Texans are the best team the Seahawks have faced so far?
The 2-3 record looks meaningless now
The Seahawks get an extra rest day this week as they prepare to host the Houston Texans on Monday night. We get an extra day to answer questions from Super Joes!
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Scott M: Knowing what we know at this point, financials and production thus far, can you predict who we will keep and who will go by the start of next season?
Leading up to the draft many of us thought Seattle might look towards the 2026 draft for our future QB. Knowing what we know now, what position will the Seahawks target in round 1 next year?
Not that I think Jalen Milroe is a high percentage shot because he’s pretty much a hail mary, but I think that the Seahawks made it clear that they didn’t want to draft a QB early next year as soon as they made that pick. Like you’re saying, now that we know what Sam Darnold is doing, pretty much guaranteed that they bring back all three next season. It was always relatively unlikely that the Seahawks would draft a first round quarterback given their longstanding history, but you never know what John Schneider will do in the new era.
Given that I’m pretty optimistic about the season that the Seahawks are having right now, I’m not that inclined to even think about their first choice. And I only say that because if Seattle ends up picking 26th or 30th or something, dare we say lower, it’s a crapshoot draft slot.
Anything could go.
Cornerback, edge, guard, receiver, running back, linebacker…It’s impossible to guess what a team will do that low in the draft order. If the Seahawks were really bad or had a bad team’s draft pick like when they had Denver’s first rounder in 2023, speculation would be easy.
Not to cop out of an answer, I truly think that almost anything makes sense if the Seahawks are picking outside of the top-20.
What do you say?
Rusty: So the Texans started out with 3 straight losses against good or decent teams (every game decided by 7 pts or less) then 2 wins (big victories over teams playing poorly). How strong/weak are they?
So I would actually argue that the Texans are the best AFC team that the Seahawks have played so far this season despite having a worse record than the Steelers and Jaguars.
If it were my team, I’d rather be 2-3 knowing I’ve pasted 2 teams (70-10 in the last two weeks) than be 4-2 and feel like I got lucky + have sketchy play at quarterback. Let me rephrase that: I’d rather be 4-2 but I think in this case the 2-3 team is the better team.
Texans ranks:
1st in points allowed (12.2 per game!)
1st in points per drive allowed
3rd in EPA per play allowed (estimated points added)
4th in yards per game allowed
2nd in EPA per pass allowed
Houston is coming off of a bye week and C.J. Stroud was unstoppable in his last two games (82% completions, 6 TD, 0 INT, 139.2 rating) and that could be related to the teams they played (Titans, Ravens) but I didn’t want to see his confidence back up.
This could be Seattle’s toughest test of the season so far because now DeMeco Ryans has film on Sam Darnold with the Seahawks and he’s had two weeks to prepare. Are the Seahawks going to end the Lumen curse on Monday?
West Seattle Tim: Is the absence of Woolen and the defense playing better just a coincidence, or was it purely because of the competition the Hawks were facing?
Aside from being so bad against the Bucs, I’d say that the defense has actually been consistent week-to-week. The good of it and the bad of it. I think sacking and pressuring Trevor Lawrence so many times was a competitive advantage, both players and coaches. I’m not putting my bets on Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen to be the first long-term answer for the Jaguars.
Unfortunately, the alternatives aren’t very good.
Shaq Griffin isn’t good. Nehemiah Pritchett isn’t good. Derion Kendrick isn’t good. (Remember when DERION KENDRICK was playing???)
In terms of deadline moves, maybe the Seahawks are looking at cornerbacks. Here’s a name: L’Jarius Sneed. The Titans are tearing it all down and Sneed is someone who makes sense to trade. He’s owed about $1 million per week, so the Titans would have to pay some of that, but his next team could just cut him in 2026 without any financial leftovers.
Bob: Even ‘Recliner OC’s’‘ see a trend on occassion. Certain plays on Offense seem to have a really low success rate. Do the Coaches watch the films and say, “Let’s try THAT again, maybe it work next time!” ?
Gavin (reply): I’m no expert, but from the All-22 videos, my understanding is that those “unsuccessful” plays often set up some of our most explosive plays. Kubiak has so many options from the same personnel grouping. It can be worth a “bad result” in order to give the other teams defense an “I’ve seen this before” moment, and then smack them when they’re looking for the wrong play.
Yeah, you’ll certainly see offensive coordinators try to setup plays later in the season. The more you can create confusion and uncertainty pre-snap, the easier to catch a defense off-guard if they guess wrong.
I think Nate Tice teased some of that with his film room segment this week:
zezinhom400: Was just looking at some of the 2026 draft rankings and it occurred to me we may have gotten extremely lucky of the year the Rams have two R1 picks being 2026. Is it my imagination, or is 2026 going to be an even weaker class than 2025?
I think it’s all relative. A “bad class” could give you the exact 2 players you needed. A bad class may not preclude you from trading one or two first round picks for a veteran. The Rams traded two first round picks for Matthew Stafford not so long ago. It could also not be a bad class. It could be end up being a great class. If the Seahawks had two first round picks in 2026, I wouldn’t discount it as a non-advantage.
It’s an advantage.
You mention 2025 as a weak class, which has certainly been the narrative. What if the Rams drafted the Emeka Egbuka and the Jaxson Dart of the 2026 class? Long ways to go until we get there, so many possibilities!
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Seaside Joe 2420
Wanted to say something else about the Rams having two firsts next year.
They traded down 20 spots and drafted TE Terrance Ferguson. The trade to next year only wins if Ferguson is a good pick. Otherwise they just moved their first round pick back by a year for little reason, depending how they decide to wield 2 picks. It’s very early but Ferguson seems further behind than almost anybody in the top 2 rounds. He can’t get past TE3 Parkinson, who is having a terrible run since leaving the Seahawks.
The NFL is such a crazy, wonderful place. There is so much actual, hard fact, evidence that winning teams can be built a hundred different ways that just about every GM and coach can be / could be considered a genius. I feel like I'm a pretty good checkers player, but John Schneider and Mike Macdonald are above-average 3-D Chess players.