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# Report Card: Top Performers From Seahawks 20-12 Victory Over Jaguars
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/report-card-top-performers-seattle-seahawks-jacksonville-jaguars/
- Published: 2025-10-15T04:25:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:57:43.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Seahawks, Byron Murphy II, Leonard Williams, Demarcus Lawrence, Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Continuing their dominance away from Lumen Field, the Seattle Seahawks took care of business on the road against a quality opponent to hold on for a 20-12 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium.

Who shined brightest in the latest road triumph for coach Mike Macdonald’s squad in Jacksonville? Here are my top five grades from a decisive bounce-back win that sent Seattle to a 4-2 record:

### Byron Murphy II

**Overall Grade**: 91.0 (Pass Rush 94, Tackling 87, Run Defense 91)

Taking another step in his breakout sophomore season, the Jaguars didn’t have an answer when it came to keeping Murphy out of the backfield or away from Trevor Lawrence on Sunday. On the very first play from scrimmage, after working off multiple blocks coming from 1-tech nose tackle alignment, the former first-round pick out of Texas showed off his rare quickness and burst at 6-1, 300-pounds, chasing down the quarterback and tripping him up from behind for a sack. He forced an incompletion on the ensuing drive with another big hit on Lawrence, leading to a second consecutive punt for the home team.

Shortly after the Seahawks extended their lead to begin the third quarter with a Cooper Kupp touchdown catch, Murphy continued to be a game wrecker, finding his way to Lawrence on back-to-back snaps for partial sacks. On the first rush, after attempting to rip past left guard Ezra Cleveland upfield, he worked back to chase down the quarterback from behind to pair up with Uchenna Nwosu for the sack. On the ensuing play, with Seattle running a tackle/end exchange stunt, he occupied both the guard and tackle as Nwosu looped back inside behind him, and with the tackle getting caught off balance, he had a straight line to the quarterback and crashed down with Demarcus Lawrence for the drive-ending sack. He wrapped up an utterly dominant outing with two sacks, four quarterback hits, and one run stop that netted only two yards in the win.

### Jaxon Smith-Njigba

**Overall Grade**: 90.0 (Receiving 92, Run Blocking 66\*)

*\*Weighted for 13 run blocking reps.*

Running open all over the field from the outset with slick route running that left cornerbacks in pretzels, Smith-Njigba proved to be a one-man show in the first half, catching five of Sam Darnold’s first eight completions in the opening half. After going three-and-out on their first two series, he started his reign of terror on the Jaguars’ secondary with an 18-yard reception along the sideline and a 32-yard catch and run over the middle to set up a Jason Myers field goal. Moments later, following a quick possession by the Seahawks’ defense that ended in a punt, the star wideout struck again, rocketing past cornerback Greg Newsome and safety Andrew Winguard on a skinny post for a 61-yard touchdown reception to put the visitors ahead 10-6.

Though he didn’t find the end zone again, Smith-Njigba continued to make plays after halftime, moving the chains on a 13-yard reception that led to Kupp’s touchdown on the opening series of the third quarter. He added another explosive downfield reception later in the quarter, craftily getting both feet down inbounds after selling an in-breaking route before cutting back outside for a 20-yard gain. He wound up finishing with half of Seattle’s receptions for 162 yards and north of 20 yards per catch, establishing a new franchise record for the most receiving yards in the first six games of a season in the process.

### Demarcus Lawrence

**Overall Grade**: 90.0 (Pass Rush 93, Tackling 86, Run Defense 90)

Back from a one-game absence due to a thigh injury, Lawrence didn’t miss a beat returning to action, constantly swarming Lawrence and Jacksonville’s running backs in a highly-disruptive performance. Using his physicality and instincts to regularly get into the backfield, he read a swing pass to Travis Etienne out of the backfield from his wide-9 alignment and wrapped the running back up for a seven-yard loss, one of three stops made against the run game netting two or fewer yards. Aside from a roughing the passer penalty, he played a near-perfect first half, making up for that mistake on a tackle/end stunt where he looped back inside behind Leonard Williams and crashed inside on Trevor Lawrence for his first sack, leading to a missed 50-yard field goal by Cam Little.

Coming out of the break, Lawrence continued his reign of terror in Duval County, bending around the edge against right tackle Anton Harrison before collapsing down on the quarterback along with Murphy for a partial sack. He added two more his on Trevor Lawrence over the remainder of the half, blasting him on an 11-yard completion before ripping past Cleveland on an overloaded right side to team up with Nwosu to give him two total sacks on the afternoon. Summing up his afternoon of destruction, he finished second on the Seahawks with seven pressures and led the team with five quarterback hits while adding a tackle for loss for good measure, stuffing the box score with impactful, game-changing plays.

### Leonard Williams

**Overall Grade**: 87.5 (Pass Rush 88, Tackling 86, Run Defense 86)

Rebounding from an uncharacteristic quiet game against the Buccaneers one week earlier, while Williams didn’t have the sack numbers Murphy or Lawrence did, “Big Cat” played his own key role in a pass rushing onslaught. Already generating several pressures in the first quarter, the veteran defensive tackle finally got home for the first time midway through the second quarter from wide-9 alignment out of an overloaded formation, overwhelming tackle Walker Little with a bull rush before swimming inside past him to join Nwosu for a third down split sack that resulted in a punt.

Interestingly, Williams didn’t record a single statistic after that half sack, but that doesn’t do his play justice at all. His ability to fly upfield on a stunt and occupy two blockers opened the back door for Lawrence to shoot behind him untouched for a sack, while his presence drew extra attention that led to several other sacks for teammates along the defensive line and he forced Lawrence out of the pocket on multiple occasions. He also made it difficult for Jacksonville to get much traction running the football between the tackles, finishing with a mere 31 yards and under three yards per carry on inside runs, turning in an outing that vastly surpassed his final numbers with eight pressures and half a sack.

### Sam Darnold

**Overall Grade**: 85.0 (Passing 84, Rushing 86)

Compared to his masterpiece one week earlier against Tampa Bay, Darnold wasn’t quite as sharp with a completion rate that dipped under 60 percent for the first time in a game this season. But away from his accuracy not being quite on par with the rest of his season to this point, he continued to excel shredding the Jaguars with downfield throws, particularly to Smith-Njigba. He couldn’t have thrown a more perfect ball on the 61-yard touchdown strike to his superstar receiver, unloading the play action pass right into Smith-Njigba’s hands in stride, and he added a clutch first down scramble to set up a field goal for Myers earlier in the quarter.

Following halftime, Darnold had an up-and-down second half, but he started and finished on a high note. Leading the Seahawks to six points on the opening possession, he linked up with Kupp on a beautifully thrown seam ball for a 29-yard gain and two plays later, the veteran duo connected again on a perfect over the shoulder throw from 11 yards out to push the lead to 14 points. Sandwiched around four punts, which in part happened due to pass protection breakdowns, he delivered a game-icing 61-yard completion off play action to tight end AJ Barner inside three minutes to play, coming through with the finishing play that he failed to produce one week earlier to put the Jaguars away for good and clinch a third straight road win. He finished with 295 passing yards, 10.9 yards per attempt, and most importantly, no turnovers.