Defense, Smith-Njigba ensure Seahawks’ messy win over Houston
Published 9:30 am Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Fans arrived early. Not to watch Seahawks warm-ups, but to watch the Mariners on the big-screen scoreboard.
Football fans, Seattle fans, the Pacific Northwest’s fans, cheered Julio Rodriguez’s home run early in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series in Toronto, the television broadcast of which the Seahawks were showing on the Lumen Field scoreboard on this Monday night like no other in the PNW.
Gasps filled the football stadium during play midway through the second quarter of the Seahawks’ game against the Houston Texans. Fans watching baseball on their phones from their football seats saw the Mariners’ Eduard Bazardo give up the decisive, three-run home run by Toronto’s George Springer in the seventh inning. That ultimately sent the Blue Jays, not the historic Mariners, to the World Series.
Those fans didn’t miss much while their heads were down. Only after the fans turned their full attention to the Seahawks did Seattle’s NFL team shine.
More of Sam Darnold’s season-long relying on long passes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, plus huge plays by coach Mike Macdonald’s defense in the second half, led the Seahawks to a 27-19 win over Houston.
Houston scored a garbage-time touchdown with the stadium half empty at 10:20 p.m. on a work/school night to make the game look closer than it was.
Smith-Njigba, the league’s receiver in yards receiving entering this week seven, caught eight passes on 13 targets for 123 yards and a touchdown as Seattle won for only the fifth time in 13 home games over two seasons under Macdonald. Darnold completed 17 of 31 throws for 213 yards and the first-half score to Smith-Njigba, as Seattle again failed to play a complete game.
The running game they set out to fix this season remains broken. Yet the Seahawks scored the most points that Houston, with the league’s top scoring defense, had given up the season. Seattle is 5-2 entering its bye.
“We picked our offense up today on defense,” Macdonald said, with bass bangin’ the walls of the locker room next to him.
“That’s how we kind of roll. …
“Once we get all three phases going, rolling in games, that’s when you have games that are not coming down to the last possession.”
The Seahawks are tied atop the NFC West in wins and losses with San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams, though the 49ers have the division lead from beating both the Seahawks and Rams so far. “At the bye week, we’ve set ourselves up nice,” middle linebacker Ernest Jones said.
“We’ve got to come back and let’s get rollin’ for real.”
Despite their defense not giving up a touchdown, the Seahawks were in a scrap deep into the third quarter. When the Pacific Northwest’s sad eyes turned away from the sudden end to the Mariners’ historic season, the Seahawks led Houston only 17-12.
They had been in control, up 17-6, allowing no touchdowns, until after Houston downed a punt at the Seahawks 4-yard line midway through the third period. Two runs by Seattle’s Kenneth Walker netted a total of 3 yards. On third down, Darnold rolled left, trying to throw from his own end zone. His rollout went outside, where left tackle Charles Cross was blocking Houston edge rusher Will Anderson.
Cross didn’t know Darnold was out there when Anderson released from him, ran outside and sacked Darnold in the end zone. He also forced a fumble Anderson recovered there, for a touchdown.
The two-point pass failed, but Seattle’s lead was down to 17-12.
Darnold had the Seahawks’ response. It’s what he’s done most of this season. Find Smith-Njigba.
On the first play after the touchdown, Darnold threw to the 2024 Pro Bowl receiver for 26 yards, to the Houston 36. That set up Jason Myers’ field goal for a 20-12 lead.
Then the defense came up large for the second time in the pivotal third quarter.
Houston had a third and short in its own end. Seattle’s Byron Murphy then showed his new-dad strength. The Seahawks defensive tackle who’s been spending his every moment not at team headquarters at the hospital seeing his premature, newborn daughter grow from 2 pounds, 5 ounces the last two game weeks, stood up two Texans blockers. That ruined Houston’s third-down run.
“Just balls to the wall, going all out for each other,” Murphy said of the mentality on those downs, stopping the run.
On fourth and short at the Texans 39, Houston ran rookie back Woody Marks off left tackle. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence just refused to be blocked at the point of attack on the play. He dropped Marks for no gain. The turnover on downs decisively turned the game.
“We have killers up front,” Jones said of his defensive line.
Darnold responded by throwing to…who else? Smith-Njigba caught his pass on a slant and ran for 19 yards to convert third and 7.
Darnold threw to JSN again in the end zone on the next snap. The only reason he didn’t catch a second touchdown pass was Houston’s Kamari Lassiter grabbed Smith-Njigba at the 2-yard line coming out of his break from the left slot. The pass-interference penalty gave Seattle a first down at the 2.
From there, Zach Charbonnet ran off left tackle outside a fine seal block by rookie left guard Grey Zabel for the touchdown. The Seahawks led 27-12.
Seattle’s defense turned back Houston from there. The Texans had a third and goal at the 1. Ty Okada then made his best play as a Seahawk. The fill-in for injured Pro Bowl veteran Julian Love, Okada, in his third consecutive start, leaped in the end zone and knocked down a pass by Houston’s C.J. Stroud headed to an open receiver outside for a touchdown and a one-score game. Instead, it was fourth and goal.
“I could kind of feel it there (the receiver open behind him),” Okada said over the booming locker-room music. “I could see the quarterback’s eyes. And I kinda felt that’s where he was going.
“He threw it fast. Obviously, I would have loved to pick it (off). But to be able to get my arm up in time, I’m glad to have that happen.”
After a Texans penalty for a false start, Seattle’s mix-and-match secondary covered every one of Stroud’s receivers. He threw incomplete to nobody on the right side of the end zone for the third turnover on downs forced by the Seahawks defense in the second half.
The defense winning the game. Just as Macdonald designed this team. “Just losing football offensively in the second half there,” Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp said.
“We know our standard’s much higher.”
Ugly end to Seattle’s first half
About the time Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo replaced Bryan Woo in Toronto and gave up what became the M’s season-ending home run by the Blue Jays’ George Springer in the seventh inning of Game 7, back in Seattle, the Seahawks defense was pitching a shutout.
The Seahawks’ offense drove to the Texans 21, poised to go up 17 or 21-0. Then offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak got tricky. He called an end-around handoff to Cooper Kupp, and then for the wide receiver to throw the ball downfield. He did, far wide of intended receiver Smith-Njigba. Houston’s Calen Bullock intercepted Kupp’s pass. “Yeah, it might go in the freezer,” Macdonald said of the Kupp trick-play pass.
Kupp was shaking his head about it.
“Just made a bad play,” the former NFL offensive player of the year and Super Bowl MVP receiver with the Rams said. “Don’t really want to talk about it.”
The Texans turned that into a field goal for their first points. Seattle led 14-3.
The Seahawks absorbed another six-point swing against them in the final seconds of the first half. A rather blase 2-minute drill by the offense lacked urgency, and played for a 53-yard field goal by Jason Myers. But Houston’s Denico Autry blocked the kick.
The Texans got a 29-yard pass on the next play from Stroud to rookie Jaylin Noel, then Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 46-yard field goal.
A game the Seahawks could have, should have, led at least 17-3 was 14-6 at halftime — with Houston receiving the second-half kickoff.
That’s when Jones came up large.
With the Seahawks secondary still a patchwork operation because of injuries, Macdonald dropped his middle linebacker deep into coverage on Houston’s first possession after halftime. Though Jones fell down, he got up onto his knees to intercept Stroud’s errant pass at midfield. That prevented Houston from a two-for-one, score then score without the Seahawks possessing the ball from the end of the first half through the start of the second.
On the ensuing possession, Seattle faced fourth and 1 at the Texans 29. Macdonald had the offense go for it. Darnold looked to throw short, but Houston covered his first option. So the QB, with time from his offensive line, did what he’s done most of this season, find Smith-Njigba deeper down the field. The 18-yard catch near the left sideline to the Houston 11 set up Jason Myers’ 26-yard field goal. The Seahawks restored their two-score lead, 17-6. Seahawks start fast
Macdonald has been preaching to his team since spring to start faster and play better at the start of games, especially at home where they had lost eight of their previous 12 coming into Monday.
They did that against Houston, on defense and offense.
The game began with Uchenna Nwosu and the Seahawks believing the edge-rushing linebacker had sacked retreating and retreating Stroud inside the end zone for a safety on third down. Officials spotted Stroud down just outside the goal line for an 18-yard sack instead. Macdonald ran from midfield to near the goal line onto the field trying to challenge the ruling with his red, challenge flag. Referee Carl Cheffers told the coach he could not do that.
“Forward progress is not reviewable,” Cheffers announced from the field.
That was a curious assertion, given that the ball carrier, Stroud, was not moving forward, only backward the entire time until Nwosu tackled him in the end zone?
Instead of the safety and a 2-0 Seahawks lead, the Texans punted from their own end zone. Seattle took the resulting favorable starting field position, the Houston 44-yard line, and turned that into the game’s first score.
Darnold threw twice to Elijah Arroyo, the rookie tight end alone down the left side of Houston’s defense, for gains of 27 then 8 yards on Seattle’s second possession of the game. That set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Charbonnet.
It was harder than that.
The number-two running back got stacked up by Texans at the 4-yard line. Then about six of Charbonnet’s linemen and beefiest offensive teammates pushed the running back from the 4 across the goal line for a touchdown. Charbonnet’s fourth touchdown of the season gave Seattle a 7-0 lead.
After the Seahawks defense forced the second of four consecutive punts by the Texans to begin the game, Darnold and play caller Klint Kubiak again targeted the deep left side of Houston’s defense for a big pass play. This time, Kupp was alone down that sideline for a 32-yard catch and run to midfield.
On third and 11, Darnold scrambled and was stopped 8 yards short of the first down, at the Houston 22. But at the sideline Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair stuck his head and shoulder pad into the quarterback’s chest, picked up Darnold and slammed him down onto his back into the Texans’ bench area. Officials promptly flagged Al-Shaair for unnecessary roughness.
Amid all the Texans on their sideline, the first and for a while only Seahawk to come to Darnold’s aid: rookie left guard Grey Zabel.
That will earn the first-round pick even more cred around Seattle’s locker room than the standout blocker has already gained in his short time anchoring the offensive line.
On the next play, with the reprieve of the penalty, Darnold made his most impressive throw and play of the night. Texans defensive tackle Tommy Togiai beat Seahawks right guard Anthony Bradford’s pass protection. Darnold saw Togiai coming right at him. Yet the quarterback stood in and threw a pass between two Texans defensive backs in the middle of the end zone to Smith-Njigba cutting from right to left. The pass was perfect.
So was the right-handed dunk over the crossbar Smith-Njigba leaped to execute to celebrate his 11-yard touchdown, the fourth TD of the season for the NFL’s leader in receiving yards entering this week seven.
Smith-Njigba got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for the crossbar dunk, something Macdonald usually calls a “cost of doing business,” with a smirk.
Seattle led 14-0 on the final play of the first quarter. The Seahawks out-gained the Texans 117-5 in the opening period.
The Seahawks stayed up by that much when Houston’s Nico Collins dropped Stroud’s pass over the middle for what would have gone for at least 25 yards, to inside the Seahawks 40. Instead, it was third and 10. Seattle linebacker Boye Mafe tipped Stroud’s pass at the line on that play to force another Texans punt.
