Well, that was fun. The Seattle Seahawks reminded the NFL exactly why they are the reigning NFL champions with a dismantling of the previously undefeated Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. This was the Seahawks of the 2025 playoffs. A swarming defense. An efficient offense. A relentless attitude that got out in front and never let up for a full sixty minutes.
How dominant was this performance? Here’s one little data point. Jaxon Smith-Njigba accounted for more yards in the second quarter (120) than the entire Chiefs offense had in the entire first half. And, lest you forget. The Chiefs entered as the Number 1 offense in the entire league.
There are a lot of plaudits to hand out and a lot of takeaways to get to, but let’s just open with this one. The most important one. This season is at the one-third mark. There is a ton of football left to play.
6 takeaways from the Seattle Seahawks' 20-3 victory over Kansas City
And as far as Seattle is concerned, the season really began on Sunday night. There is still a lot of work to do, but this team has no reason to fear any opponent, and barring terrible luck with injuries, they will be battling it out with the league’s best well into the postseason.
Seattle’s coaches controlled the game
Aden Durde is often overlooked because Mike Macdonald is a defensive mastermind. But this Hawks defense could not be this good if they didn’t have an entire roster of coaches who had their players performing at their peaks. Durde should get his shot at a top spot in the near future.
Let’s give it up for Brian Fleury. The Seahawks offense has not been great this year, and Fleury has been questioned. On Sunday, he was not afraid to keep running the ball, even when the offense was only managing about three yards a pop.
But they wore down a good Chiefs defense, and by the second half, it was clear that this game was virtually over. He may still have some work to do in the red zone, but third and fourth down? 17 attempts and 12 conversions. That’s outstanding.
As for the head coach, I think we can tell, after two-plus years, that Mike Macdonald knows how to push his players' buttons. He focuses. He makes corrections. And he never gets too high or too low. He has confronted bad patches in each of his seasons, and he has had them bounce back stronger than ever each time.
Seattle’s defense is other-worldly
Through their first five games, Kansas City had scored 74 points in the first half alone. Seattle shut them out. They had been averaging 28 points per game. They scored 3 points, tied for the lowest total in any NFL game Patrick Mahomes has played in. They were 200 yards under their per-game total. Two-and-a-half yards under their yards-per-play number.
Clearly, the Seahawks defense was tired of losing. Against future first-ballot Hall of Famers the likes of Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, they were going to do whatever was necessary to make sure they would get the win regardless of what the offense delivered.
We saw the 2025 version of Sam Darnold, and it was good
Fortunately, the offense did just fine. They weren’t flashy, but they wore down the Chiefs on the ground; they kept drives alive all night, and they leaned on the best offensive player in the league -- Jaxon Smith-Njigba – when they needed something special.
And they also got the type of performance that Sam Darnold gave them routinely in the second half of 2025. Yes, he made one bad decision and throw, and it was a big deal because it cost the team points. But he also threw a touchdown pass to JSN, and almost had a second. Seattle wins if Sam Darnold throws a couple of touchdowns ... even if he also throws a bad interception.
And how about his scrambling for first downs? Darnold was not a fast, elusive runner coming out of college, but people forget that he actually had very good mobility. He will never look like Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen, but he can move and make plays with his legs when necessary.
Seattle was determined to win the physical battle
The first barnyard play was a thing of beauty. With 251-pound A.J. Barner under center and 311-pound Olu Oluwatimi and 339-pound Josh Jones behind him, that’s 901 pounds in the backfield. Got to be a three-man record.
Later, on Emanuel Wilson’s touchdown run, the Hawks collapsed the entire left side of the line by lining up three tight ends – Barner, Eric Saubert, and Nick Kallerup – on the end and letting them annihilate the Chiefs' linebackers and defensive backs.
Seattle kept pounding the line, mostly behind the tough running of Wilson, and it worked like a charm.
Nick Emmanwori is a unicorn
He blitzed and forced an interception. He ran with the fastest man in Combine history 30 yards downfield. He played Travis Kelce when that was needed. There is virtually nothing Emmanwori cannot do on a football field.
Of course, this was a complete team effort. Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II overwhelmed the Chiefs' line. The edges were active all night long.
Tyrice Knight may technically be a backup, but he wouldn’t merely start on most teams; he would also be their best linebacker. Spoon, Okada, Jobe, and Love held Mahomes to five yards-per-attempt. KC’s undermanned receiving corps combined for 39 yards.
Downside? Well, maybe
Both Rashid Shaheed and Velus Jones left with injuries. That is most of Seattle’s speed on offense. If they are out for any length of time, that could really hurt.
Shaheed had his best punt return of the season. For the first time this year, he looked like the shooting star whose kick returns were so instrumental in Seattle’s late-season success last year.
If he and/or Jones does have to miss time, it will fall to Tory Horton and perhaps the recently signed Robert Henry to be the next man up and provide some explosive playmaking.
Hopefully they will be healthy. And hopefully Zach Charbonnet returns soon. The same for Drake Thomas. But the fact is, this team is deep. They turned a corner on Sunday, and I expect they will build on that regardless of who is available. They have too much talent both on the field and on the sidelines to stay down for very long.
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