The Seattle Seahawks were all business on Sunday as they took down the Jacksonville Jaguars to the tune of 20-12. The Jaguars proved to be little resistance to Seattle, as they built a 20-6 lead to start the second half and never let Jacksonville truly threaten, even when they pulled within a single score in the fourth quarter.
Seattle is now 4-2 on the season thanks to strong performances from all around the team. However, despite the quiet dominance, it wasn’t necessarily the cleanest victory. As always, there is plenty to takeaway from the Seahawks’ Week 6 victory, and we at Seahawks Wire have you covered.
No. 1 – Now THERE’S the pass rush
Seattle’s defensive line has been a terror all season long, but were shockingly absent last week in the loss to Tampa Bay. The Seahawks had one sack/quarterback hit, and it took two players to get it. This unit was clearly unsatisfied from their performance, and worked hard to give their ailing secondary a much-needed boost. Seattle recorded seven sacks of Trevor Lawrence, and hit him 17 times overall. Leading the way was Byron Murphy II and DeMarcus Lawrence in his first game back, as both men had two sacks each.
No. 2 – Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the Offensive Player of the Year
It’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s world and we’re all just living in it. JSN hauled in eight receptions on 13 targets for 162 yards and a touchdown. There was a point in this game where quarterback Sam Darnold had 143 passing yards and 120 were to JSN himself. The Ohio State standout even made history, as he now has the most receiving yards (696) a Seahawk receiver has ever had in his first six games to start a season.
No. 3 – Third down offense is… a problem
Or should I say non-existent? Seattle hasn’t been great on third down all year long, but in Week 6 they were outright atrocious. The Seahawks were 1-for-12 on third down. They are fortunate the defense was able to keep the Jaguars in check and maintain the imposing lead, because their inability to sustain drives when it comes to third down is highly alarming… and an 8% success rate is unsustainable.
No. 4 – Seattle is still struggling to run the ball
The Seahawks want to run the ball but simply can’t. A few strong rushing performances scattered here or there this season aren’t doing enough to overcome Seattle’s overall struggles on the ground. The Seahawks had 60 yards as a team on 26 total carries. I’ll give them credit, they are still committing to the run, and I think it’ll start to pay off down the road as the weather gets colder and defenses get more worn out. But for now, it’s a tough watch.
No. 5 – “Road Warriors” doesn’t begin to describe this Seahawks team
For all the well-documented issues Mike Macdonald has winning games at Lumen Field (where his team is 4-8) he sure has the secret sauce to get them ready to go when they’re on the road. The Seahawks now won nine-straight games away from the Emerald City, which continues the franchise’s best road win-streak Macdonald established in Week 4 against the Cardinals. Seattle is now 10-1 on the road under Macdonald, and dominating a Jaguars team (that beat the 49ers and Chiefs so far this year) is arguably one of his more impressive wins.
No. 6 – Seahawks kept pace with the Rams in NFC West standings
The margin for error in the NFC West is, once again, razor thin. No matter what happens to the 49ers in their game against Tampa Bay, they will remain in first place due to head to head wins over both Seattle and Los Angeles. But it was the Rams who were the big concern going into this weekend, especially since they were playing the rapidly sinking ship known as the Baltimore Ravens. With the Seahawks winning, they were able to maintain their slight edge over the Rams for at least another week. Seattle and LA both have 4-2 records, but the Hawks have a tiebreaker for now as they are 1-1 in NFC West play, while the Rams are 0-1. Meanwhile, further separation was created with the Arizona Cardinals, who are now 2-4 following their 31-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs Jaguars: Top Seattle takeaways from 20-12 Week 6 victory
