It’s week 9 of the NFL season, and the 3-5 Washington Commanders will be facing a 5-2 Seattle Seahawks team at home in Northwest Stadium in Landover, MD this Sunday at 8:20 pm ET. Other than losses against a full strength 49ers team in week 1 and a chaotic Bucs team in week 5, the Seahawks have controlled most of their games, including blowouts against the Steelers and Saints.
On offense, the Seahawks are coached by OC Klint Kubiak, a Shanahan disciple, son of Gary Kubiak, and former OC of the Saints last year. His offense is a very traditional Shanahan outside zone, under center, run heavy, play-action passing offense. The Seahawks have the 2nd-highest run rate in the league, despite having the 2nd-worst yards per carry in the league. Although they are inefficient running the ball, the Seahawks have been very efficient passing the ball, with the NFL’s highest yards per attempt passing. This passing attack has been greatly helped by WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who leads the NFL with 819 receiving yards so far this season and has a strong case for NFL offensive player of the year.
On defense, the Seahawks are coached by HC Mike Macdonald, former DC of the Ravens, and DC Aden Durde, former defensive line coach of the Cowboys. Perhaps unsurprising given that their DC is a former DL coach, the Seahawks defense is anchored around the excellent play of their defensive line. The Seahawks have been able to achieve the 6th-best QB pressure rate despite the 3rd-lowest blitz rate, meaning they are able to get pressure rushing four most of the time, and leave more players back in coverage to stop passing plays and explosive plays. The result is a defense that allows the NFL’s fewest rushing yards and 18th-fewest passing yards, so this is a good game for Jayden Daniels to be back, because he may be needed to carry the offense.
I asked John Gilbert of Field Gulls five questions to better understand the state of the Seahawks and what to look for in this game.
1) What have you seen out of Sam Darnold and what makes him such a good fit for Klint Kubiak’s play-action heavy, under-center offense?
The Seahawks use a good amount of 21 and 12 personnel packages, which has resulted in the offense seeing eight defenders in the box at one of the highest rates in the league. While that has limited the effectiveness of the run game, Darnold has absolutely feasted in expected run situations, getting the ball out quick and taking advantage of defenses that are more focused on stopping the run.
Seahawks QB Sam Darnold re-invigorated his career by taking the Vikings to the playoffs last year and is looking to do the same for the Seahawks this year.
Seahawks QB Sam Darnold re-invigorated his career by taking the Vikings to the playoffs last year and is looking to do the same for the Seahawks this year.
AP/Lindsey Wasson
The struggles he has faced this season have come when the offense is in situations where they effectively have to pass, and to that end the Seattle offense is last in the NFL in converting third and long (3rd & 7+ yards to go) in 2025.
2) Despite having a pair of good RBs and a Shanahan offense that should favor the run game, the Seahawks have been very inefficient at running the ball, with the 2nd-worst YPC in the NFL. Why has the run game been stalling?
As noted above, the Seahawks have invited defenses to stack the box, with Zach Charbonnet running into boxes of 8 or more defenders on 44.44% of his carries and Ken Walker doing the same on 33.68% of his rushing attempts per NFL Next Gen Stats. Add in a very young and inexperienced offensive line playing in a new system under new coaches, and it’s been a recipe for the run game to sputter at times.
As for the why, it’s almost as if Kubiak’s strategy has been to continue to invite defenses to stack the box because Kubiak continues to have the offense regularly run into those heavy boxes, as if he wants the run game to suffer so that they can create explosives in the passing game. Much of the damage Darnold has come through the air so far this season has come against defenses loaded up to stop the run game.
3) Washington’s Special Teams Coordinator Larry Izzo was STC of the Seahawks from 2021-2023. What did you think about Izzo during his time there?
Larry Izzo was a fantastic special teams coordinator for the Seahawks during his time with the team, and there was no shortage of fans hoping that Izzo would be retained when the team fired Pete Carroll and brought in Mike Macdonald. Unfortunately for those fans hoping for that outcome, even though the Seahawks hired Macdonald before the Commanders hired Dan Quinn, the Commanders quickly scooped up Izzo, with Seattle hiring Jay Harbaugh to the position.
4) Who is one Seahawks player on offense and one player on defense that Washington fans probably don’t know much about, but should?
On offense the name for Commanders fans to know is AJ Barner. The second year tight end hasn’t been putting up huge numbers, but he’s a very good blocker and Kubiak has had a tendency to turn to Barner in high leverage situations. Commanders fans no doubt know Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who leads the league in receiving yards through the first eight weeks of the season, but Barner is tied with JSN for the team lead in receiving touchdowns with four. In addition, Barner lines up under center for the Seahawks version of the tush push, which is how a tight end has three carries for six yards on the season, with all three carries converting a third or fourth down and short.
Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner warms up during the NFL football team’s training camp in Renton, Wash.
Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner warms up during the NFL football team’s training camp in Renton, Wash.
Lindsey Wasson, Associated Press
When Seattle is on defense, the name Commanders fans might hear that they are not familiar with is Drake Thomas. Thomas came into the season fighting for a roster spot, but he’s taken over the second off ball linebacker spot opposite Ernest Jones from Tyrice Knight, and has been a key component in the defense. He’s not going to make the Pro Bowl, but he’ll be making enough plays against the run and in coverage that Commanders fans will know his name by the time the game ends.
5) How should Washington go about gameplanning this matchup on both sides of the ball?
Most opponents have stacked the box and worried about stopping the Seahawks ground attack, and that is when Darnold and JSN have done a huge amount of their damage. If the Commanders want to slow the Seattle offense, the best way to do so might be to invite Seattle to run the ball regularly and worry about preventing explosives.
The Seattle rushing attack has been one of the worst in the league, but they’ve gutted opposing defenses with explosives, so stopping Darnold and company starts and ends with preventing those explosives that have carried the Seahawks offense so far in 2025.
A companion article to this with my answers to John’s questions will be linked here as soon as it is available.
Thanks again to John Gilbert for taking time out of his day to answer our questions about the Seahawks.