What stood out in the Seahawks’ 30-18 win over the Cardinals was the number of key plays being made by players who weren’t really starting for Seattle at the beginning of the season. Whether being called on because of an injury to the starter or poor performances by their predecessors, these Seahawks have stepped up to make Seattle a better team over the past month:
Zach Charbonnet had his best career game: 134 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns, 59 receiving yards, 6.1 yards per carry
Sataoa Laumea made his second start at right guard and continued to prove he belongs there
Ernest Jones is getting more expensive: 8 tackles and an interception for the 2025 free agent. Is it by design or by accident that Mike Macdonald’s breakout season as a defensive coordinator in Baltimore also came after the team traded for a linebacker (Roquan Smith) midseason? It’s very hard to beat any NFL team if you can’t score over 24+ points and the Seahawks haven’t allowed more than 21 points (in regulation) in any of their last 5 games.
Coby Bryant had his 2nd interception off of Kyler Murray in as many games against him: It took a Rayshawn Jenkins injury for a change at safety to be forced. It could also be a better fit for Jenkins, as he had a sack.
Tyrice Knight stock on the rise: The rookie had 12 tackles and his first two career pass deflections. It took Tyrel Dodson’s release for Knight to be moved up the depth chart and he has 35 tackles and a sack in four starts.
No fumbles on special teams!: In his Seattle debut, Jaelon Darden had a 14-yard punt return and one kickoff return (with a very, very late punchout)
No bad snaps anymore: We might not be talking about Olu Oluwatimi as the starting center if it weren’t for Connor Williams’ snap issues and come to think of it, those issues seem to have disappeared. Although Oluwatimi did have a holding penalty.
Did the Seahawks play their most cohesive game as a unit this week without Kenneth Walker III?
Possibly.
Geno Smith went 24-of-30 for 233 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. The biggest change? Zach Charbonnet.
Charbonnet’s 51-yard touchdown run alone is more than the total number of rushing yards that Walker has had in his last two games (49 and 41) and almost as many as the game before that (54). In his most recent eight games, Walker is averaging 3.2 yards per carry. In this one game, Charbonnet averaged 6.1 and Kenny McIntosh had 7 carries for 38 yards, an average of 5.4.
It is unfair to put the blame solely on Walker because perhaps he would have rushed for 150 yards if he were active in this particular game.
But the Seahawks did have their best rushing performance of the season in Week 14 and it happens to be the time that Walker is out. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” should come into play here and Charbonnet should be starting in Week 15 against the Packers.
Walker or Charbonnet? Tell me in the comments:
If the Seahawks continue to keep Geno from being sacked and rush for 175+ yards every week, it’s inevitable that he will continue to be as efficient as he was on Sunday because we did see it happen in the first half of 2022.
And that’s even with the coaching staff still needing to be a little bit more honest about one or two other starters on offense who haven’t contributed enough…More on that in a minute.