Week 7 recap: Seahawks 20, Chiefs 3
Kansas City came to Lumen Field unbeaten, averaging more than 400 yards a game, with the league’s leading rusher in Kenneth Walker III. Seattle held the Chiefs to one field goal, 213 yards and 11 first downs, and kept them out of the red zone all night. On the other side, an offense that had turned the ball over ten times in three losses had one giveaway, converted 11 of 16 third downs and did not allow a sack. Seahawks 20, Chiefs 3. Per the club, it was the first game in Patrick Mahomes’ career as a starter in which Kansas City did not reach the red zone, and the 213 yards and 11 first downs were the Chiefs’ fewest in a Mahomes start. Seattle is 4-3, ends a two-game losing streak, and has eight days before Chicago visits for Monday Night Football.
How it happened
Kansas City’s first drive reached the Seattle 46, where an illegal shift on Travis Kelce wiped out a third-down catch by Walker, and the Chiefs punted. Seattle’s first drive and Kansas City’s second, a nine-play, 48-yard march that stalled at the Seattle 42, both ended in punts too.
Then Seattle took the ball at its own 7 and went 86 yards in 15 plays and 8:26. It converted third-and-9 twice, with an 11-yard catch by Cooper Kupp and a 10-yarder by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and third-and-7 with a 33-yard Smith-Njigba catch to the Kansas City 20. The drive stalled at the 7, and Jason Myers kicked a 25-yard field goal, 3-0 with 8:22 left in the half.
Nikko Remigio’s 44-yard kickoff return put Kansas City at its 42, and the Chiefs converted a fourth-and-1 at midfield with a Walker run. Two plays later Nick Emmanwori hit Mahomes as he threw on the run, and Ty Okada intercepted the pass at the Seattle 34. Seattle went 66 yards in ten plays: Sam Darnold scrambled 7 yards on third-and-6, and on third-and-9 from the Kansas City 28 he threw deep down the left side to Smith-Njigba, who was ruled out of bounds at the 1. Replay reversed it to a 28-yard touchdown, 10-0 with 1:44 left.
Kansas City went three-and-out, and Rashid Shaheed returned the punt 32 yards to the Seattle 36. Darnold hit Smith-Njigba for 21 yards and again for 28 to the Kansas City 2, but with 23 seconds left, on second-and-goal from the 3, his pass for Shaheed was intercepted in the end zone by Nohl Williams, who returned it 65 yards to the Seattle 44. Harrison Butker’s 58-yard try at the end of the half was short. It was 10-0 at halftime.
Seattle opened the second half with 13 plays and 57 yards, helped by a 17-yard catch by Eric Saubert, a 10-yard Darnold scramble on third-and-9 and a 12-yard catch by George Holani on third-and-10, and Myers made it 13-0 from 35 yards. Kansas City answered with its best drive, 13 plays and 44 yards with a fourth-and-1 conversion at its own 44, and on third-and-7 at the Seattle 30 Derick Hall sacked Mahomes, who fumbled and recovered. Butker kicked a 50-yarder, 13-3 with 1:42 left in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth Kansas City drove 60 yards to the Seattle 27, and on third-and-3 Mahomes’ pass for Cyrus Allen fell incomplete. Butker missed a 45-yard field goal wide right with 8:38 left. Seattle then went 65 yards in nine plays and 4:46, six of them Emanuel Wilson runs, and Wilson finished it with a 21-yard touchdown run on third-and-4, 20-3 with 3:47 left. Kansas City turned it over on downs at its own 45 when Kelce was stopped short on fourth-and-10, and Seattle ran out the last 3:13.
The numbers
| Seahawks | Chiefs | |
|---|---|---|
| Total yards | 410 | 213 |
| First downs | 24 | 11 |
| Rushing | 41 for 153 | 16 for 50 |
| Passing | 20 of 28, 257 yards | 19 of 33, 165 yards |
| Turnovers | 1 | 1 |
| Points off turnovers | 7 | 0 |
| Sacks | 1 (2 yards) | 0 |
| Third down | 11 of 16 | 3 of 11 |
| Fourth down | 1 of 1 | 2 of 3 |
| Red zone | 0 of 3 | 0 of 0 |
| Penalties | 4 for 20 | 2 for 15 |
| Time of possession | 35:51 | 24:09 |
Darnold went 20 of 28 for 257 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and ran twice for 17 yards, both scrambles for third-down conversions. Smith-Njigba caught nine of 12 targets for 150 yards and the touchdown; per the club it was his sixth 100-yard game in seven, he leads the league with eight touchdown catches, and with 867 yards he joins Jerry Rice (1986) and Cooper Kupp (2021) as the only players with 800 receiving yards and eight touchdowns through seven games. AJ Barner caught four for 42, and Kupp two for 20. Wilson ran 24 times for 100 yards and the touchdown.
On defense, Ernest Jones IV had nine tackles and Tyrice Knight eight, with a tackle for loss. Okada had the interception and five tackles, Hall the sack and two quarterback hits, and Emmanwori four tackles. Mahomes went 19 of 33 for 165 yards with no touchdowns and the interception. Walker ran 14 times for 36 yards and caught four passes for 21; per the club, Seattle has now gone 36 straight games, postseason included, without allowing a 100-yard rusher. Kelce and Noah Gray each had 44 receiving yards. For Kansas City, Drue Tranquill had 12 tackles and Nick Bolton 11, and Williams had the interception and ten tackles. The attendance was 68,740.
The passing yards in the table are the quarterbacks’ totals; ESPN’s team passing figure for Kansas City, net of the sack, is 163. Points off turnovers are counted from the play-by-play: Okada’s interception led to Seattle’s touchdown, and Williams’ interception led to Butker’s missed 58-yarder. Seattle’s red-zone line is three trips, two short field goals and the interception; both of its touchdowns came from outside the 20.
What decided it
The defense. Macdonald: “Our guys played great, man. They’re just a bunch of warriors.” And: “I put us in a couple of tough spots that they bailed me out of.” Ernest Jones IV: “We can play. We go out there, and that’s our goal, shut you down, shut your lights out.” On Walker, who came in with a league-high 665 rushing yards per the club, Macdonald said, “We have to play in waves. He’s still going to break tackles… So we had to get people to the football.” Devon Witherspoon: “We stopped the run really well, we played tougher across the board, and we played great complementary football today.”
Then the third downs. Seattle had been near the bottom of the league in third-down rate, per the club, and per NFL Research its 11 conversions were the team’s most since 1991, when play-by-play tracking began. Macdonald: “Third down has been a point of emphasis over the last few weeks, especially this week.” And the protection, after ten sacks in the previous two games. Grey Zabel: “Sam’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and when we protect him, and keep him upright, he’s one of the best guys in the league.” Kupp on Darnold: “He did an unbelievable job.”
What was not fixed was the red zone: three trips, six points. Macdonald: “I’m talking about procedural stuff, red-zone stuff, negative plays… All those things we’ve been attacking.” And on where a 4-3 team stands: “I think that they can feel we’re still a championship-caliber team.”
Our preview said Kansas City 24, Seattle 20, with no total lean, and the winner was wrong. Its test was the turnover battle: if Seattle won it, Seattle could win the game. The turnovers were even, one apiece, and Seattle won by 17 anyway, on the two things the preview called matchups to watch, protection and the defense against the best offense it had seen. Seattle covered as a 3-point favorite in our game-morning number and in DraftKings’ final number in ESPN’s game data, so it is now 2-3-2 against the spread, and the 23 points went under; the full record is on our odds page.
Injuries, and what comes next
Per the club, Shaheed (knee) did not play in the second half, Velus Jones Jr. (hamstring) did not return, and left tackle Charles Cross (ankle) was hurt in the fourth quarter and did not return. Macdonald had no update on Shaheed or Cross after the game. Drew Lock (elbow) was inactive and dressed as the emergency third quarterback, with Jalen Milroe the backup. Macdonald on Lock: “Not sure on the severity or how long it’s going to be, but it was best for us right now to try to calm it down the best we can, so Jalen was ready to go if we needed it.” Anthony Bradford, back from injured reserve at right guard, “got through the game well,” Macdonald said. Zach Charbonnet, Drake Thomas, Chazz Surratt and Connor O’Toole were inactive, and rookie Jadarian Price is now eligible to come off injured reserve. The first practice report for the Bears game is Thursday, October 29, on the injury report.
Around the division, San Francisco lost 29-20 at Atlanta and is 6-1, the Rams won 35-21 at Las Vegas and are 3-4, and Arizona lost 30-16 to Denver and is 2-5. Chicago, 5-2 after a 30-24 Thursday-night win over New England, visits Lumen Field on Monday, November 2, at 5:15 p.m. Pacific on ESPN. As of Monday morning, October 26, at 6:46 a.m. Pacific, DraftKings has Seattle by 3 with a total of 46.5, per ESPN’s game data. Our Week 8 preview has the pick, and the game day guide has how to watch and getting to Lumen Field.