Mookie AlexanderMon, December 1, 2025 at 3:35 AM UTC·11 min readYou know the Seattle Seahawks put in a dominant defensive play when the offense can stay on the struggle bus all afternoon and it’s still a 26-0 win in the end. There was really no chance for the Minnesota Vikings from the minute Max Brosmer YOLO-flipped an early Christmas gift to Ernest Jones IV for the pick-six. They’d just gotten a takeaway down 3-0 with a chance for the lead or a tie and somehow ended up down 10-0.
Doesn’t it feel great to see a Seahawks defense make an overmatched opponent look feckless? That’s what we got on Sunday. There was barely a sliver of daylight for the Vikings to do anything offensively, such that the Seahawks offense didn’t really need to do a whole lot to make the win comfortable.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLet’s get to Winners and Losers to wrap up November.
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Seattle Seahawks Winners
Ernest Jones IV for All-Pro
First of all, it sounds like Jones was dinged up a tad but not super seriously in garbage time. Two interceptions, two passes defenses, seven tackles, and a house call that essentially slammed the door on the Vikings before the first half was over. Jones is one of the best linebackers in the league and he has five interceptions on the year, which is insane for an off-ball backer. He’s everywhere and doing everything at an elite level, which ought to net him All-Pro consideration.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Seahawks defensive line is absurdly dominant
Another sack for Leonard Williams, another sack for Byron Murphy II, another one for DeMarcus Lawrence, a half-sack for Uchenna Nwosu, and basically no explosive runs allowed until garbage time. Maybe the Seahawks don’t have the best defense in the NFL—I’d be inclined to lean toward the Houston Texans—but how many defensive lines are you taking over this group?
And to think, Jarran Reed is still on IR.
DeMarcus Lawrence has discovered the fountain of youth
Ernest doesn’t get his pick-six without Lawrence sniffing out that 4th and 1 bootleg and getting the pressure on Brosmer. His hustle play to force that fumble on Aaron Jones was awesome. For good measure, Lawrence did get a sack on the next drive after the near-sack on the Jones touchdown. Lawrence has been as good as advertised and then some, which was the best case scenario given his age and the fact that he was coming off an injury-shortened season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDrake Thomas is just ridiculously fun to watch
When No. 42 is coming downhill and you have the football, prepare for pain. Thomas has 10 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks on the season, all while not even getting more consistent time on the field until Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals. Kam Chancellor might have that ‘Bam Bam’ moniker, but Thomas might as well play like he has a club in his hand and he’s ready to swing at someone.
Ty Okada is on the spot again
Props to Ty Okada for starting after it looked like his oblique injury would cause him to miss time. The Julian Love substitute was there to recover Aaron Jones’ fumble along the sideline, giving Okada his second turnover involvement of the season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCoby Bryant is going to make bank in free agency
Whether the Seahawks keep him or he goes elsewhere, Bryant continues to be a very solid safety after starting his career as a slot corner. Bryant played centerfield for his third interception on the year, and next week he gets to go to the site of his first career interception.
Riq Woolen finally gets one!
Woolen deserved an interception after his strong play since returning from his early October concussion. He undercut the route and recorded his first pick since Week 17 against the Chicago Bears last Boxing Day. Just rewards for a stretch of high-level performance that has come without penalties or serious lapses in concentration…. well, almost. We’ll get to that later.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA.J. Barner is Seattle’s second-best receiving option
Barner caught four passes for 31 yards and converted on another ‘Barn Yard’ push. With 37 receptions, Barner only trails Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the team in receptions, and he’s looking like the best all-around tight end the Seahawks have had since Zach Miller.
Nick Kallerup continues to impress in the run game
An unsung rookie is undrafted tight end Nick Kallerup, who has effectively replaced the injured Eric Saubert as the TE3. Look at how he owns Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy on Zach Charbonnet’s touchdown run.
I don’t believe Saubert returns to the lineup this season. Kallerup has won the TE3 job and can effectively be the younger Saubert for Seattle moving forward. Will there be mistakes? Yes, including on the strip-sack turnover, but he’s a rookie and I don’t expect perfection. I’ve seen a lot from Kallerup in recent weeks to believe he can be a quality contributor to this offense.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementKenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet combined for a good game
While Walker had the bulk of the carries early and Charbonnet took the reins late, if you combined their two outings you have 108 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown from Kennach Charkernet. K9 also had three catches for 18 yards, getting some good yardage on a screen pass on Seattle’s second play from scrimmage. He also just about had an 80-yard TD if not for a last-ditch tackle by Harrison Smith. I think the run game is due for a breakthrough very soon.
Jason Myers is in a groove
The only missed field goal for Myers since the bye week was the 61-yarder against the Los Angeles Rams. Myers was 4/4 on his field goals vs. Minnesota, including a couple of 50+ yarders that went through the uprights without much issue.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSeattle Seahawks Losers
Klint Kubiak and John Benton didn’t have the offensive line ready to play
Yeesh. Kubiak had no answers in the first half for Brian Flores’ funky blitz schemes and sim pressure packages, and I’m sensing a pattern regarding how the Seahawks offense struggles to cope when the explosive shots are taken away. Seattle is going to have to learn to eat its vegetables before getting to the dessert or else this offense will collapse versus defenses like the LA Rams over Philadelphia Eagles. Minnesota has a unique defense so it’s not easy to replicate, but we’ve seen two teams figure out how to slow down this offense effectively.
This is also the first time I’m putting OL coach John Benton in the Losers column all season. The o-line has been a net positive all season, but this was a disappointing performance in large part because of the continued confusion and blown assignments in pass protection. The offense was seemingly so predictable that it felt like the Vikings were getting a lot of perfectly timed snap count jumps. At least the run blocking got going a bit in the second half.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGetting back to Kubiak: I do not like the continued lackadaisical approach to their two-minute drills. It’s irrational to be so wary of leaving no time for your opponents such that you end up leaving little time for yourself to do anything but kick a field goal instead of a touchdown.
I can’t with Anthony Bradford anymore
Unfortunately for Bradford, he’s injured. The good news is it doesn’t appear to be serious, and the Seahawks were up comfortably for it to not matter against the Vikings. The bad news is we probably have to continue to see him start. I’ve tried to be fair with Bradford but there is just zero chance he can be the starting right guard next season; the rest of this year we’ll likely have to grin and bear it. Whether it’s the whiffs in pass pro or the whiffs in run blocking, his bad reps look uniquely, differently bad than everyone else on the offensive line.
Seattle’s ball security is so bad that even the defensive players have lost multiple fumbles
Add two more fumbles to Sam Darnold’s tally for the season, including his fifth lost one on the year. If I take out the one that can be more attributed to Olu Oluwatimi, he’s still on four. Darnold has fumbled on almost half of his sacks taken, which is concerning.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMeanwhile, Riq Woolen thought he was Deion Sanders fused with LeSean McCoy on his interception run back with barely a care about tucking the ball away. That’s the second time a Seahawks defensive player has lost a fumble after a turnover, and it was nearly a third when Drake Thomas fumbled away a scoop-and-score against the Houston Texans, only for a penalty to nullify everything.
When are the Seahawks going to fix this? At least Riq made me chuckle with this tweet.
Rashid Shaheed needs to stop channeling his inner Dee Williams
For a supposedly good punt returner, Shaheed sure made two head-scratching punt return decisions. Why are you fair-catching the ball at your own 4? Let it fall and it’s probably a touchback. He then returned another punt deep inside his own 10 and didn’t exactly make a whole lot out of his decision.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementShaheed had a couple of very good returns last week but in his brief time in Seattle he’s had some questionable punt return decisions and fumbled on a kick return (which Brady Russell recovered). I’m, of course, more concerned long-term about getting him involved in the passing game, which has seldom happened and may not happen at all this year.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s quest to break Calvin Johnson’s record is probably over
This is not me putting JSN in the Losers column for poor performance. It is, however, a place to effectively bury his chances of breaking Calvin Johnson’s receiving yards mark of 1,964 yards. Only 23 yards on Sunday afternoon means he needs roughly 127 yards per game the rest of the way to surpass Megatron, which is possible but not very likely. As historically great as JSN has been all year, that might be a step too far. It’s still one of the all-time legendary receiving seasons, record or no record.
Final Notes
Sam Darnold’s stats were ugly, but outside of a triple coverage throw to Elijah Arroyo, I don’t really believe he had many bad moments that can largely be attributed to his decisions. The offensive line did not hold up well and the Vikings did a good job stymieing Seattle’s pass-catchers. Without JSN getting into gear, this is not a sustainable passing offense. So despite the 14/26, sub-100 net yard game against his old team, I don’t consider Darnold to be in the Loser category.
Shoutout to Cody White for turning 3rd and 11 into a 21-yard gain. Until Tory Horton and Dareke Young come back (if either of them comes back), White is firmly the WR4. It’s more pronounced with Jake Bobo as a healthy scratch for the second time in a few weeks.
Cooper Kupp was involved early as a pass catcher before getting blanked in the second half. He even made a man miss in the open field, something we haven’t seen too often this year.
Brandon Pili wanted to dish out some justice after Blake Brendel’s cheap helmet shot at Josh Jobe, who’s once again facing concussion protocol. They penalized Brendel after Pili took a shot at the Vikings offensive lineman, to which I say good on Brandon.
Mike Macdonald needs to be better with his timeout usage. They don’t roll over into the second half. This is like the opposite problem of Pete Carroll, who would use them too liberally.
The Atlanta Falcons may be 4-8 but they have a fearsome pass rush, something we’ve rarely said in recent years. That might be a trickier game than it looks for the Seahawks offense, although I firmly believe the Seahawks defense should be able to stop the Falcons offense if it can slow Bijan Robinson down.
You’re getting Enemy Reaction this week. We have to see how Vikings fans, especially those who thought Brosmer could be an improvement over J.J. McCarthy, reacted to such a disasterclass.
