The Seattle Seahawks sent their home crowd happy on Monday night after the Seattle fanbase was devastated by the Mariners loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Seahawks beat the Houston Texans, 27-19, on Monday Night Football to improve to 5-2 on the season.
Seattle's defense led the way, creating chaos for Texans' quarterback C.J. Stroud all night long. Stroud completed less than half of his passes and had an interception in the game.
Stroud searches for answers after loss
The Texans had won two straight games, scoring a combined 70 points, and it looked like the offense had finally figured things out. However, those games were against an injury-riddled Baltimore Ravens' defense and the 1-6 Tennessee Titans.
Prior to that, the Texans started the year 0-3 and hadn't scored more than 20 points in a game. That was more like the story on Monday Night Football.
The Seahawks defense has been lights out this season with the exception of Week 5 against Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Other than that, the Seahawks are 5-0 and have not allowed more than 20 points in a game.
After Monday's contest Stroud gave an explanation as to what went wrong for Houston.
The Seahawks remain the #1 ranked DVOA team in the NFL.
Overall: 1st
Offense: 7th
Defense: 2nd
Special Teams: 1st
Passing Offense: 2nd
Rushing Offense: 23rd
Passing Defense: 6th
Rushing Defense: 2nd
Seattle's starting secondary has played 4 snaps together all season. pic.twitter.com/RxNm7jVIFA
— Brian Nemhauser (@hawkblogger) October 21, 2025
"It was a lot of things. First, I've got to point to myself. Missing a couple of throws. I've got to work through the pressure," Stroud said (h/t SI.com). "They're going to bring some blitzes, got to just do some things to run some different schemes, I think would help. But, I just think that we didn't catch a rhythm."
"It starts with me, and I've got to do a better job of distributing the ball better. When I have good pockets, I make sure I'm getting the ball out on time and to the right guys. I look inward, and then there are some other things we'll watch film and get better at."
Stroud noted that he has to be better with the ball in his hand and decision making. However, it's not all on the young quarterback.
The offensive line has been rough in Houston, and has been for years. When Stroud doesn't have time in the pocket, it makes it hard to get the ball to the right place and make winning decisions.
The @Seahawks defense vs the Texans:
🔵 3 sacks
🟢 7 QB Hits
🔵 10 TFL
🟢 12 passes defensed
🔵 INT pic.twitter.com/TpQxqMVJl9
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) October 21, 2025
The Texans' quarterback also mentioned the offensive system may be holding the team back.
"I think the type of offense we're running is, 'death by a thousand cuts,' and sometimes, when you live by a sword, it's hard, because you're not taking a bunch of deep, downfield shots," Stroud said (h/t SI.com). "But, you're asked to be really good on first, second down time and time and time again."
"It's something that we've got to get better at. It's still new to a lot of us, but I think we can be better at that, and that would definitely help."
Seahawks-Texans notes (cont.)
- Seahawks should have won by 3+ TDs. D-line annihilated the Texans' o-line all night
- JSN got the best of Stingley and anyone else the Texans put on him
- Playcalling was awful in the 2nd half. Run the ball when you've got a 2 score lead in 4th Q
— Neema Hodjat (@NeemaHodjatNFL) October 21, 2025
Despite the Seahawks' eight point win, the game was not as close as the score made it seem. However, the Texans aren't the first offense Seattle has shut down.
The Seahawks will have another challenge with the Washington Commanders on Sunday Night Football in Week 8. However, quarterback Jayden Daniels' status is up in the air.
As for the Texans, the upcoming schedule doesn't get any easier. After facing a gauntlet in the Seahawks' defense on Monday night, Houston will face the San Francisco 49ers next week and the Denver Broncos after that.
The Texans are going to need to figure out an offensive solution quickly, or their season may end quicker than they'd hoped for.
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