Seahawks fans officially sold on Sam Darnold

Seahawks don't win, but they look like winners

The iconic parental line of “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” could be the opposite of how Seahawks fans should feel after the team’s Week 5 loss to the Bucs. “I’m not disappointed in the team, but dang the Seahawks are so close to being 5-0!”

You don’t have to be mad by any means. Just cognizant of the fact that Seattle is maybe just two mistakes/bad breaks away from beating the 4-1 49ers and 4-1 Bucs and being the top team in the NFC already. Instead of 3-2 and unfortunately at a disadvantage in terms of their division and conference records going into Week 6; the Seahawks won’t get their next chance to win an NFC game until November 2nd (Moons) and their next NFC West game until November 9th (Cardinals).

However, I find it impossible to be disappointed in a team that ranks:

• 5th in points (29.2 per game is a touchdown greater than their 2024 average)

• 2nd in points per drive allowed (they were 29th in 2023)

• 1st in net yards per pass attempt (Sam Darnold is first in Y/A, NY/A, and adjusted NY/A, top-3 in completion% and passer rating)

• 2nd in yards per carry allowed (they were 23rd last year)

• 5th in red zone conversion rate (from 57% last year to 72% this year)

• 8th on third downs (21st last year, from 37% to 43%)

Darnold to Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been the best QB-WR connection in the NFL with the only possible exception being Matthew Stafford to Puka Nacua. All of JSN’s numbers have improved from last season as he has moved from a slot to an outside receiver, from 73% catch rate to 79%; 11.3 YPC to 15.7 YPC; 8.2 yards per target to 12.4 YPT; and 11 yards per touch to 14.7. JSN is second in yards to Puka and on pace for over 1,800. The franchise record is barely over 1,300.

After so many years of asking for passing production and efficiency like that how can any Seahawks fan be disappointed in Seattle’s start to the season? Especially adding in the fact that Kenneth Walker III is averaging 4.9 yards per carry, which would be the highest of his career, largely thanks to improved blocking up front.

It’s too bad that the Seahawks are not one of the 4-1 teams and the Bucs are one of the 4-1 teams, but 4-1 teams are the only opponents that Seattle has lost to thus far and they were so close. The schedule doesn’t let up with the 3-1 Jaguars, followed by a Texans team that has outscored teams 70-10 in the past two weeks, then facing the Moons, Cardinals, and Rams after a bye.

I’m not mad and I’m not disappointed. I’m ready to be capital-A Appointed if the Seahawks clean up their self-inflicted wounds and assert their place among the NFL super powers again going into the latter half of the season. They’re so close and yet also not so far. Do you see Seattle as a powerhouse yet?

Here were some your comments from Seattle’s Week 5 endgame.

Stephen Boyd: Took my family to the opening day game and couldn’t sleep that night afterwards. I’ll sleep fine tonight...Darnold kicks ass and bounces don’t always go your way, I can live with a helmet pick. Defense is beat up right now and Tampa is that team this year that’s gonna get that lucky bounce, it is what it is, but our team is really good and headed in the right direction.

On the defense getting banged up, Mike Macdonald has made the following injury updates:

• Derick Hall expected to miss at least a couple of games (oblique)

• No update on Tariq Woolen’s concussion

• Devon Witherspoon (knee) is getting imaging done today and Macdonald was “hopeful” he’d be back this week but getting imaging done doesn’t sound quite that promising

• Julian Love (hamstring) could return to practice but Macdonald wasn’t sure, as hamstrings tend to be unpredictable

• Demarcus Lawrence has a chance to return from a quad injury, but that is not clear either

If you called Hall a starter, that would mean that the Seahawks could be without 5 defensive starters in Week 6 against the Jaguars. I don’t know if Seattle has a “depth problem” on defense — it was something that I addressed several times in the offseason as a potential issue though! — because how many teams are good when they’re missing half of their starters?

It’s hard to be confident that any of these players will return in Week 6. The best fans can hope for is that the roster is mostly healthy after the Week 8 bye.

JIMMY JOHNSON: How about our AJ Barnburner? Hell, all the guys played well, lest we forget this is still early for them pulling together as a group. Damn good football played today by our Offense. Strong push against a damn fine front. Gotta weed out hired guns. Bad influences. Hope the guys can squeeze in a beer with Baker before he’s off. I watch this sport because of guys like him.

A.J. Barner and Dallas Goedert are the only tight ends with at least four touchdowns this season. In fact, their numbers are basically identical: Barner has 14 catches for 134 yards, which is one fewer catch and one more yard than Goedert. Barner’s 81.3% success rate* is the second-highest in the NFL behind fullback Kyle Juszczyk!

*Success rate would just be how often your catches are for first downs, touchdowns, etc. How “valuable” were your touches? Maybe Barner needs more touches.

Stu Wilson: I am pissed. Meyers missed a FG in the 49ers game that could have led to W for us. He missed in Phoenix and almost cost us the game. He missed today and cost us another loss. Time to re-evaluate our K position. Yes, our back up secondary stunk for the most part, we had little pass rush until the 2nd half. BIT, we were in the game and could have won IF our K had just done his job, his only job.

Finding a good kicker is easier said than done. But I’ve been mentioning Myers as a 2026 cap casualty candidate ($5m savings) for months already and I wanted the Seahawks to sign Jake Bates a couple of years ago. Speaking of kickers, you guys wanna see a dead body? Here are the touchback rate leaders in 2024:

Here’s the same leaderboard in 2025:

Has any rule ever had as dramatic of an impact as the kickoff?

Sea Hawk Run! Regarding home losses, I wonder… is this mostly due to defense or offense? If I’m not mistaken, I think the losses have mostly been due to defensive struggles.

It’s not just the Seahawks…homefield advantage has been disappearing for a lot of teams recently. “That middling success continued a recent trend: 2024 was the fourth time in six years that NFL home teams won 53% of the time or less. There were just four such seasons in the previous 50 years, covering the entire Super Bowl era.”

Looking at 2024, the defense actually had 3 of their 5 best games at home, albeit against the Dolphins, Broncos, and Cardinals. Conversely, they also had three of their four worst defensive games at home: Packers, Bills, and 49ers.

Could it be a lack of defensive effort at home or just the fact that they faced better offenses at Lumen Field instead of on the road? What was actually surprising about the Seahawks defense having an off day against Baker Mayfield as opposed to Spencer Rattler?

Let’s go back to what I wrote on Saturday in the “5 most important players” list: I wrote that Mayfield and Emeka Egbuka were the two most important players on the Bucs. I wrote that stopping Mayfield was probably even more impotant than Tampa stopping Sam Darnold. Mayfield went 29-of-33, completing all 7 passes to Egbuka for 163 yards.

As much as we hoped the Texans had fallen over and died, it seems as though that won’t be easy either when they visit Seattle in two weeks.

BEASTMODE808: I was heartened by going for it on 4th and 2 at their 20 and scoring the TD late in the game.

My own personal impact on the Seahawks can’t be understated! Last week I wrote that Macdonald had to be more aggressive on fourth down. I also wrote that missed tackles are a problem (it was a problem again yesterday) and that Seattle needed to spread the ball around better…Cooper Kupp’s 9 targets were as many as JSN, and Barner had a career-high 7 targets.

Hawkdawg: Darnell was an absolute stud, period.

Not to put your typo in the spotlight or anything but accidentally calling Sam Darnold “Darnell” is the funniest thing I read all day. I would like this to be his nickname.

Ray: Oh my goodness, how we have changed our collective mind about Sam Darnold over the last five weeks. Geno who?

Paul G: After this game, I’m sold on our QB.

It’s important to realize that fans don’t just take a crap on quarterbacks because they were involved in game-losing plays. Both Seahawks losses ended with a turnover attributed to Sam Darnold and yet he’s the most popular guy in town…He’s probably the most popular QB in the entire league right now. You don’t typically get Monday morning “MVP!” chants after a loss!

Fans are more than ready to believe in Darnell and we can’t not see a noticeable difference compared to QB play in the past. The craziest part of all of this is that he was a totally available free agent who won 14 games last year, so what does that say about the media’s influence on most GMs? I’m glad that John Schneider doesn’t seem to read Twitter.

Jalen Milroe comments

PNWRider: The Milroe experiment has to stop. We have a QB I would invest into. I question if he will even be a backup level QB The team did well considering the injures. Running game was good.

Gavin: I was a huge Milroe believer in the offseason but I agree…Darnold has raised expectations beyond what we could’ve hoped for when we signed him; he’s young enough to fully build this team around him.

Coolhand0302: In theory, I love the concept of slowly easing Milroe into games situationally without any pressure to start - or even back up - at QB. But you have to provide Milroe with SOME uncertainty for the opposing team with the threat of a run OR a pass. Up to now, he has only ever been used on clear running plays, and defenders know this…

Nicholas Donsky: Some one, anyone , please tell me what Milroe is doing on an NFL team? So far, he fumbles good!

John morris: Put Milroe on the bench and leave him there!! He’s done nothing in his 3 snaps. He should just run or at the very least execute a simple option pitch

Don Ellis: One last thought. I am sure there is a strategy for Milroe’s development and I can envision some day in the future when we are giving high fives for electric Jalen Milroe plays. For now, it seems like we are deploying him when the stakes are high and he is not ready for that. I would much rather see these types of gadget plays when the game is long decided and then when we have some success with that, unleash the Kraken.

Paul G: Milroe. Even if you want to run a play with your third-string rookie QB, do it when you have a two-score lead

JIMMY JOHNSON: I will never know what it is to embarrass myself in front of a million viewers. The uninvited replays he’ll go through for weeks is what will make him great when we next see him. Expect Coach will have him back on this horse soon. Milroe is a solid.

I tend to agree with the opinion that Jalen Milroe doesn’t belong in any games that have significance right now. The Seahawks had the entire second half against the Saints to use Jalen Milroe but he only got one snap that week. I fail to see how Milroe is “developing” from any of these appearances either, which means that Klint Kubiak actually thinks that these plays will gain yards and help Seattle win.

There can’t be any more of these snaps for a while. It’s also too much pressure on Milroe, like “Hey this is your only play this week, don’t screw it up!” What’s he going to do then? Probably screw it up.

Trey Hendrickson trade ideas

Largentium: Is it time to bite the bullet and see what Trey Hendrickson is going to cost? Something has to happen on the outside.

As y’all know, I did write a bonus article about this last night. Here were some comments from that one:

Chuck Turtleman: Normally I wouldn’t be on board with trading picks for an over 30 player but I can only imagine today’s game with him on the edge. We’re a really good team and we played another playoff team today. It was a toss up and seemed like whoever had the ball last was the likely winner. This wouldn’t have been the case with an all pro pass rusher.

Before the season I also dismissed the notion of a Hendrickson trade but that was based on a belief that the Seahawks might have an edge rusher on the roster who was good enough to prevent Seattle from using their resources on a trade. Now I don’t believe they do.

Hypothetically, if the Seahawks traded for Hendrickson on a Tuesday, he’d be a top-2 defensive player on the team and starting by that same Sunday. It would be an immediate upgrade at a significant weak spot.

Charlie Gage: I would like them to trade a 3rd and Riq for Henderson...if Cincy would fall for it.

I considered the Tariq Woolen of it all and yeah, I don’t necessarily think he’s going to move the needle. With Seattle’s current slate of injuries (including Woolen’s) they might not be parting with him soon after all.

Jonny: I’d go for it, but I think the Bengals won’t and will want more

The Bengals will definitely want more.

Don Ellis: At the beginning of the season, I thought Mafe and Hall were going to take a step forward and was dead set against a trade for Hendrickson. Now, I feel our defense needs a player of his caliber.

I know some people will say that Mafe is a good player and Hall is a good player and that’s true! They’re GOOD players. But they’re only pieces. When you have nobody on the edge better than Mafe or Hall, you do not have a good edge rushers room. You gotta have a great edge rusher and they’re not.

Johnny London: (1) The D Line couldn’t do squat today but did MM use any adjustments? Seemed to just rush four which has worked up to now; didn’t flex into other packages to affect the QB (or maybe he did, but that had no effect?) (2) A few bad or unlucky plays (missed kick, Milroe, INT) and we are feeling very different about this game. (3) don’t like trading picks for players that old (4) Getting younger. Winning teams do that, they don’t tend to mortgage the future (Okay could be wildly out on that, 2021 Rams an obvious exception!)

Most of the comments were pro-trade so I definitely wanted to address all of these very valid arguments against a trade. I’m not saying that a trade for Hendrickson or Maxx Crosby has to happen “or else” because it may not be the right decision. What I am saying is that a month into the season and several seasons into their careers, Seattle’s edge rushers are falling well below expectations and every single one of them looks headed for a departure anyway so maybe the answer is on the trade market.

1 - on “did MM use any adjustments?” I can’t answer that, but I want to be careful not to veer from “Macdonald is the best defensive mind in football*” on Sunday morning to “Does Macdonald not know how to call defensive plays” on Sunday night.

*And maybe you didn’t feel that way and that’s okay too, I can’t speak to whether you felt that way at all, it was just a widely accepted narrative.

Are we trying to absolve bad players by blaming coaching because we hesitate to blame the guys who we watch and root for on the field? If Seattle’s edge rushers had better careers to date it would be so easy to give them the benefit of the doubt, but that’s not the case I see with Boye Mafe and Uchenna Nwosu, two of the most notoriously streaky pass rushers in the league, so I’m personally siding with the coaches being good because their resumes are much better.

2 - on “what if the seahawks had won?” I wasn’t concerning myself on the outcome of the game when I wrote the Hendrickson trade article. It had nothing to do with whether the Seahawks had won or lost; the article would have existed if the Seahawks had won. I was only addressing the performance of specific players on the team, which is 5 games of supremely underwhelming production by that entire group in addition to injury/age concerns.

Hendrickson would easily be the best edge rusher that Seattle has had since the Legion of Boom days, if not better. If the Seahawks need to add a player of that caliber at edge rusher to make the defense better, it has to be addressed, and if the Seahawks were 5-0 it would actually make it MORE relevant as a “the window is now” move.

3 - on “Trey Hendrickson is old”. Leonard Williams is 31 years and 108 days old. Hendrickson is 30 years and 305 days old. Do any Seahawks fans feel like Williams is about to hang up his cleats? As opposed to receivers, who are all but finished when they turn 28, defensive linemen tend to age better.

• Of the top 20 players in sacks in 2024, 10 of them were 29 or older, including Hendrickson and Williams

• 7 of those 10 were 30 or older

• Several examples, including Cam Heyward and Calais Campbell, have proven valuable past 35!

If I had to put Hendrickson into any category, it would be that his style, body type, and career arc is more reminsicent of a Campbell than as some wiry, twitchy edge rusher who is reliant on speed. He’s a forceful menace and I could see him having value for 3-5 more years.

And that could be wrong, of course. But the Rams traded for 32-year-old Von Miller as a rental and he was the second-best defensive player for them in the playoffs that season en route to winning the Super Bowl.

4 - on “just use those picks on edge rushers”. We trusted the Seahawks to do that with second round picks in the past and they picked Mafe and Hall and Darrell Taylor. When they traded a second round pick for a veteran, they got Williams. I know which I prefer.

You mentioned the 2021 Rams as a team that made high-profile midseason moves and won the Super Bowl with a lot of help from them, but questioned if this is the norm. I don’t see any reason to distinguish a midseason move from an offseason move and yes, Super Bowl teams make a ton of huge offseason acquisition.

Look at the Eagles adding Zack Baun in 2024. Or the Chiefs adding Joe Thuney in 2021. Or the 49ers adding Trent Williams in 2020 (when he was 32). Or the Eagles adding A.J. Brown in 2022. Or in 2021 when the Bengals added…Trey Hendrickson.

Some picks are used as picks. Some picks should be used to acquire veterans. The Seahawks have money to spend. They shouldn’t use it on Mafe and Woolen. Seattle’s made a lot of questionable trade moves for veterans in the past, we won’t forget those, no matter how many times we hit ourselves over the head with a frying pan. But does that mean the Seahawks can never do it again?

I don’t know if Hendrickson is the right answer. But it’s never seemed as likely as it does right now that Seattle’s current edge rushers are not.

Seaside Joe 2408