries last year with just five, tied for 27th.
Fumble recoveries are often fluky – no one can control the bounce of the ball.
But forced fumbles often come from more controllable actions such as sacks or hard hits.
Given the way the Seahawks are playing, you’d think there’d be a few of both the rest of the way.
Best guess at Seattle’s final record
Let’s first note that the Seahawks play the ninth-hardest remaining schedule, in terms of opponents’ current win-loss record (54.4%).
A lot of that is due to residing in the NFC, which so far has proved much stronger; NFC teams have 10 of the 12 toughest remaining schedules.
Accounting for most of Seattle’s tough schedule are two games against the 5-2 Rams, another against the 6-1 Colts at home and a season-ending road game against the 5-2 49ers.
Splitting those four and winning four of the other six (which includes games against the 1-6 Titans on the road and the 2-5 Cardinals at home) would put Seattle at 11-6 – better than the 10.5 win-loss over-under that the sportsbooks have for Seattle now, and far improved from the 7.5 number Seattle had entering the season.
That seems more than reasonable.
Seattle, though, may need to be 12-5 to win the division. At this point, that seems possible, too.