The Seattle Seahawks dropped to the .500 mark at 3-3 for the first time this season, needing overtime to escape with a 17-14 loss to the Broncos on Thursday night. This was a primetime slugfest that felt like a throwback to the old AFC West days with those classic uniforms, but our Hawks, who were visiting Denver, just couldn’t seal the deal. We’ve now lost three of our last four games, and that swagger from earlier in the year? It’s definitely gone.
Darnold’s Deepening Dive: Is a Change Coming?
Man, Sam Darnold’s struggles since coming back from that glute injury are just tough to watch. He finished the night 27 of 51 for 278 yards, zero touchdown passes, and two back-breaking interceptions. Both picks came at the absolute worst times: one stopped a potential scoring drive in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, and the second one, in overtime, sealed our fate. That brings his season total to seven interceptions already! Denver’s defense had him under duress for most of the night, sacking him five times and just not letting him get comfortable down the field. Next Gen Stats show he was a brutal 6 of 19 for 47 yards and those two interceptions when pressured. Honestly, after watching that, you gotta wonder if the Seahawks are actually considering a change to Drew Lock at quarterback, especially with how well Lock reportedly played when Darnold was out injured. It’s a fair question for Head Coach Mike Macdonald, right?
JSN Shines While Denver Stumbles Forward
It wasn’t all bad news, though, because Jaxon Smith-Njigba exploded late in that game! Even with Broncos standout defensive backs Patrick Surtain II and Talanoa Hufanga sidelined, they still managed to slow JSN down early. But the reigning Offensive Player of the Year found his gear, finishing with an incredible 12 receptions for 134 yards. Coming into Thursday’s game, Smith-Njigba was leading the NFL with 583 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. The kid is special, and he’s proving it every week. On the other side, Denver’s offense, with Sean Payton back as offensive playcaller, leaned heavily on the running game to ease the pressure on Nix. Nix was efficient, going 17-of-27 for 107 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions, not even getting sacked. But even they struggled to close us out, totaling just 30 yards and six punts in the entire second half. Those Broncos are lucky, though. All four of their wins this season have come by seven points or fewer, and they’ve now won 14 straight single-score regular season games dating back to last season. Meanwhile, we’re just reeling.
This loss drops us to 3-3, and we’ve lost three of our last four. It’s time to dig deep and figure out what’s next for this team, especially with those quarterback questions looming. We need to turn this around, and fast. Go Hawks!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Fox Sports.
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