6 winners and 1 loser from the Seahawks victory over the Falcons in Week 7

The Seattle Seahawks weren't firing on all cylinders at the start but there weren't been any blown engines, either. By the end of the game, they were in high gear and drove the Falcons out of their own stadium.

The Hawks put a lot of pressure on the Falcons from the very beginning of this game. They had three false start penalties on their first drive. As the broadcast analyst Jonathan Vilma said, that's pretty unheard of for the home team to struggle with the snap count. It could be that part of the issue was that Atlanta was in a hurry-up offense. I believe that the Seahawks giving them different looks on defense also led to some of that confusion. That confusion and pressure was only amplified in the fourth quarter when Seattle put the game away.

I could have titled this article 48 winners - or 52, counting head coach Mike Macdonald and his three coordinators. In one way or another, virtually every player and coach contributed to this win. Defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris had a solid debut, while practice squad call-up Josh Jobe played a great game stepping in for cornerback Riq Woolen. Let's move on to the biggest winners.

The Seattle Seahawks played their best game of the season so far

Winner: Geno Smith

Ooo, the Geno haters must be apoplectic after this game. And if you're one of those unreasonable people who refuse to look at the facts, that means you're really angry. Like when your mom doesn't put enough cinnamon on your toast in the morning. I'm so sorry that Geno ruined your day again. Much like he helped ruin the Falcons' day.

It wasn't Smith's best game statistically, but I have to believe it was his best performance of the season so far. It did earn Smith his highest passer rating so far, 110.3, but he didn't break off any of those phenomenal long runs we've seen in other games. No, he did something better. He stayed in the pocket, whirling and dodging defenders until he found his target. Smith was simply amazing in this game. As Bob Condotta wrote in his grades of the game, "He didn’t miss when the opportunities were there."

Winner: Byron Murphy II

Pop quiz, 12s. The Seahawks are 0-3 without one particular player on the field, and 4-0 with him. Any ideas who that might be? Aw, I might have given this one away by parking it under Byron Murphy's name. It's amazing how a guy with just eight pressures and ten combined tackles can have such an outsized impact on the Seahawks defense. But it's clear that he does.

As NFL analyst (and former Hawks O-lineman) Ray Roberts said on The Brock and Salk Show, Murphy is "..a really tough dude to block...with him, he fights you [the offensive lineman] on his way to the running back." That quote is from Brent Stecker's article on Murphy for Seattle Sports. On the same episode, Brock Huard said that Murphy was a difference-maker, closing with, "And man, those guys are hard to find." Murphy's stats against the Falcons: one hurry, one stop, four tackles, and one win.

Winner: Kenneth Walker III

It seems the Seahawks now have their own flu game. For a guy who was a gameday decision and even then needed frequent rests during the game, the birthday boy had himself quite a game against the Falcons. 14 carries for 69 yards and a score is a solid day's work, especially when you're ill. Add two catches for 24 yards and another score, and that's above and beyond.

Walker would have had another rushing touchdown if not for a holding call on rookie tight end A.J. Barner. The hold wasn't even necessary, but as the saying goes, excrement occurs. I'm quite sure the Atlanta defenders will be conversant with that phrase after Sunday. K9 only handled the ball 16 times, but he was an absolute stud in this win.

Winner: Devon Witherspoon

Speaking of studs...I'll admit that it might seem odd at first to list Witherspoon as one of the Seahawks' winners against the Falcons. He was screened off from a tackle on one key run and overran pursuit on another. He missed three tackles, which is very uncharacteristic for him. He allowed seven receptions on his nine targets, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

So how is he a winner? I purposely left out the names of two clear standouts of this game, Boye Mafe and Derick Hall. I'll be writing more about them in another article. So it's not as if I didn't see the huge strip sack by Mafe and Hall's 64-yard fumble recovery TD. I just wanted to highlight that Hall wouldn't have scored if it weren't for Spoon streaking out of the outer limits to throw the key block that made that touchdown happen.

As Coach Mike Macdonald said, "Just this shocking effort, man, and just, like, this spirit and enthusiasm to go make a play for your teammate and be excited for it." That, 12s, defines a winner.

Winner: Mike Macdonald

Speaking of the Seahawks head coach, it's great to see him back in the win column. I still believe, fervently believe, that he needs to turn over the defensive play-calling. Seattle played terrific ball against Atlanta in all three phases of the game, I expect to see more of that as the season goes on, but it's still just one game.

Now that being said, Macdonald has said all the right things so far this season. Not to the press or the 12s, although yeah, he's done that too. What matters is that he's said all the right things to his players. He never panicked and never called out his players for being soft. He let team leaders like Leonard Williams and Tyler Lockett hold players and the coaching staff accountable. That's the mark of a true leader and a true winner.

Winner: Michael Jerrell

At the start of this season, 46 former Division II players were on the 53-man roster of an NFL team. That's just 46 of 1,696 players, so the odds of making a roster aren't that great. There are some pretty big names on that list, though. Tyreek Hill of the Dolphins is the marquee name, but there are a few other standouts, too, like Adam Thielen and Matthew Judon. The Hawks own Dareke Young is a former DII player as well.

Michael Jerrell may be about to join that group of better-known DII players. Yes, he gave up four pressures against the Falcons. But he didn't allow a quarterback hit, let alone a sack. Not bad for a guy who never once faced a pass rush or threw a block against a major program player. Jerrell played far above expectations and should be the starting right tackle until Lucas or Fant are 100 percent.

Loser: Stone Forsythe

Stone Forsythe is now the Hawks most recent version of Wally Pipp. Or if you prefer, the 2024 edition of Eddie Lacy, who was supplanted by the far superior Chris Carson. Again, I confess that I did say Eddie Lacy was a great pickup for the Hawks. Carson balled out as much as humanly possible and became a star in Seattle.

Now, I didn't say that Jerrell would become a star. Forsythe graded out as better than Jerrell in four of his six games, per Pro Football Focus (subscription alert). But in two of those, he gave up more pressures than Jerrell. And of course, Forsythe had two apocalyptic games, allowing 12 pressures by the Lions and 10 by the 49ers. As long as Jerrell doesn't give up 20 pressures to the Bills, Forsythe doesn't need to see more than five snaps per game.

We can't end on a sour note, 12s, now can we? As I mentioned at the start, I could have listed every single player and coach. As Coach Macdonald said, this was a team win. As most 12s would agree, it's one of many more to come.

More Seahawks news and analysis: