The Seattle Seahawks sent a clear message in Week 7, rolling past the Kansas City Chiefs 20-3 on Sunday Night Football.
After dropping two straight, Seattle needed a clean response, and it got one. The defense set the tone early and the offense did enough behind a big night from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, while Kansas City never found much room to breathe.
Smith-Njigba kept building on his breakout season with another huge performance. The NFL’s leading receiver finished with 150 yards on nine catches and a touchdown, and he did it against a Chiefs defense that had no answer for him. Nights like that only strengthen the case that JSN is operating as the best wideout in the game right now.
Seattle’s front seven did its part too, making life miserable for Kansas City on the ground. Kenneth Walker III entered the game averaging 133 rushing yards per contest, but the Seahawks held him to 36 yards on 14 carries, which came out to just 2.6 yards per attempt. By taking away the Chiefs’ top weapon, Seattle took control of the game and never let go.
Emanuel Wilson also turned in one of his best outings of the season. With Walker bottled up, Wilson ran for 82 yards on 20 carries and added a touchdown in the fourth quarter to help finish the job. He could lose some work in the coming weeks when Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price return from injury, but he made a strong case for a steady role in the offense.
Ty Okada delivered the Seahawks’ only turnover of the night, and it came at a perfect time. His second-quarter interception stopped Kansas City as it was driving into Seattle territory, swung momentum the Seahawks’ way, and led to a touchdown on the very next possession. That play loomed large in how the night unfolded.
The one major setback for Seattle came with Rashid Shaheed, who left with a knee injury and did not return. The extent of the injury remains unclear, but it was the lone blemish on an otherwise dominant Seahawks night.
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Seahawks Offense Took Another Hit At The Worst Possible Time
Seattles offense was already working with a careful, ball-control plan, and the personnel losses only made the margin for error thinner. The Seahawks finished with 87 rushing yards and 257 through the air while trying to manage the game late, but the picture got shakier when wide receiver Rashid Shaheed was ruled out for the rest of the night and running back Velus Jones Jr. went down with a hamstring injury.
Zach Charbonnets lingering knee issue adds another layer to the concern, because the Seahawks were already leaning on a methodical approach to keep things in reach. They had a late lead before the opponent stretched it out, and now Seattle has to sort through more questions about health and depth at exactly the moment it needed stability most. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Added Insult To Chiefs First Loss In Brutal Fashion
The Seahawks did more than hand Kansas City its first loss of the season in a 20-3 rout. They also turned a milestone night for Travis Kelce into one of the more memorable postgame social media moments of the year, after the tight end moved past Tony Gonzalez for the most combined regular-season and playoff receiving yards by a tight end.
Seattles jab landed after the game, when the teams social account leaned into Kelces profile off the field with a reference to Taylor Swift, his wife, along with a friendship bracelet image and a lyric quote from one of her songs. It was a sharp, very public bit of shade attached to a frustrating afternoon for the Chiefs, and it added another layer to a loss that already stung in more ways than one. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Suddenly Face A Rashid Shaheed Concern They Didnt Expect
Rashid Shaheeds afternoon took an unexpected turn in the third quarter when the Seahawks receiver exited with a knee injury and headed to the locker room with a trainer. He was quickly listed as questionable to return, leaving Seattle to sort through the immediate impact of losing one of its most dynamic playmakers in the middle of the game.
The Seahawks have already had to adjust their offensive approach without him, a reminder of how quickly a game plan can change when a key receiver is unavailable. His status will be one of the bigger things to monitor as Seattle tries to navigate the rest of the game and, if needed, plan ahead for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]