RENTON, Wash. – It became official Sunday that you can call the Seahawks the best defense in the NFL in 2025.
They needed a little bit of help to earn that title as they went into the weekend ranked second in the league in fewest points allowed behind the Houston Texans. The Texans had allowed 265 points. The Seahawks had allowed 289.
The Seahawks beat the 49ers 13-3 on Saturday and watched Sunday as the Indianapolis Colts put up 30 on the Texans, though Houston escaped with a 38-30 win.
That meant the Seahawks finished the season allowing 292 points with Houston next at 295.
It’s the first time the Seahawks have led the NFL in fewest points allowed since 2015. That was the last of four consecutive seasons in which the famed Legion of Boom defense allowed the fewest points in the NFL, the longest streak in league history in the Super Bowl era.
“That’s cool, safety Julian Love said Wednesday, then added with a smile: “Thank goodness for (Colts rookie quarterback) Riley Leonard.”
Like Love, Leonard – a rookie who threw for 270 yards and two TDs against the Texans – played at Notre Dame.
“That’s a cool thing to accomplish,” Love said. “And it’s not something we like strive for. We just try to play good football. To finish number one is pretty cool.”
The statistical title helps back up a name the defense has given itself – Dark Side.
Veteran defensive lineman Leonard Williams said Wednesday the name came about in part because the team wanted a way to differentiate itself from some of the great defenses that have previously played in Seattle.
“I think throughout the season we were just feeling like we had a really special defense, you know, special players, and we were also just doing special things,’’ Williams said. “We always hear of Legion of Boom, especially being in here (the VMAC). We were starting to get to a point like ‘hey, maybe we deserve our own name, you know?’ I think guys started coming up with names and stuff like that and I think Dark Side kind of stuck with us.”
Williams said it was veterans such as himself, Jarran Reed and DeMarcus Lawrence that batted around some names.
“It was more like the beginning of this year,” he said. “I think a few of us were on the bus. I remember me, J-Reed, D-Law, some of the older guys, and we were talking about how it’s dark here and we always talk about a style nobody wants to play and (the wall leading to practice) shows Lumen Field with the (Space) Needle and the atmosphere here, and I think Dark Side just kind of represents that.”
Williams said the team is happy if the origination of the name is regarded as a group effort.
“I don’t think one person would want to take credit for it, honestly,” he said. “It was kind of a group effort. I definitely brought it up to some of the guys, but it wasn’t necessarily my idea of saying Dark Side.”
Lawrence made reference to it during a news conference the week after the Seahawks beat Washington 38-14 on Nov. 2 when he said: “I love the brotherhood. The way we address practice, how we go about things here, the atmosphere here, it’s starting to get dark outside. I love it when it gets dark. I feel like everything is all coming together like it should.”
Why, he was asked, does he like it when it gets dark outside?
“Because that’s the way I like to play defense,” Lawrence said. “I’m trying to turn the lights off on every offense. Now y’all got living proof of how it is to be on the dark side.”
Williams said allowing the fewest points in the NFL this year not only means a lot but gives the Dark Side name that much more meaning.
“I think we work really hard,” he said. “We value so many things on defense: stopping the run, blitzing, getting the quarterback, rushing with force, stopping the run with force, all these things. It led to not allowing teams to score too much. I think that it means a lot to us, especially it’s a defense that wants to have our own name with the Dark Side. You know, you got to show it.”
Now the Seahawks defense is going to have to learn how to live in the limelight.
The defense not only allowed the fewest points in the NFL this season but the fewest yards per rush – 3.7 with the Colts next at 3.9 – while finishing second in yards allowed per play at 4.6 and yards allowed per pass at 5.1.
The Seahawks have not allowed a 100-yard rusher for 26 games, setting a team record.
The Seahawks were rated as the best defense in the NFL by the football analytic site For The Numbers, which rated them as the 12th-best defense in a regular season since 1978 and ahead of every LOB-era team.
Williams said he thinks the key has been the improvement this season against the run. In 2024, the Seahawks allowed 4.6 yards per rush, which ranked 26th in the league.
“I think early in the beginning of the season last year we weren’t doing a great job stopping the run,” Williams said. “The guys upstairs made some great moves and calls and brought in Ernest Jones (IV, in a midseason trade) and DeMarcus Lawrence (a free agent signing in March), a few other players.
“You’ve seen the immediate impact from those guys. I think we’ve just been sound at stopping the run and it’s pretty much opened up the rest of our defense when we can stop the run.”
The gaudy numbers will put the onus on the defense to do what the LOB did – lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title.
True, an offense that set a team record in points at 483 will also be called on to do its share.
But the perception will be that, as was the case in 2013, the playoff fate of this team will rest on the defense.
Williams said he hopes that at some point the comparisons between this team and that one will end.
“I personally don’t like comparisons, especially because they were a great defense (and) they had great players,” he said. “But that was years ago. You know, it’s hard to compare. It’s like you don’t want a new team and a new staff and a new player coming in and trying to chase a shadow of something else. It’s like we want to have our own identity.
“To me it makes sense why fan bases and people outside of here make comparisons like that because they were a great team that was here before, but for us inside we always knew we wanted our own identity.
So Dark Side it is.