Key Matchups to Watch as Seahawks Tangle With Panthers in Battle of First Place Squads
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Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) rushes for a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images [/caption]
In a much-anticipated tussle between first place teams in the NFC West and NFC South, the Seahawks will take their sterling 12-3 record on the road cross country to spar with the surging Carolina Panthers in a game that couldn’t possibly have greater postseason implications.
Winners of their past five games, including a 38-37 overtime win over the Rams in Week 16, the Seahawks have climbed all the way to the top of the conference standings. But that position is a tenuous one with the Rams and 49ers just one game behind them in the division and the Bears and Eagles still alive in the hunt for the top seed in the playoffs, making Sunday’s matchup a must-win. The 8-7 Panthers can still win the NFC South and make the postseason for the first time since 2017 even if they lose at home in Week 17, but they can make the finale irrelevant with a victory coupled with a Buccaneers loss.
With so much at stake for both franchises, which matchups will hold the cards for whether the Seahawks or Panthers come out victorious in Charlotte? Here are six key positional battles to watch in a massive late season battle at Bank of America Stadium:
Seahawks guards Grey Zabel and Anthony Bradford, center Jalen Sundell versus Panthers defensive tackles Derrick Brown and A’Shawn Robinson: From a full season scope, Seattle has to be quite encouraged by the improved play it has received across the board in the interior. Sundell has yet to give up a sack in 11 starts, with the past two sandwiched around a four-game stint on injured reserve, and may have played his most complete NFL game against the Rams. Zabel had one of his worst pass protecting games on Thursday night, allowing Kobie Turner to cook him a few times for sacks on Darnold, but he hadn’t given up any sacks up to that point. Meanwhile, posting numbers that should – in theory – silence critics, Bradford has yielded just one sack and seven pressures over the past seven games.
Those numbers suggest the Seahawks should be able to hold up in Charlotte on Sunday, but Brown, a former top-10 pick out of Auburn, leads the Panthers with five sacks and he has demonstrated game wrecking ability blending bodacious power, a dynamite first step, and developed counters off bull rushes. Just ask the Rams, who suffered an upset back in Week 13 on the road in large part due to the athletic, high-motor interior defender, who caused all sorts of problems for Stafford. Having only one pressure less than his line mate, Robinson has been an underrated all-around tackle for close to a decade and provides plenty of punch with more size, which could pose a problem for Zabel and Sundell. Finding a way to keep that duo from racking up frequent flyer miles into the pocket and backfield will be imperative for Seattle to pick up a road win in a playoff environment.
Seahawks safeties Julian Love and Ty Okada versus Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, receivers Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, and Jalen Coker: Dating back to his time as a Heisman winner at Alabama, Young has been a quality downfield thrower for being on the small side at under 6-0 tall, and as he has gained confidence in the NFL, that trait has gradually started to show up more and more. This progression has been bolstered in year three by the arrival of McMillan, who ranks in the top 25 in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns on throws traveling 20-plus yards through the air as a rookie. The presence of a true No. 1 target has opened things up for Legette and Coker, with the latter being a more consistent threat in the vertical passing game and attacking the intermediate part of the field while averaging 13.2 yards per reception this season.
For most of the 2025 campaign, with Week 16 serving an exception to the rule due to Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua going nuclear at Lumen Field, the Seahawks have excelled at eliminating chunk plays in the passing game despite Love missing the bulk of the season with a hamstring injury. Excluding last week’s struggles, in the other 15 weeks, they have allowed the second-fewest explosive passes, and much of that has been with Okada in the lineup. With that said, the third-year defender has been playing in Love’s spot and he had a few coverage lapses after checking in for an injured Bryant against the Rams. Both he and Love will have to be ready for double moves from receivers on the outside, including McMillan, while maintaining cushion on the back end to force Young to throw underneath, or a semblance of a repeat of last week isn’t far fetched.
Seahawks running backs Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet, tight end AJ Barner versus Panthers linebackers Christian Rozeboom and Claudin Cherelus: Slowly but surely, the Seahawks have started to unlock more of Walker’s game-breaking upside in Klint Kubiak’s offense, utilizing him as a weapon both in the run and pass game against the Rams. He turned a quick throwback screen into a 46-yard explosive on the opening drive to set up a Charbonnet touchdown run and later found the end zone himself by cutting back against the grain and accelerating past a pair of poorly positioned tacklers to race 55 yards for six points, finishing with more than 10 yards per touch. Barner also keeps delivering in crucial moments, as his 26-yard touchdown catch on a deep corner route ultimately tied the game in regulation on Thursday night, giving him five on the season as one of Darnold’s favorite targets.
Ranked in the top 15 in scoring defense, the Panthers have been an above average unit this season, but still have plenty of deficiencies that can be exploited. Among them, few teams have been worse at defending running backs and tight ends in the passing game. According to TruMedia, Carolina has allowed first down conversions on a league-worst 71% of third down targets thrown to tight ends. They also have given up 28 first down catches to backs out of the backfield. As the poster child for those woes, Rozeboom has yielded an ugly 83% completion rate when targeted, allowing two touchdowns without a single pass breakup or interception. Cherelus has played far fewer snaps, but the results haven’t been much better, allowing 12 catches on 12 targets in coverage. Getting Walker, Charbonnet, or Barner matched up against either of them should provide an enticing opportunity for Darnold working to his secondary pass catchers.
Seahawks defensive tackles Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II, and Jarran Reed versus Panthers guards Damien Lewis and Austin Corbett: It’s another week and should be the same story for the Seahawks, who rarely go into a game with any concerns about how they will hold up in the trenches defensively. Williams and Murphy have continued to play the role of weapons of mass destruction at the line of scrimmage and in the backfield, with each ranking inside the top five among defensive tackles in sacks and top 10 in pressures while being catalysts for a run defense that hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 24 games dating back to last season. The group has only been reinforced by the club-laden Reed’s return from injury, as his tough-minded, physical presence has made it even tougher to run the football between the tackles and added another capable rusher to the mix.
A former four-year starter for Seattle, Lewis has proven to be well worth the multi-year investment Carolina made signing him as a free agent before the 2024 season, allowing just 11 pressures and one sack all year long. He could present a strong battle for all of Seattle’s defensive tackles up front. But Corbett’s play has been concerning of late, as he has been starting games at less than 100 percent and functioned more like a turnstile than a capable blocker for Young last week against Tampa Bay, surrendering four pressures and a sack. On the smaller end of the spectrum at 305 pounds, he will have to hold up physically at the point of attack against a powerful trio of interior rushers, which may be easier said than done. Carolina has been rock solid in protection most of the season, but like any game against the Seahawks, that will be tested dealing with the three-headed monster at the line of scrimmage.
Seahawks receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed, and Cooper Kupp versus Panthers cornerbacks Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, and Chau Smith-Wade: When it comes to neutralizing Smith-Njigba, many elite cornerbacks have tried their hand at the task and failed this season, as he has eclipsed 90 receiving yards in all but one game this season and remains in realistic pursuit of Calvin Johnson’s single season record. Complicating matters for opposing defenses, even without any catches against the Rams, Shaheed has started to come on in the past three weeks as the playmaker that the Seahawks envisioned he would be after trading for him at the deadline, posting at least 67 yards in wins over the Falcons and Colts and adding a 31-yard run on an end around in last week’s victory. Kupp hasn’t had the volume numbers some may have hoped for, but he came up big in the clutch with a 21-yard catch on Seattle’s game-winning drive last week and his veteran savvy always has the potential to create problems for young slot cornerbacks.
On the opposite side of the line, the Panthers have been one of the best cornerback groups at turning teams over, which may be a bad sign given Darnold’s propensity for throwing picks much of this season. Horn leads the team with five picks and has allowed just a 56% completion rate when targeted, while Jackson, a former starter for the ‘Hawks, has turned in a career year with three picks and eight pass breakups, creating a no flight zone at times in the secondary. However, both players have allowed at least four touchdowns in coverage and multiple receptions of more than 40 yards, with their aggressive playing styles lending to explosives from time to time, while Smith-Wade has yielded an 80% catch rate. Horn also has been a disaster as a tackler this year, missing 13 of his attempts for a dreadful 27.7% missed tackle rate, far from ideal when trying to bring down Smith-Njigba, Shaheed, or Kupp with the ball in their hands. After the catch dynamics could swing this in Seattle’s favor, but at the same time, going to the cookie jar too many times could lead to turnovers against an opportunistic defensive backfield.
Seahawks linebackers Ernest Jones and Drake Thomas, safety Nick Emmanwori versus Panthers running backs Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard: At the center of Seattle’s well-oiled run defending machine, Jones and Thomas have been workmanlike in their excellence playing downhill to penetrate gaps and either shedding or evading blocks, combining for 180 tackles in the middle of Mike Macdonald’s defense. Thomas has been a dynamo blitzing quarterbacks with 3.5 sacks, bringing another wrinkle to the team’s play calling when they want to send additional pressure from the second level. The two playmaking menaces have also been elite in coverage, with Jones leading all linebackers with five interceptions and Thomas stacking five pass breakups as the duo has allowed only a single touchdown between them. Listed as a safety, Emmanwori has stuffed the stat sheet while playing everywhere from slot cornerback to defensive end to a pseudo-linebacker, putting him in the line of fire regularly defending the run and blitzing.
While far from the most renowned backfield tandem in the NFL, the Panthers have the goods mixing and matching Dowdle and Hubbard to create a challenge for Jones, Thomas, and Emmanwori, however. A 1,000-yard rusher for the first time, Dowdle has thrived as a bell cow back returning to the Carolinas with a punishing style, ranking in the top 15 among qualified backs in yards after contact (700) and yards after contact per carry. A change of pace threat who has been deployed more in the passing game than as a runner, Hubbard has hauled in 25 receptions to go with north of 400 rushing yards, and coach Dave Canales will be trying to get him and Dowdle into ideal one-on-one matchups out of the backfield as a safety valve for Young who can create yardage after the catch and stress the teeth of Seattle’s defense in the process. Preventing them from making a major impact will be critical for Macdonald’s unit all day long, particularly in the run game where trying to put the ball solely into Young’s court as a passer should be a priority.
