Sam Darnold's reclamation is a neverending process

Seahawks-Falcons 5 most-important players

The Seattle Seahawks can see the light (one seed) at the end of the tunnel (five remaining games) but that can’t distract them from the speed bumps (the spiraling Atlanta Falcons). There’s not much more I can say about the Falcons that I didn’t already say on Friday…but I tried. These are the 5 most important players in Seahawks-Falcons:

QB Sam Darnold, Seahawks

Reclamation never ends.

Darnold was over 7.0 yards per attempt in seven of his first nine starts (and one time he was at 6.9), but he’s only been over that mark once in the past three games with an average of 6.8 and a passer rating of 71.1.

The caveat we must consider is that Darnold had one awful game against the Rams, he was okay against the Titans, and coaches really pulled the reins on him against the Vikings. For my money there’s nothing to panic about with regards to Darnold; he’s just under a bigger microscope than most quarterbacks because he’s coming back from being called a bust.

It’s easier to call someone a pumpkin if they were once a pumpkin.

The Falcons could be without three of their top four pass rushers (Brandon Dorlus was ruled out, Zach Harrison is on IR, and now James Pearce is questionable) meaning that Darnold should be a little bit more comfortable this week than the past few.

Darnold has a 67.3 rating under pressure vs. a 116 rating without pressure:

I’m looking for a cleaner game for the offensive line and therefore rebound performances from Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

QB Kirk Cousins, Falcons

Normally I stick to one QB per preview but this week it seems appropriate to look at both of them. This is the end of the line for Cousins unless he can string together competent performances from now until the end of the season. He doesn’t have to be more than that because a lot of teams will be desperate for a starting QB in the 2026 offseason…

Is Cousins even a starting QB anymore?

One of the reasons that Cousins could struggle against the Seahawks defense — and there are a lot of reasons — is that he’s been even worse against “no blitz” than the blitz and Seattle rarely blitzes.

Against no blitz, Cousins sees his passer rating drop to 72.5 and his Y/A drop to 5.3. On a smaller sample size, Cousins is far better when the defense brings an extra rusher and leaves a vulnerability in the secondary; don’t be surprised if Macdonald pulls back the blitz even more than usual this week.

Because the Falcons are already short-handed on offense because Drake London is ruled out, the Seahawks can really dare Cousins to beat them with his arm even if he has 1-2 minutes in the pocket.

It’s unfortunate for Cousins that he was dealt such a bad deck when he’s trying to rebuild his reputation, but sometimes that’s the game.

LB Drake Thomas, Seahawks

I don’t think I’ve ignored Thomas this season but sometimes accomplishments can get overlooked when a player is surrounded by so much talent on a great defense. Imagine if Thomas was having this type of season on the 2009 Seahawks or the 2021 Seahawks. He’d be the star.

In this case when the defense is so good, Thomas not standing out is a good thing for the team but sometimes leaves the player in the shadows. Just take it from “Darnold Sold Me Fent”…

In his first season as a defensive player for the Seahawks (after 2 years on special teams), Thomas has 63 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 10 TFL, 6 QB hits, 6 passes defensed, and a fumble recovery. Per Next Gen Stats, he also has 30 stops and 11 QB pressures with a passer rating allowed of 71.9 on 32 targets in his area as the closest defender.

As a blitzer, Thomas is getting a pressure rate of 15.4%, which is good!

Thomas is tied for 12th in tackles for a loss and only six linebackers have more passes defensed this year, including Ernest Jones.

I have to admit that every time I see Drake Thomas on the field at linebacker I feel like I’m watching a high school player among college players just in terms of his size. It’s really easy to see why Thomas was undrafted and has taken a few years to prove himself in the NFL. That being said, he doesn’t play like anything less than an NFL starter.

The Falcons are short-handed on offense, leaving players like Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts to do much of the skill work and that means that a middle-of-the-field player like Thomas could be extra busy on Sunday.

RB Bijan Robinson, Falcons

For all the people who criticized the Falcons because they drafted a running back in the top-10 in 2023, I’d still argue that they’re losing the battle for 2 reasons above all others:

• Robinson is still more valuable than most of the players who went after him

• Jahmyr Gibbs!

It would be so much easier to say “See, look the first round running back isn’t as good as you thought!” if it wasn’t for the fact that Gibbs went 12th (and the Lions were even more criticized than the Falcons for it) and he’s been amazing. I’m going to have to stop myself from talking about Gibbs now because the Seahawks aren’t facing the Lions.

Robinson had 142 rushing yards and 6.2 yards per carry last week plus 51 yards in the air. That’s the third week in a row that Robinson’s been over 100 total yards and the fourth time this season that he’s been over 150.

Yeah the Falcons picked a good player but the team is bad—just remember that the Colts picked Anthony Richardson, the Cardinals picked Paris Johnson (and they’re bad), the Raiders picked Tyree Wilson (and they’re bad), the Titans picked Peter Skoronski (and they’re bad), etc…

Bijan Robinson gives Falcons fans someone to root for even when they’re struggling to believe in the team.

That hope may come to a halt a bit this week as Robinson faces the number one run defense in the NFL by EPA (expected points added) per run.

The Seahawks are top-5 against the run no matter what you’re looking at and they’re number two against the run in yards. If the Falcons fall behind early, they won’t have many options other than throwing to Robinson — and he’s a threat there too — but at least Seattle knows it and will be able to spy or even double-team Robinson any time he’s running into the flat.

Robinson vs. Seattle’s running back defense is as fair of a matchup as we’ll see this week.

WR Rashid Shaheed, Seahawks

Is it possible that Seaside Joe can get Shaheed finally going if there’s a shout out for him in the newsletter’s “5 most important” list?

As noted in Saturday’s mock draft, the Seahawks have just one pick after the third round thanks to the Shaheed trade.

It’s time to pay the piper.

The Falcons have a significant definiency at cornerback, starting former first round pick Mike Hughes opposite of A.J. Terrell. Hughes has been blamed for 4 touchdowns allowed at Next Gen Stats and 5 touchdowns allowed at Pro-Football-Reference. Either site you use, Hughes has been a frequent target of abuse by opposing offenses who will not hesitate to focus their attention on a secondary weapon if needed.

AD Mitchell just had his best career game going against Hughes:

The Seahawks could just feed JSN 15 times. They could do that and that would be fine. I personally don’t hate that.

But with Shaheed going into his 5th game as a Seahawk, it would be good to get him going before the playoffs hit. Shaheed has just one catch for 7 yards on five targets over the last two games.

Using him in other capacities, as a runner or a returner, is not why you trade a 4th and 5th round pick for Shaheed. He’s a deep threat — he’s THE deep threat — but we haven’t seen one once of that talent since he made it to Seattle at the trade deadline.

Between the Saints and the Seahawks, Shaheed has been targeted deep (20+ air yards) 14 times this season but has only caught 2 of those passes. That’s not good. It should improve with Sam Darnold, but we haven’t seen it yet. Against the Falcons secondary, now is as good of a time to test him as any.

Who are your 5 most important this week?

Seaside Joe 2469