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# Rapid Reaction: Seahawks Use Second Half Explosion to Put Away Falcons in 37-9 Road Win
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/rapid-reaction-seattle-seahawks-second-half-explosion-atlanta-falcons/
- Published: 2025-12-07T21:49:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:16:55.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Game Day, Seahawks, Rashid Shaheed, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sam Darnold, Nick Emmanwori, Devon Witherspoon, Cooper Kupp

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="4509"\]

![  Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) runs past Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. (24) in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/usatsi_27765195-format-original-2.jpg)

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) runs past Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. (24) in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images \[/caption\]

ATLANTA, Ga. - Though they started off slow out of the gate and went into the half tied in a low-scoring affair, the Seattle Seahawks woke up with a scintillating second half performance, outscoring the Atlanta Falcons by 28 in the second half to cruise to a 37-9 road win.

Turning in one of his best games of the season, Sam Darnold threw for 249 yards with three touchdown tosses, finding Jaxon Smith-Njigba on two of those plays, while averaging a healthy 8.3 yards per attempt. Rashid Shaheed ripped off a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the third quarter and a stifling Seahawks defense forced three turnovers in the final two quarters, including interceptions by cornerback Devon Witherspoon and safety Nick Emmanwori as the team held an opponent to under 10 points for the second straight week.

Looking back at Seattle’s second half surge at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, here are five takeaways from the team’s 10th win of the season:

**1\. Darnold, Seattle’s offensive line shake off another sluggish start with strong final two quarters.**

After only finding the end zone on offense once in last week’s win over Minnesota, Seattle’s recent offensive swoon carried over into another week, starting with a dreadful opening possession that featured two negative runs and a sack on Darnold before a punt by Michael Dickson from the end zone. Two possessions later, Darnold tried to squeeze a pass downfield to tight end Elijah Arroyo, only for cornerback Mike Hughes to intercept him in plus territory on a questionable decision. Two field goals by Jason Myers were all the team could muster going into the break knotted at 6-6.

Fortunately, the Seahawks made some quality adjustments coming out of the break, and after being handed a seven-point lead on a kick return from Shaheed, Darnold got to work hitting his favorite target. On their first offensive drive of the third quarter, he linked up with Smith-Njigba for a 30-yard completion on a crosser and then hit him again over the middle for a 28-yard score. Then at the beginning of the fourth quarter, he dumped it off to Kupp for an 11-yard score, later adding a third touchdown toss after climbing the pocket on 3rd and goal to hit Smith-Njigba again for six with the blowout commencing and the lead ballooning to 28\. Most importantly, Darnold wasn’t sacked once in the second half as the offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage and the quarterback used his legs in timely fashion to escape pressure when it was coming his direction, a big development after struggling in that area in recent weeks.

**2\. Jaxon Smith-Njigba returns to All-Pro form, awakens the offense coming out of the break.**

At the center of Seattle’s uncharacteristically subpar offensive performance a week ago, Smith-Njigba got shutdown for the first time during a historic season thus far, catching just two passes for 23 yards and not having any receptions until the third quarter. Some of that had to do with Darnold being under siege, preventing opportunities to even look for him downfield. He surpassed those numbers before halftime in Atlanta, but his stat line of four receptions for 30 yards with a rush for negative yardage was still far from typical production as the Seahawks scored just six points in the first 30 minutes.

But a top-tier receiver can only be held down for so long and with offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak doing a better job of mixing in play action passes as well as moving the pocket with bootlegs, Darnold started to find his groove with his best receiver out of the break. Smith-Njigba toasted the Falcons’ secondary on back-to-back explosive receptions to open the second half, winning inside on a crossing route with his quarterback hitting him in stride for a 30-yard strike. Two plays later, he got a step on defender A.J. Terrell inside, breaking a tackle and taking advantage of poor pursuit angles by multiple Atlanta players, including safety Xavier Watts, coasting his way into the end zone to push Seattle’s lead to 20-6\. Later in the half, after Darnold pulled off a Houdini act stepping up in the pocket to avoid several pass rushers, Smith-Njigba worked back to his left to come open for the quick four-yard score, giving him nine on the season.

**3\. Turning in a machine-like performance, Nick Emmanwori takes another star turn for ‘Hawks.**

Since coming back from an ankle sprain that cost him three games early in his rookie season, Emmanwori has been a major factor in Seattle’s defensive excellence, lining up everywhere from edge rusher to deep safety in the process. That versatility has allowed Mike Macdonald to open up the playbook, mixing and matching his new Terminator clone with increasing responsibilities by week as he has become more comfortable with everything being asked of him. But up until Sunday, the star rookie had yet to have many “splash” plays without any interceptions and just a partial sack, which put his Rookie of the Year candidacy in question.

However, Emmanwori may have pushed himself into front-runner status in that regard with one of the most complete outings by a player in NFL history in Atlanta. Joining teammate Leonard Williams - who achieved the feat against the Jets last season - as only the second player in NFL history to post such a stat line, the second-round pick out of South Carolina recorded an interception, a sack, a tackle for loss, and a blocked field goal in the same game, wreaking havoc all over the field. He got started with his historic day by blocking Zane Gonzalez’s field goal attempt at the 7:38 mark in the second quarter, denying the Falcons points off of Darnold’s interception. In the second half, aided by a tipped ball off cornerback Devon Witherspoon’s hands, he maintained concentration to pick off a Kirk Cousins pass that initially bounced off his chest, corralling it as he went to the ground for his first career pick. Putting the cherry on top, a well-executed blitz ended with his first full sack, putting an exclamation point on another dominant defensive outing for the Seahawks.

**4\. Playing out of his mind, disruptive Devon Witherspoon at the center of turnover frenzy.**

Emmanwori will be the talk of the town for national pundits - and he should be - given the ridiculous stat line that he posted in Seattle’s latest blowout win. But it would be a mistake not to single out Witherspoon in a similar vein, as the former top-five pick played like a man possessed from the start of the game to the finish, coming up with clutch plays in crucial situations in the second help to help his team quickly create separation on the scoreboard. Nursing a seven-point lead after Shaheed’s touchdown, the Seahawks allowed the Falcons to march into the red zone on their first offensive possession behind strong running from Bijan Robinson and a 26-yard catch by Kyle Pitts. Needing just one yard to move the chains from the Seattle 18-yard line, Robinson plunged forward, only for defensive tackle Jarran Reed to punch the ball out with his club on his right hand, allowing Witherspoon to recover the fumble that led to Smith-Njigba’s first touchdown.

On the very next series, Witherspoon put himself in prime position to defend Pitts on a curl route, undercutting Cousins’ throw for a deflection that ultimately ended up in Emmanwori’s hands for an interception. After the Seahawks tacked on a third Myers field goal off of that turnover and the defense held the Falcons to a field goal on the next series, the feisty cornerback struck again early in the fourth quarter, this time blowing up a third down screen attempt from Cousins that bounced off of multiple players before winding up in Witherspoon’s hands for his first pick of the season. This latest turnover set up Darnold with great field position and he cashed in with a touchdown toss to Kupp, turning the three turnovers caused or finished by Witherspoon to net 17 points on the scoreboard. It was an utterly dominant performance and a friendly reminder of just how scary good the third-year defender can be when he’s fully healthy.

**5\. Rashid Shaheed flashes the speed, ignites special teams to start breaking game open.**

Badly needing a spark after a lackluster offensive showing in the first half, Shaheed didn’t get the ball rolling initially in the passing game, but he found a way to boost his team in the third phase of the game. After catching the opening kickoff of the second half on the run at the goal line, the speedy playmaker found a seam at the 30-yard line thanks to blocks from Cody White and Mike Morris and slipped through an arm tackle, pitting him one-on-one against Gonzalez, quickly sprinting past the kicker with nobody having a shot to catch him, racing 100 yards for the touchdown to put the Seahawks in front for the first time all afternoon. That single play seemed to wake up the entire football team, and the fourth-year receiver made sure to make an impact on offense as the game wore on.

Coming through in big moments on third down, Shaheed caught a dump off from Darnold on 3rd and 2 in the third quarter and picked up six yards, extending the drive to make way from Smith-Njigba’s 28 and 30-yard receptions on a touchdown drive. Shortly after Witherspoon’s pick in the fourth quarter, he came uncovered on 3rd and 6 on a sail route with the Falcons having two defenders dive down on Kupp on a short crosser, and Darnold connected with him for a 33-yard completion into Atlanta territory. Moments later, that explosive play led to Kupp’s touchdown, increasing the lead to 21 points with a little over 12 minutes left to play. For the game, he produced four catches for 67 yards on offense along with 148 yards and a touchdown on three kick returns, easily enjoying his best game as a Seahawk in the type of breakout performance that could put opponents on notice with four weeks left in the regular season.