Seahawks-Panthers: 5 most important players
The proof is in the purring
Is it possible for both teams to have a trap game? The Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers both want to win on Sunday, but both teams must also be thinking about what’s in store for Week 18. Here are the 5 “most important” in a game living in limbo.
QB Sam Darnold, Seahawks
In the penultimate test of his 2024 season, Darnold helped the Vikings beat a Packers team that was riding high off of a combined score of 64-13 in victories over the Seahawks and Saints. The week before, Darnold helped the Vikings beat the Seahawks in Seattle. He had six touchdown passes in those wins, but the games were completely forgotten by the time Minnesota had lost to the Lions and Rams in the following two weeks and their season was over.
Like clockwork, Darnold is on a first place team that may need to win a division title game in Week 18. If the Seahawks beat the Panthers a week after beating the Rams, that’ll be much like beating the Packers and Seahawks at the same point last year.
So if history repeats, Seattle should beat Carolina. A cyclical fairy tale is eerie, but time is rarely that simple. And frankly, every game for Sam Darnold is a test of when he’s going to be called “the pumpkin” again.
A great game against the Panthers is great, but we all know that the 49ers game stands on deck as the ultimate test of what Darnold has learned from last year. However, a bad game and a loss to the Panthers could seem devastating. Darnold is also extra incentivized for a great game this week: 300 yards and 4 touchdowns would secure an extra $1 million on his paycheck.
Darnold can earn another $1 million through completion rate and passer rating but that won’t be decided until the season is over since those aren’t counting stats.
For what it’s worth, Darnold is 4-1 against former teams in his career (4-0 if we don’t include the 49ers, which was only a backup role) and he hasn’t faced the Panthers since Carolina parted ways. He’s proven he’s capable of winning big games, but most still remember that he’s also capable of losing them.
Darnold may not be the reason that the Seahawks win this week, if they do win, but right now the only result that matters is the final score.
Key Stat: Money downs
The Panthers are allowing teams to convert 45% of third downs this season, third-worst mark in the NFL.
LT Ikem Ekwonu, Panthers
Ekwonu and Charles Cross will be forever linked as left tackles who were drafted three picks apart in 2022. For a while it seemed like Cross would outplay Ekwonu and Evan Neal, the other tackle who went over him, this season appears to be Ekwonu’s fourth round knockdown punch.
The fight isn’t over but “Ickey” is no longer on the ropes.
(Although I like some of these replies to Solak telling him that he is overreacting to Ickey’s first two seasons.)
Lately there’s been the feeling that Cross is fine but maybe not worthy of the $30 million AAV contracts for left tackles that is coming down the pipe next year. If Cross isn’t a shutdown tackle who can neutralize any pass rusher and road grade on the ground, is he worth a contract that pays him nearly as much as Sam Darnold?
The Seahawks just locked in Abraham Lucas through 2028 at only $15 million per season on his new contract. And Lucas might be better.
Seattle has picked up Cross’s fifth-year option, which pays him $17 million in 2026, so there’s no rush to make a decision. The only reason to rush would be if the team felt his extension was inevitable, which may not be the case with Cross. It could, however, be the case with Ekwonu.
Last month, Ekwonu’s prowess as a pass protector took the national stage as he was credited with shutting down Micah Parsons for arguably his worst game as a pro:
Bryce Young’s “breakout” season (more on Bryce from earlier this week) has seen his sack rate cut in half from 2023. He still has the fifth-highest pressure rate, which indicates he has been “slippier” this season than before. Keeping Young contained will be a priority for Seattle’s defense.
Ekwonu did have a terrible pass blocking game in a loss to the Saints two weeks ago, but he missed last week’s win over the Bucs with a knee injury; Tampa Bay pass rusher YaYa Diaby had nine pressures (2nd-most of his season) but no sacks. Dave Canales indicates that Ekwonu is good to return on Sunday.
This raises the level of difficulty for Seahawks edge rushers Uchenna Nwosu and DeMarcus Lawrence, but this won’t be the time for excuses. Derick Hall is suspended this week, so we might finally see Jared Ivey or Connor O’Toole. There could be additional opportunities for Rylie Mills. We’ll just have to wait to find out.
As far as the assignment, the Seahawks could find holes to slide through on Carolina’s offensive line, but the journey to a sack won’t end there and probably isn’t going to be easy.
LB Ernest Jones, Seahawks
It’s hard to believe that the Panthers are in a Week 17 “playoff-esque” game because unlike the Seahawks (2nd in scoring, 2nd in points allowed), Carolina doesn’t jump off the page offensively (27th in scoring) or defensively (23rd in points per drive allowed).
All due respect to beating some good teams — and they COULD beat the Seahawks — it’s just unlikely that the Panthers would even be in this position if not for the fact that they play in the NFC South. Similar teams like the Cowboys, Vikings, Lions, and Colts have all been eliminated because their path to the postseason was shut already. Carolina, in all likelihood, just has to beat the Bucs next week and they’re in.
So what do the Panthers have going for them? Well, for a long time it was a former undrafted free agent running back veteran who nobody thought much of before the season.
Rico Dowdle rushed for 652 yards during a five-game stretch in the middle of the season, averaging 6.3 yards per carry as Carolina went 4-1.
By the way, Dowdle has his own incentives this week:
I’m not sure the Panthers can just force him there though.
Since that hot streak, Dowdle has rushed for 272 yards and 3.2 yards per carry in the last six games. Canales has turned back, somewhat, to Chuba Hubbard and he has 4.6 YPC in that time. It’s pretty clear that rushing is still Carolina’s best option to threaten a defense (not one team in the NFL has more games under 200 passing yards than Carolina’s 13) and that means that run defense is where the Seahawks must shine.
Good news: The Seahawks have the number one run defense in the NFL.
Although Seattle has allowed over 100 total rushing yards in six of the last eight, they’re still first at 3.7 YPC allowed. Ernest Jones, who is enjoying his best season as a pass defender in 2025 (Next Gen Stats accounted one passing touchdown on Jones last week, the first of the season), is still one of the keys to the Seahawks turnaround from one of the league’s worst run defenses to the one of the league’s best after the team traded for him in 2024.
Jones was snubbed for the Pro Bowl. Shouldn’t he get some votes for All-Pro?
WR Xavier Legette, Panthers
I will always remember Legette was one of Rob Staton’s favourite players in the 2024 draft class, dating back to either ranking him well ahead of “7th round prospect” Brian Thomas Jr. or going 22nd overall after the Seahawks traded up to the fourth overall pick to select Quinn Ewers over Jayden Daniels or being the point-man for locked in first rounder Spencer Rattler:
South Carolina have won five games this year and it could’ve been more. It’s all because of Rattler and the man who caught that touchdown, Xavier Legette. There’s no doubt for me Rattler belongs in the first round next year. If he lasts beyond that, someone will get a bargain. He is too talented to ignore.
When the actual draft went down, Legette still went near the projected range after the Panthers traded up to 32nd to make him the last pick of round one. Pretty simple idea here that Carolina now had the left tackle, the quarterback, and the play caller, but they still lacked a number one weapon and the Panthers were short on first round picks because of the Young trade in 2023.
Unfortunately for Carolina and some draft prognosticators, Xavier Legette hasn’t even been a reliable number three.
Legette’s rookie season saw him catch just 58% of his targets for 5.9 yards per target and zero games with more than 66 yards. He had 40 or fewer yards in 13 games. Only one other rookie wide receiver in the last 12 years has averaged under 6.0 yards per target on at least 80 targets:
Jonathan Mingo, a Panthers rookie in 2023.
On that note you could almost blame Carolina, but Mingo went to the Dallas Cowboys and continues not to do anything. Legette came back to the Panthers in 2025 and aside from two games when he had more than 40 yards (a productive game against the Jets and an overtime win against the Falcons), he’s still not helping the Panthers.
Legette is averaging 0.9 yards per route, which ranks 124th out of 132 qualified players.
It also doesn’t help his case that Tetairoa McMillan has proven that you can be a good receiver on the Carolina Panthers with Bryce Young.
How does this help the Seahawks? Well, despite Legette’s flirtation with being an outright bust (for a late first rounder) he is still second on the Panthers in yards (338) because Jalen Coker has missed almost half of the season (he’s better than Legette, but just OK) and tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders might be even worse than Legette; Sanders is 127th in yards per route run.
If Seattle’s defense has an answer for McMillan, what is Carolina’s recourse for action? Who do they turn to in the passing game if Riq Woolen continues his hot streak?
In five games this season with a McMillan touchdown, the Panthers are 4-1.
In 10 games without a McMillan touchdown, the Panthers are 4-6.
Coker is healthy now and he has been a lot better than Legette and Sanders. But is that enough firepower against Seattle’s defense? Who else is left to be Young’s second favourite?
P Michael Dickson, Seahawks
Why not a Michael Dickson shout out this week?
