Can he do it again? Last season, Jaxon Smith-Njigba was racing toward Calvin Johnson's single-season wide receiver record before ultimately slowing down as the season drew to a close. Smith-Njigba was on pace to reach it, and his start to this Seattle Seahawks season has Megatron-watch on again.
Smith-Njigba's brilliance kicked off with heat in Week 1, and it carried over into Week 2. Through two weeks, he's leading the NFL in receiving yards with 177 and is tied for first with four touchdowns. It's been magic to watch Smith-Njigba, especially how he played against the Arizona Cardinals, and his teammates have taken notice.
Now, it's hard to imagine Smith-Njigba putting together an even better season than last, when he was close to reaching Johnson's record, but if he had any chance at all, he's off to a roaring start. One thing is for sure: his teammates love watching it, and Leonard Williams made that pretty clear after Sunday's win.
Seattle Seahawks' Leonard Williams believes Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a wizard
Even the Cardinals likely didn't expect the Seahawks to score the way they did on their first possession: a bomb downfield from Lock to Smith-Njigba. It caught most off guard, but that's what made the play so exhilarating. At the end of the day, Smith-Njigba recorded 155 yards on nine receptions with three touchdowns. It was a magic show.
That's what Williams thought too, apparently, as he and the rest of the defense watched their team's offense unfold from the sideline. It all started with the very first touchdown, and what Williams told the media afterward was a priceless reaction.
“We’re sitting over there on the D-line on the sideline, and when he (Smith-Njigba) catches the ball, we’re just like, man, this guy is a wizard,” Williams said.
The 82-yard haul was Smith-Njigba's career-best. It also tied for the fourth-longest touchdown reception in franchise history. What made it happen, though, was the magic: a masterful headfake. That one move opened the door for him to slip past the Cardinals' secondary, and before you knew it, he was long gone.
After that play, and so soon within a game, fans likely knew the Cardinals were in for a long afternoon. Credit to Smith-Njigba, though, because the route and run were magic, and Williams had the best spot on the field to watch it unfold.
We'll see how close Smith-Njigba can get to Johnson's record again; he'll need plenty of 120- 150-yard games each week to have another chance. With the way the Seahawks offense has leaned on him through two weeks, Seahawks fans shouldn't be surprised if, by the midway point of the season, Smith-Njigba isn't on pace once again.
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