Seahawks at Jaguars – Week 6
- Date: October 12
- Time: 10 a.m. PT
- Channel: Fox
- Venue: Ever Bank Stadium
Fortunately, while they were struggling at home in 2024, the Seahawks were dynamite on the road. Traveling cross country to Jacksonville will always pose a challenge, but I don’t think it will be insurmountable.
To be sure, Jacksonville should be a stronger team than they have been in the recent past. Their new coach has one mission. Revive Trevor Lawrence’s career. Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter will be the envy of lots of QBs in the coming years so I suspect the Jags will move the ball. But they will also make mistakes on which Seattle should be able to capitalize.
I have this game down as a classic trap situation, but I think Macdonald will have his players ready, especially coming off a loss the previous week.
Prediction: Win (4-2)
Seattle heads into one of the their biggest non-conference games in several years on an upswing. It is essential that they maintain that momentum.
Seahawks vs. Texans – Week 7
- Date: October 20
- Time: 1:05 p.m. 7:00 p.m. PT
- Channel: ESPN+
- Venue: Lumen Field
Six games into the season, the races are beginning to take shape. Seattle should be in the thick of the NFC West. Heading into a nationally-televised Monday night contest with the bye week looming should have fans at a high pitch. That’s good because I think the Hawks will need every last ounce of energy from the 12s to overcome a very solid Houston squad.
This game shapes up a lot like the Tampa Bay contest. Only the Texans are better on defense. On paper, Houston is a better team. But I think this is the first time where we will see the magic of the hometown fans show itself.
Houston is not perfect by any means. Seattle’s defensive line – a strength of the team – should be able to attack a suspect offensive line for the Texans. I think this game will be determined by turnovers and I think that with the noise of Luman Field, Houston will be the team to crack.
Prediction: Win (5-2)
This would be Seattle’s biggest upset of the season thus far and it would send them into the bye week on a very high note.
Bye – Week 8
Seahawks at Commanders – Week 9
- Date: November 2
- Time: 5:20 p.m. PT
- Channel: NBC
- Venue: Northwest Stadium
Mike Macdonald will have two weeks to prepare for Jayden Daniels. And he will be able to look back at how his former team, Baltimore, stifled the phenom last year. It won’t help. Macdonald is rebuilding a defense that plays a similar style to the one he used with the Ravens but he is not there yet.
This could be a big coming-out party for rookie Nick Emmanwori, who would seem tailor-made to spy on Daniels.
There are some analysts expecting the Commanders to regress a bit after a spectacular turnaround last year. Even if they do, Kliff Kingsbury’s offense will be hard to stop. And on defense, you know Bobby Wagner will have his teammates fired up to stop Darnold and company.
Prediction: Loss (5-3)
Like the Tampa game, this just doesn’t feel like a good matchup for Seattle.
Seahawks vs. Cardinals – Week 10
- Date: November 9
- Time: 1:05 p.m. PT
- Channel: CBS
- Venue: Lumen Field
One day, Arizona will beat Seattle. I just don’t see it happening this year. In his first season as head coach, Mike Macdonald had trouble righting his ship when things turned bad early in the season. The Hawks were disappointing at the end of ’24, but they really let the year slip away from them when they weren’t able to stop the bleeding during a 1-5 stretch in the early middle.
I think this may be one of the major lessons Macdonald received in his first season. You have to shake things up after a loss and jolt the team back to competitiveness. If you have a tough stretch of games, you may lose consecutive contests. But you need to play well and keep both spirits and execution at a high level.
Fortunately, this year Seattle does not have many consecutive games against upper-tier talent. It should be much easier to right the ship after a loss. That is what they should do at home against the Cardinal team who can’t seem to get over the hump against the Hawks.
Prediction: Win (6-3)
Now past the halfway point in the season and three games clear of five-hundred, fans will begin looking ahead to playoff scenarios. That’s fine for fans. The players cannot do that. There is still far too much season left to play.