The Seahawks head into Thursday night in Denver with a lot to sort out, and most of it starts with Sam Darnold. He’s been asked to carry an offense that hasn’t looked nearly as smooth as it did last season, and the cracks showed again in the Week 5 32-29 loss to the undefeated 49ers. Darnold threw two interceptions in that one, and Seattle never quite recovered.
He hasn’t hidden from the mess. After the defeat, Darnold said he “had to be better at taking care of the football.”
That accountability earned respect from Mike Macdonald, who praised his quarterback for owning the problem. “When your quarterback is one of those guys leading the charge saying, ‘Hey, I got to do X, Y and Z better,' ” Macdonald said, per The Athletic.
“I think it sets the table for everybody else that played to have the same mentality. And, I think if you have that same mentality, you got a really good chance to improve.”
Seattle’s issues go beyond the passing game, though. The backfield is in rough shape, with Zach Charbonnet and rookie Jadarian Price unavailable.
Charbonnet has been out with a knee injury since January and is not expected to play against the Broncos, while Price is dealing with a chest injury. That leaves Emanuel Wilson as the backup option, and his 73 carries for 251 yards and 2 TDs underscore how thin the ground game has become.
That matters because the Seahawks would look a lot different if they could lean on the run the way they expected. Instead, Darnold is dealing with the pressure of doing more with less.
Even so, he still has Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp to work with, and Smith-Njigba remains the centerpiece. He has 37 catches on 49 targets for 583 yards and 7 TDs, with a long of 82 yards.
He also missed a crucial late fourth-quarter catch against San Francisco when Seattle was trying to set up a tying field goal.
Look for Smith-Njigba to come out aggressive in this one and make an impact against Denver.
Seattle will also need Kupp and tight end A.J. Barner to take some of the burden off Smith-Njigba. If they do, it could swing the game.
Denver has plenty to clean up on offense, too. The Broncos are averaging just 269.0 yards per game, which ranks 30th in the league, and Sean Payton has already pulled play-calling duties away from offensive coordinator Davis Webb. Bo Nix and company stumbled out of the gate against the Chiefs in the opener, dropped a Week 4 game to the 49ers, and then had to grind out a win over the winless Chargers in Week 5.
In that 23-17 victory, the Broncos managed only 224 yards, and Nix was held to 123 passing yards with a touchdown. Still, he believes the connection with Jaylen Waddle is about to take off. Waddle has only 18 catches for 204 yards and 1 TD so far, but he remains one of the league’s best deep threats.
That kind of breakout does not look likely Thursday night. Seattle’s defense ranks first in both yards allowed and passing yards allowed, and that’s the kind of unit that can smother an opponent when the offense is still searching for rhythm.
Both teams need the win, but the Seahawks have the edge where it matters most: on defense. They’re already behind the 49ers, and another loss would make the climb tougher. Denver is trying to keep pace with the Chiefs after its comeback win over the Rams in Week 3, but Seattle has that film now and won’t be as easy to wear down.
Expect the Seahawks to make the key stops late and leave Denver with a narrow win.
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