Key Matchups to Watch as Seahawks Face Commanders on Sunday Night Football
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Seattle Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon (21), cornerback Riq Woolen (27) and defensive end Leonard Williams (99) celebrate following a play against the Washington Commanders during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images [/caption]
LANDOVER, Md. - Looking to keep pace with the Los Angeles Rams atop the NFC West and land a third straight win, the Seattle Seahawks will come out of their bye week facing a desperate Washington Commanders squad under the lights in prime time.
Prior to a much-deserved week off, Seattle secured a road win over Jacksonville and defeated Houston on Monday Night Football to improve to 5-2, holding a tiebreaker via conference record over Los Angeles for first place. As for Washington, without quarterback Jayden Daniels, the team suffered a devastating 28-7 loss to Kansas City last Monday night, falling to 3-5 in a disappointing season so far following an NFC Championship game berth back in January.
Which matchups will have the greatest bearing on which NFC squad snags a key Sunday night victory? Here are six positional battles to watch closely at Northwest Stadium:
Seahawks linebackers Ernest Jones and Drake Thomas versus Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, running backs Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Jeremy McNichols: Making a switch in the early stages of the season from Week 1 starter Tyrice Knight to Thomas, the Seahawks have received stellar play from both of their starting linebackers in recent weeks. With a new extension in tow, Jones has been as good as any inside linebacker in the sport, already intercepting three passes to go with 59 combined tackles, a partial sack, and three tackles for loss, spearheading the No. 1 rushing defense in the NFL. Meanwhile, Thomas has been a revelation in his third season, already hitting a career-high with 32 tackles while contributing as a pass rusher and in coverage with two sacks and five pass breakups, providing an unexpected weapon at the WILL spot to complement Jones.
With Daniels, one of the NFL’s premier dual threat quarterbacks, back in action, however, to orchestrate Washington’s third-ranked rushing offense, Jones and Thomas will face one of their toughest tests of the season on Sunday night. As a rookie, Daniels eclipsed 890 rushing yards with six touchdowns on the ground, inflicting damage both on designed runs as well as improvised scrambles rolling outside or climbing up the pocket. Both of Seattle’s linebackers will have to keep a beat on the mobile signal caller at all times, likely seeing some spy assignments in coverage to bookmark him. They also will be tasked with keeping Croskey-Merritt and McNichols at bay both as runners and pass catchers, with the latter already having 129 receiving yards on just 12 receptions. That will be far more complicated with the attention that must be paid to Daniels for his mobility.
Seahawks receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tory Horton, Cody White, and Ricky White III versus Commanders cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore, Trey Amos, and Mike Sainristil: Even with Cooper Kupp, Dareke Young, and Jake Bobo available in the first seven games, the Seahawks have largely been carried by Smith-Njigba in the first seven games during a historic start. The budding superstar led the NFL by nearly 100 receiving yards going into Sunday’s action, in large part due to his prolific production as a downfield threat with 20 explosive receptions, the most in the league. Through seven games, he has accounted for 57% of all of Seattle’s receptions by receivers. But with Kupp likely to be out with a hamstring injury, both Young and Bobo already ruled out on Friday, and Cody White and Ricky White III not having any targets this year combined, that percentage jumps up to 84.7%, or more than three out of every four receptions. That’s an obvious concern going into Sunday night with a truly one-dimensional passing arsenal.
With that said, if there’s reason for optimism that the Seahawks can weather the storm and find complementary weapons on the outside, the Commanders have been very generous against opposing quarterbacks this season. Per TruMedia, they have allowed 43 explosive pass plays netting 16 or more yards, tied for the eighth most among NFL teams, while yielding more than five of them per game, the fifth-highest rate. Both Amos and Sainristil have allowed two touchdowns in coverage, while Lattimore has given up nearly 16 yards per reception this year, proving himself vulnerable to big plays downfield. The absence of Kupp will make game planning a bit easier for the Commanders in terms of applying extra support to defend Smith-Njigba, but at the same time, this contest presents a great opportunity for the White and White law firm to jump in and make positive contributions snagging passes from Sam Darnold.
Seahawks defensive tackles Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II, and Jarran Reed versus Commanders guards Chris Paul and Sam Cosmi: Few interior defensive lines have been more disruptive hunting down quarterbacks than the Seahawks trifecta of “Big Cat” Williams, Murphy, and Reed, regardless of whether they play at home or on the road. Going into Week 9, both Williams and Murphy ranked in the top 10 among defensive tackles in pressures and sacks, while both players have posted Pass Rush Win Rates north of 11%. Reed hasn’t been quite as disruptive with fewer opportunities, but still has tallied 13 pressures, four quarterback hits, and a respectable 8.3% win rate. All three players have also been rocks defending the run with 26 combined run stops and just three missed tackles collectively, regularly dominating the line of scrimmage and winning at the point of attack to make plays on ball carriers.
Interestingly, even with the Commanders playing musical chairs at right guard until the recent return of Sam Cosmi from injury, Washington has done a pretty fine job protecting both Daniels and Marcus Mariota. Paul has been one of the best pass protecting guards in the sport this season, yielding just six pressures and two sacks in seven starts with a Pass Block Efficiency rate of 98%. Cosmi has also held up well since coming back from a significant knee injury, allowing three pressures and a sack in two games thus far. Both players haven’t been able to create much push off the line of scrimmage in the run game, however, as the Commanders rushed for just 32 yards with running backs against the Chiefs last week and more than half their 136 yards on the ground against the Cowboys came from quarterbacks. The Seahawks will hope to drum up tons of interior pressure without blitzing while also keeping that recent run of struggles rushing between the tackles going for a third straight game.
Seahawks running backs Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet versus Commanders linebackers Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu: A main talking point throughout the bye week for coaches and fans alike, the Seahawks continue to search for more consistency with their run game heading into the second half of the season. On the plus side, with Walker and Charbonnet both pitching in, they rank in the top 12 in explosive runs and have scored eight touchdowns in the red zone, which sits in the top 10. However, they led the league through Week 8 with 28 runs netting zero or negative yards, three more than Eagles behind them. The abundance of blown up plays has far too frequently put Seattle’s offense behind the sticks, helping result in a bottom 10 ranking in third down conversion rate (33.3%). Both the offensive line and the backs themselves have played into the stunningly high number.
Historically, as Seahawks fans know all too well, Wagner has been one of the elite run stopping linebackers in the league for more than a decade and he rarely misses tackles. Luvu can also be quite the thumper getting downhill himself. But neither player at this stage is known for their ability to run sideline-to-sideline, and last week, the Chiefs rushed for 56 yards on 11 carries off tackle or to the perimeter, frequently finding success testing them horizontally with the outside run game. Continuing a season-long trend, Kansas City also found ways to isolate Wagner and Luvu in coverage in the second half, as Wagner gave up a long touchdown with receiver Rashee Rice blowing past him on a crosser over the middle and Luvu surrendering a 25-yard reception. Running backs haven’t been involved much in the passing game for Seattle so far, but this could be a game where finding ways to get them one-on-one with Wagner and Luvu generates fruitful opportunities for explosive plays.
Seahawks cornerbacks Riq Woolen, Josh Jobe, and Devon Witherspoon versus Commanders receivers Deebo Samuel, Luke McCaffrey, and Chris Moore: For the first time in more than a month, the Seahawks will be full strength in the secondary, at least when it comes to the cornerback spot. Between Witherspoon missing five of the first seven games due to a knee injury and Woolen missing a game with a concussion, Mike Macdonald and his staff have been tested rotating in Derion Kendrick, Shaquill Griffin, and Nehemiah Pritchett for reps in the secondary, which has led to a handful of busted coverages along the way. Fortunately, the bye came at the perfect time for Witherspoon to get over the hump and he practiced in full all week, setting the stage for him to finally return to the lineup healthy. It will be interesting to see how Seattle deploys him with rookie safety Nick Emmanwori performing well in the slot in the past three games, and if he’s on the boundary more as a result, that could mean diminished reps for either Woolen or Jobe.
Daniels has been one of the most dangerous deep ball throwers in the league since arriving out of LSU last year, but he will have to return without the services of his best vertical threat in Terry McLaurin, who Washington ruled out early in the week with a quad injury. Without McLaurin, the Commanders don’t have an obvious threat to take the top off the defense in his place, and will likely have to rely more on the short-to-intermediate passing game to consistently move the chains. As the Seahawks know from experience, Samuel can be a real problem in that regard with his running back skills after the catch, though the results haven’t been there in that regard in his first year with the Commanders. McCaffrey, who formerly played quarterback and running back before transitioning to receiver at Rice, also can create issues with the ball in his hands and has flashed in spurts in his second season. Tackling immediately after the catch will be crucial for Seattle’s secondary, as missed tackles have plagued them this year at times and continuing that trend would give Washington a chance to steal the upset.
Seahawks center Jalen Sundell, guards Grey Zabel and Anthony Bradford versus Commanders defensive tackles Daron Payne, Javon Kinlaw, and Jer’Zhan Newton: As a unit, Seattle’s offensive line has made tangible improvements across the board in year one working with coach John Benton, including Zabel and Sundell combining to not give up a single sack in the first seven games. As a team, Seattle has only allowed nine sacks on Darnold, a remarkable number given the struggles the line has had protecting quarterbacks for much of the past decade-plus. But while the sack numbers have been impressive, the interior line has been far from perfect, as targeting in the run game remains a major work in progress for all three starters and Bradford has regressed in recent weeks in pass protection, currently ranking near the bottom of the league with a 95.5 Pass Block Efficiency rate while yielding 17 pressures in seven starts.
If there’s a clear area where the Commanders could have a significant advantage on Sunday night, the maligned interior for the Seahawks could face a stiff task dealing with Payne, Kinlaw, and Newton. While Payne only has one sack so far, he has produced 17 pressures and currently ranks fourth on the team with 12 run stops, per Pro Football Focus. Kinlaw, a familiar foe formerly drafted by the 49ers, has 13 run stops and 15 pressures to his name, giving Washington a solid one-two punch in the middle. Newton, a second round pick out of Illinois two years ago, has been shut out in the sacks column thus far, but he has a 9.4% Pass Rush Win rate, higher than his two veteran counterparts. His athleticism as a penetrating 3-tech could be a matchup problem, particularly against Bradford given his struggles with keeping quick rushers in front of him.
