The Seattle Seahawks moved to 6-2 with one of the more impressive wins of the NFL season, a 38-14 victory over Washington on Sunday Night Football in which they at one point led by a commanding 31 points.
Stacy Rost: Seahawks create national buzz with primetime blowout
In the middle of Seattle’s win were a number of players who are eight games or less into their pro careers.
“This rookie class is so impressive in a way that’s much more than just contributions,” Seattle Sports’ Maura Dooley said during Monday’s Takeaways segment on Brock and Salk. “I don’t know where they’d be without some of these guys, especially with the injuries that they’ve suffered this year.”
That rookie class was in the spotlight in the primetime win.
Wide receiver Tory Horton, a fifth-round pick out of Colorado State, had four catches on four targets for 48 yards and a pair of touchdowns, which were the first two scores of the game. And he did that on a night where veteran receiver Cooper Kupp was inactive with heel and hamstring issues.
Someone said this is the rookie's game? 👀 @toryhorton11 TD
📺: @SNFonNBC pic.twitter.com/HUbdEELrjz
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 3, 2025
Tight end Elijah Arroyo, a second-rounder out of Miami, added two catches for 29 yards, including a 26-yarder that was his first career TD.
Second-round defensive back Nick Emmanwori (South Carolina) had six tackles including a tackle for loss as he continued to turn heads.
And Seattle’s first-round pick, left guard Grey Zabel (North Dakota State), was part of the offensive line that kept quarterback Sam Darnold from being sacked at all on Sunday. Zabel specifically has yet to allow a sack while starting all eight games for the Seahawks.
For Brock and Salk, the effectiveness of the 2025 rookies is emblematic not just of Seattle’s choices in April’s draft but also how in sync the whole of the organization is in head coach Mike Macdonald’s second season. The Seahawks are tied not just for first place in the NFC West but also for the top record in all of the NFC despite it being their first year since making a big change at quarterback and wide receiver.
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“There were a bunch of years in there where we talked about man, these drafts are just not giving them enough. It was almost a decade of that, and that’s totally changed,” Mike Salk said. “… What you got from the draft picks yesterday and throughout this season have been incredible.”
Longtime football broadcast analyst and former NFL QB Brock Huard explained that there seemed to be a concerted effort to “get on the same page” under Macdonald.
“(The Seahawks were) all trying to just assemble a staff to be at the Senior Bowl, to be at the combine, to be different than others,” Huard said. “Other teams don’t do that. They don’t send their coaches those places. And Mike was like, oh, over my dead body. We’re going to all get on the same page, you’re going to know exactly what I want, what I need in my system, and I’m going to listen to you guys. And boy, that back and forth has cultivated in an offseason for the ages as it sits right now.”
Dooley pointed to the teamwork by Macdonald and Seahawks president of football operations/general manager John Schneider.
“You have to give them credit, Macdonald and Schneider, for what they did this offseason in building a more cohesive coaching staff that goes along with their personnel,” she said.
Brock and Salk do a full half-hour of takeaways at 8:30 a.m. the morning after each Seahawks game. Hear this week’s takeaways in the player below, and catch Brock and Salk from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.
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