4 Seattle Seahawks who are desperate to perform in Week 2 vs Patriots

The Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots in Week 2 in Foxborough, Mass. Both teams are 1-0 - which is more surprising for New England as they had to beat a good Cincinnati Bengals team to open the season. However, Seattle should have the better roster overall. That, of course, means nothing in terms of how a real game will play out.

Seattle has more injury worries than the Patriots. The Seahawks will definitely be without edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu and tight end Pharaoh Brown for the second straight week, and right tackle George Fant and running back Kenneth Walker III are both doubtful. New England only lists guard Sidy Sow as out with other players listed as questionable.

The Patriots have a good defense and they have a run-heavy offense. This is the kind of team that would have given recent Pete Carroll teams a problem. Hopefully, new head coach Mike Macdonald can get another win as long as the players below step up.

Four Seattle Seahawks who need to thrive in Week 2 versus the New England Patriots

Running back Zach Charbonnet

Charbonnet was a second-round choice in 2023 who runs with a different style than RB1 Kenneth Walker III. Walker is likely to miss Week 2, however, as he was listed as doubtful on the team's final injury report with an oblique issue. The problem for Seattle might be that in Charbonnet's short career when the team has absolutely needed him, he has not been productive.

Last year, Walker went down with an injury early in Week 10 and then Charbonnet started the next two games. In those three games combined, he ran 48 times for 154 yards, an average of only 3.2 yards per carry. Last week after Walker left with his new injury, Charbonnet was often stoned at the line of scrimmage. He did catch a 30-yard touchdown pass, however.

Charbonnet's running style - hard and straight-forward - has not yet been proven to translate to the NFL. He needs to prove his worth in Week 2.

Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba

In Week 1, last year's WR1 for Seattle, DK Metcalf, was covered by one of the better cornerbacks in the league, Patrick Surtain. The other receivers needed to help pick up the slack and while Tyler Lockett did, Jaxon Smith-Njigba did not. The receiver was only targeted twice and only had 19 receiving yards.

There are high expectations for JSN entering year two of his career, and he had a great training camp and looked good in limited reps in the preseason, but he began the regular season with a thud. JSN is capable of good games, but not great ones so far. His highest number of receiving yards in any game is 63.

The Patriots have a deep and ball-hawking secondary so JSN is going to have to create his own space. He probably needs to get close to his career-high of receiving yards for Seattle to beat the Patriots.

Defensive tackle Byron Murphy II

Murphy was drafted to supply some help with Seattle's pass rush, but the hope was that he would be a boon to the Seahawks run defense. In Week 1, Seattle did a great job of rotating out its defensive linemen and Murphy got around the same number of snaps (40) as veterans Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed. The rookie was solid and graded well, according to Pro Football Focus (paywall alert).

The Patriots are not going to throw the ball a lot - in Week 1, New England quarterback Jacoby Brissett attempted 24 passes while the team ran the ball 39 times - which means Seattle must prove its run defense is much better this year than it has been in the last two seasons. If Murphy is active and has a great game, the Seahawks should limit the Patriots enough to win a low-scoring game.

Right tackle Stone Forsythe

Seattle is down to its third right tackle after Abraham Lucas was placed on IR to begin the season and will miss at least the first four games and George Fant injured his knee in Week 1. Fant is surprisingly only listed as doubtful, but that means, of course, he will probably miss the game. At least, his injury does not seem to be a long-term issue.

In 26 pass-block snaps last week, Forsythe gave up two total pressures, including a sack, and was better as a run-blocker. This might imply Seattle needs to run more to help Forsythe and limit the pressures on quarterback Geno Smith. But then there is the issue with Charbonnet starting. How well Forsythe plays could determine if Seattle is 1-1 after Week 2 or 2-0.

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