Week 6 NFL Deep Dive: Seahawks Soar In Jacksonville

By Peter Mann

Two comebacks in the space of a week proved too much for Liam Coen and the Jacksonville Jaguars this past weekend, despite another, second half rally that this time saw an offside, and a missed, 2-pt conversion, before falling to a defensively-strong, Seattle Seahawks, 20-12 at the EverBank Stadium, this weeks Deep Dive looking into what is, quite literally, a fledgling fixture on the NFL calendar.

The win for Mike McDonald’s Seahawks was their seventh over the Jaguars, in just the tenth meeting, dating back to 1995; the Seahawks won that one as well, winning a high-scoring encounter, 47-30 in Jacksonville.

The Seahawks also won the meeting previous to this one as well, four years ago, as they claimed a 31-7 success in Seattle; both quarterbacks were around the game then also, in-fact it was the Jags quarterback, Trevor Lawrence’s first season in Florida having been a first-round draft pick.

Current Seahawks quarterback, Sam Darnold meanwhile, he was starting at his second franchise, the well-travelled California-native having played for New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers, and Minnesota Vikings, before heading to Seattle earlier this year.

This contest though took a little while to come to the boil, the opening score going to the Jaguars late in the first quarter when Lawrence connected with his wide receiver, Brian Thomas Jnr, over 21yds however, and not for the first time here, Cameron Little’s boot wasn’t playing ball.

On the flip-side though, Little’s opposite number, Jason Myers, himself a ten-year NFL veteran who began his career (three seasons) in Jacksonville, had plenty of joy with his. It was his boot that got the visiting Seahawks on the board, a 24yd FG halving the Jags’ lead early in the second quarter.

Just two minutes later and McDonald’s charges gained a lead they never lost, QB Darnold hauling a great pass over the Jags to WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba from fully 61yds, the extra point opening a four-point advantage.

Little again missed with the boot when his 40yd FG attempt drifted wide right of the upright, before Myers closed the half with another score for the Seahawks; this time the visiting kicked slotted home a 53yd FG to open a 13-6 lead.

Seahawks MVP wide receiver, the 32-year-old Washington-born Cooper Kupp had been quiet for the entire first half, but sprang into the life in the opening exchanges of the second half; the former Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl LVI winner, and MVP was on-hand five minutes into the third quarter to claim Darnold’s short pass to the left and complete an 11yd TD score, whilst Myers, again good with the boot, saw the lead open up to 20-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Now, the previous week had seen the Jaguars overturn a 14-0, and 28-14 deficit, before going on to inflict defeat on Kansas City Chiefs, whilst the Seahawks were narrowly beaten in a back-and-forth contest at home to Tampa Bay Buccaneers – they couldn’t repeat it though, no matter how hard they tried.

Perhaps they tried too much? They certainly had opportunity to claw the Seahawks back but, when it knocked, the boot and the football didn’t play nicely together at all.

Jags quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, was sacked seven times throughout the game, a career-high for him; six of their seven sacks came courtesy of their defensive line as linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence 2.0 in his return from a quad injury, tackle Byron Murphy II 2.0, linebacker Uchenna Nwosu 1.5, and defensive end Leonard Williams 0.5, with linebacker Drake Thomas also getting in on the action.

In the closing stages of the third quarter the Jags missed a great opportunity to head into the fourth on a one-score game, but Lawrence connecting with Thomas Jnr in the end zone was called back for offside, Travis Hunter, a first-round draft pick this year, having lined up at the start of the play, with his foot clearly in the wrong part of the play.

Coen’s charges had time still to turn the game in their favour and crossed for a TD score within minutes of the fourth quarter starting, Lawrence connecting over 26yds with Tim Patrick.

The former Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions wide receiver has been in the game since 2018, although he missed the 2022 and 2023 seasons through injury; following the Patrick score the Jags opted to go for a 2-pt conversion, which was unsuccessful. Had they made that there was time to go for the win, but the Seahawks defence, like they had on the main, held strong.

The visitors looked like they’d extended their advantage in the closing minutes but Myers’ FG conversion was overturned following a flag and a holding call made, but the Seahawks had done enough to register a 20-12 victory, and both franchises coming out of the game with a 4-2 record.

Statistically, the Seahawks saw Sam Darnold post 16/27, 295yds, 2TDs (pass); Jaxon Smith-Njigba 162yds, 1TD (rec), Cooper Kupp 40yds, 1TD (rec); and Jason Myers 2/2 FGs, 53lng, 2/2PATs; replying for the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence posted 27/42m 258yds, 2TDs (pass); Brian Thomas Jnr 90yds, 1TD (rec), Tim Patrick 26yds, 1TD (rec), and Cameron Little 0/1 FGs, 0/2PATs.

Defeat for the Jaguars sees them behind Indianapolis Colts (5-1) in the AFC South, and will travel to London for their next game, at Wembley Stadium against Los Angeles Rams on Sunday 19 October; meanwhile the Seahawks are second (tied) with San Francisco 49ers and the Rams in the NFC West and will host Houston Texans, at Lumen Field, in the last of the week seven match-ups.

PETER MANN

NFL ANALYST

PETER IS A LIFELONG SPORTS FAN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR BASED IN COUNTY DURHAM. HE HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL AND THE RAIDERS SINCE THE 1980s, AND LOVES BOTH SPORTS AND FAMILY HISTORY. PETER HAS A DEGREE IN SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, AND CAN BE FOUND ON TWITTER @petermannwriter

 
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