Rapid Reaction: First Half Annihilation Guides Seahawks to 44-13 Blowout Win vs. Saints
SEATTLE, Wash. - Putting up a 40-burger for the first time since 2022, the Seattle Seahawks blew things wide open with a 21-point flurry early in the first quarter to coast to a dominant 44-13 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Playing one of the finest games of his career efficiency-wise, Sam Darnold completed 14 out of 18 pass attempts for 218 yards with touchdown passes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Tory Horton, while Ken Walker III plunged into the end zone twice for short touchdown runs. Derion Kendrick paced a stifling defensive effort with an interception and two pass breakups, while Byron Murphy II registered his third sack of the season in the win.
Here are five quick takeaways from the Seahawks’ blowout at Lumen Field:
1. While it wasn’t a perfect outing, the Seahawks didn’t have an empty offensive possession with starters.
Opening the flood gates just minutes into first quarter, Seattle ambushed New Orleans with a flurry of points, starting on the first series with the home team benefiting from a dumb penalty by defensive tackle Bryan Bresee that extended the drive after a third down incompletion. Cashing in, Darnold rolled out to his left on a bootleg play action pass and fired a bullet to Smith-Njigba, who did the rest turning upfield for a 12-yard score. After that, the rout was on with the Seahawks scoring touchdowns in each of their first four possessions to race out in front 35-3, punctuating each drive while in the red zone. Twice, Walker carved his way through congestion on short yardage situations for three and one-yard touchdowns.
Seattle didn’t take the foot off the gas, as Darnold dropped a perfect deep ball into the bucket to Smith-Njigba for a 45-yard gain while taking a roughing the passer penalty in the process, leading to a perfect fade ball to Horton for a 14-yard score early in the second quarter. A long field goal for Jason Myers closed out the first half with 38 points. They tacked on two more field goals in the third quarter before Darnold and many of the starters exited and traded in their helmets for ball caps, scoring on all seven of their possessions with a special teams touchdown sandwiched in between, averaging more than five points per possession during that span. Up until his final pass attempt, Darnold had a perfect passer rating, illustrating the efficiency of the offense moving the ball and putting points on the board all day long.
2. Masked by the scoreboard differential, Seattle’s run game takes a step back from Week 2.
It’s difficult to find much to complain about in a 31-point victory, but at the same time, as Macdonald loves to say, the Seahawks always are seeking edges and they’ll have room to grow offensively running the football. After a promising performance in Pittsburgh, Seattle rushed for just eight yards and 0.9 yards per carry in the first two quarters, including Walker getting shut down to a tune of seven yards on eight carries. Early on in particular, the offensive line struggled to win at the line of scrimmage with New Orleans flying to the ball, allowing leakage from defenders quickly after the snap and making life difficult for backs to find any room to operate.
With the game already decided midway through the first quarter, the Seahawks did find a little footing running the ball in the second half. Walker stayed in for most of the third quarter, fighting his way to 31 rushing yards on eight carries in that period. Still, they were held to under four yards per carry in those 15 minutes and even with garbage time carries by George Holani and Jacardia Wright, they barely reached 60 rushing yards as a team with a dreadful 2.5 yards per carry average and a fourth quarter fumble. In more competitive games, the run game will have to show up, giving Klint Kubiak and the offensive staff plenty to comb through seeking improvements for Thursday night in Arizona.
3. Mission accomplished bottling up lifelong Seahawks killer Alvin Kamara.
In the past three games against the Saints, the Seahawks couldn’t contain Kamara as a runner or a receiver, yielding 178 scrimmage yards to him on average in a trio of losses. But they never let the slippery back get rolling on Sunday and turned him into an afterthought, limiting the five-time Pro Bowler to just 41 yards and 2.9 yards per carry in the first half with swarming tackling from the defense as a whole, and with the exception of a 13-yard catch on third down that moved the chains, he was a complete non-factor. He ended the afternoon with 54 total yards on 19 touches, equating to just 2.8 yards per touch.
Overall, the Saints rushed for just 79 yards and a poor 2.9 yards per carry, as the Seahawks ensured they couldn’t get their best offensive weapon going and consistently put them in second and third and long situations. As part of the onslaught, three different players blasted Kamara in the backfield, including D’Anthony Bell, Ernest Jones, and Mike Morris, putting a bow on a dominant performance from the defensive line and front seven.
4. Pass rush started slow from a finishing standpoint, but picked it up after the half.
If Macdonald wants something to nitpick on the defensive side of the football, which he certainly will be looking for afterward, the Seahawks had numerous chances to get Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler down with quick pressures in the pocket and weren’t able to wrap him up for much of the first half. In the opening two quarters, they managed only two hits on the elusive quarterback and didn’t generate a single sack as he wiggled his way out of pressure numerous times to the frustration of players such as Boye Mafe and Derick Hall, who each had him lined up multiple times with nothing to show for it.
Fortunately, pressure started to finally get home in the second half with Seattle’s defensive line pinning their ears back with a 30-plus point lead. On one occasion, Rattler tried to scramble up the pocket from quick edge pressure, only to sprint into the lap of Byron Murphy II, who finished off his third sack in the past two weeks to force a punt. Later, safety Ty Okada and defensive tackle Leonard Williams combined for a split sack on third down, only for Williams to be flagged for a drive extending unnecessary roughness penalty on the quarterback. They wound up wrapping up the afternoon with eight hits on Rattler and a pair of sacks, helping limit New Orleans to a mere 13 points.
5. Calling special teams special on this afternoon would be understating on a criminal level.
Who knows if Jay Harbaugh has the quicks and nimbleness to do cartwheels, but if Seattle’s special teams coordinator has that type of athletic juice, he surely was doing those in the sky box in the first half. One week after Holani recovered a live ball in the end zone on kick coverage for a touchdown, Horton made history by catching a punt at the five-yard line and turned on the jets to sprint 95 yards for the longest return in the franchise record books. On the ensuing possession, after the Saints sputtered with three consecutive penalties, Bell came flying off the edge untouched and blocked Kai Kroeger’s punt, setting the home team up in the red zone for Walker to score a few plays later.
Continuing to make game changing plays on special teams, Dareke Young bolted 61 yards on a kick return past midfield immediately after New Orleans scored a field goal, setting Seattle’s offense up nicely again with Darnold throwing a touchdown to Horton a few snaps later. Later, Jason Myers tacked on a 56-yard field goal to expand the lead and went a perfect 3-for-3 on the day. Making contributions that wouldn’t necessarily show up in the box score, kudos to linebacker Chazz Surratt, who made a crucial block to spring Horton on his punt return for six and also blew up a kick return with a bone-jarring hit, highlighting as perfect of a half of special teams as you’ll see in the NFL. Drake Thomas and Brady Russell also added big hits on kick coverage in the second half, keeping things rolling smoothly for Harbaugh’s crew.
