JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — By now, you know what a Seattle Seahawks win on the road looks like. It has become commonplace for a Mike Macdonald-led team to emerge victorious away from home. Seattle’s 20-12 triumph over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday was the latest display.
So, here’s what it sounded like.
As quarterback Sam Darnold went under center for victory formation from the Jaguars’ 4-yard line, EverBank Stadium was so quiet that you could practically hear the Sharpie in receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s hand scribbling across the memorabilia he signed for a Seahawks fan seated behind Seattle’s sideline.
Outside the visiting locker room, a “SEA-HAWKS” chant could be heard coming from the tunnel lined with family and friends of the players who either made the trip or live in the area.
Inside the locker room, there were soundbites declaring Seattle’s $100 million quarterback and its 23-year-old receiver the best in the business at their respective positions.
Tight end AJ Barner had a succinct description of Sam Darnold, whose 295-yard day included a 61-yard heave to his No. 1 TE on the final drive to ice the game.
“MVP.”
Seattle cornerback Shaquill Griffin was similarly complimentary when describing Smith-Njigba, who had eight catches for 161 yards.
“He’s the man,” Griffin said inside another noisy visiting locker room. “The real WR1.”
It’s hard to argue with either assessment after watching Darnold and Smith-Njigba do to the Jaguars what they’ve done to every other team on the schedule this season. Darnold is completing 70.8 percent of his passes while leading one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses. He’s letting it fly without jeopardizing ball security, and his ability to strike that balance is one of the primary reasons Seattle didn’t have turnovers against the league leader in takeaways and improved to 4-2 on Sunday.
Darnold had six explosive passes (16 or more yards). Four of those went to Smith-Njigba, who caught a 61-yard bomb for a touchdown in the second quarter over cornerback Greg Newsome. It was the first defensive snap as a Jaguar for Newsome, acquired this week in a trade with the Cleveland Browns. Smith-Njigba picked up on it immediately.
“I don’t know if we knew, but I knew,” Smith-Njigba said of Newsome entering the game. “It was good to take advantage of that look and execute.”
The Jaguars (4-2) joined the list of teams that have tried and failed to have an answer for Smith-Njigba. Whether against zone or man coverage, intermediate or deep, the league’s leading receiver knows how to get open — and Darnold knows how to find him. He’s atop the NFL leaderboard with 696 receiving yards. The Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua is second with 616, and the Dallas Cowboys’ George Pickens (525) is the only other player over 500. Smith-Njigba also leads the league — by a wide margin — in yards per route run at 4.49, a testament to his efficiency.
“Nobody can stop him,” Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe said.
Smith-Njigba said it “feels good” to hear his teammates have the same level of confidence in him that he has himself.
“I definitely have it in myself to go out there and to dominate,” Smith-Njigba said.
Darnold’s final deep shot was a play-action pass to Barner, who beat safety Andrew Wingard in man coverage and moved Seattle to the Jags’ 12-yard line with 2:39 remaining. Three runs by back Zach Charbonnet forced Jacksonville to use all of its timeouts. Then Jacksonville committed a penalty on Jason Myers’ successful 27-yard field goal, leading to three kneel-downs that ended the game.
The Barner catch put Seattle in chip-shot field goal range and encapsulated Seattle’s offense through six games. The Seahawks have a top-10 offense by EPA per play because of Darnold’s efficiency and deep-ball accuracy. And he’s pulling that off in spite of a mostly dormant run game, which accounted for only 58 yards on 22 attempts Sunday. Darnold’s dropback EPA per play of 0.27 is better than Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen’s output from his MVP campaign last season.
Darnold’s $33 million annual contract pays him like a game manager, but he’s performing like a game-changer.
“It’s just great to see,” outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu said of Darnold, his college teammate at USC. “Jax is an explosive player, and I played with Sam in college, so I know what he can do. I knew when those guys got together and hooked up, it would be like magic. That’s what everybody is being able to see.”
Nwosu was one of five Seahawks to record at least a half-sack on Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The veteran pass rusher accounted for 1.5 of Seattle’s season-high seven quarterback takedowns. Outside linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence returned to the lineup after missing Week 5 with a quad injury and led the way with two sacks. Defensive tackle Byron Murphy II also had two. Inside linebacker Drake Thomas recorded one, and defensive tackle Leonard Williams split a sack with Nwosu. Seattle had a total of 17 quarterback hits on Lawrence.
The pass rush that was mostly absent when surrendering 38 points last week to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed up on Sunday and held Jacksonville to 12 points on 11 possessions. Jacksonville had three possessions in the fourth quarter while trailing 20-12. All three ended in punts.
“It’s how we do what we do,” Jobe said of Seattle’s bounce back from the Week 5 performance. “Like coach says, ‘Play fast, play physical and hit the motherf—ers in the mouth.’”
Griffin, a St. Petersburg, Fla., native who signed with the Jaguars in 2021 after four seasons in Seattle, made his first start in place of cornerback Riq Woolen (concussion), one of three Pro Bowl defensive backs on the inactive list. Seattle was also without cornerback Devon Witherspoon (knee) and safety Julian Love (hamstring). They were replaced by rookie Nick Emmanwori and Ty Okada.
Early in the game, it appeared the communication issues in the short-handed secondary from last week had traveled with the team to Jacksonville. Lawrence converted on third-and-11 and third-and-16 in the first quarter, then connected with a wide-open Brian Thomas Jr. for a touchdown to give the Jaguars a 6-0 lead. Griffin and Emmanwori each covered a bubble screen and left Thomas run free up the sideline for a 21-yard score. Griffin chalked the play up to a miscommunication, which he said they quickly corrected.
Jacksonville scored only once after that.
“You could tell we got it fixed,” Griffin said.
One of the keys, Griffin said, was more man coverage, particularly in obvious passing situations like third down. In the final three frames, Lawrence was 5 of 8 on third down with more sacks (three) than completions that moved the chains (two). The Jaguars were 1-of-7 on third down in the second half.
“The main thing was putting body on body,” Griffin said, referring to an uptick in man coverage. “We went tighter on coverages, knowing the D-line was going to go out there and eat the way they did. Going into the fourth quarter, we just had to be in the right spots and make the checks we needed to make. I feel like every time they got us, we weren’t on the same page. We corrected that going into the second half, and it worked out.”
When their pass rush and coverage work in tandem like this, the Seahawks have one of the league’s best defenses, regardless of the lineup on the back end. Jacksonville’s running backs combined for 43 yards on 15 attempts (2.8 yards per rush). Thomas had 90 receiving yards on eight receptions; no one else had more than 29 yards. The Seahawks are still not whole up front — outside linebacker Derick Hall missed the game with an oblique injury — but the return of DeMarcus Lawrence was a much-needed lift for that unit. He hadn’t registered a sack in a Seattle uniform before this game but had moments when he looked unblockable when flying at Trevor Lawrence.
“He brings so much energy to the team, to the D-line,” Murphy said of Lawrence. “We love D-Law. He’s a hell of a player, as you could see today. He balled out. It was great having him back.”
The Seahawks are 10-1 on the road under Macdonald. They play connected, complementary football in a way that just hasn’t shown up at Lumen Field. The players have yet to come up with a good answer as to why that is, but they’ll try to figure it out in Week 7 against the Houston Texans (2-3) on “Monday Night Football.”
For now, it wouldn’t be a Seahawks road win with at least one more soundbite, specifically about the fans. Griffin has a unique perspective in that regard. He’s a Florida native who was drafted by Seattle, then spent two years playing for the franchise that’s a short road trip away from his hometown. He was embraced by the Florida-based 12s when he arrived here in 2021, and he again felt their presence on Sunday.
“We travel heavy,” Griffin said. “We knew they were gonna be out there. It sounded like we took over the stands going into the fourth quarter. All the 12s, all we could do is hear them yelling.”
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