JACKSONVILLE—The Seahawks won their ninth consecutive road game on Sunday, beating the Jaguars 20-12 at EverBank Stadium to improve their record to 4-2.

Leading the way for the Seahawks was a defensive front that produced seven sacks while also keeping the run game in check, as well as an explosive passing game.

Here are five rapid reactions to Sunday's win in Jacksonville:

1. DeMarcus Lawrence, Byron Murphy and the Seahawks defensive front showed up in a big way.

The Seahawks came into Sunday's game without three of their starting defensive backs, safety Julian Love and cornerbacks Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen. And while the Seahawks have confidence in whoever is called upon to play on gameday, there's no getting around the fact that it's tough to play without three players who have four Pro-Bowl selections between them over the past three seasons.

But as any football fan knows, the best way to help a short-handed secondary is a good pass rush, and Seattle's defensive front was outstanding on Sunday, making life difficult on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence throughout the game.

With contributions coming from numerous players, the Seahawks piled up seven sacks, exceeding the total of six allowed by the Jaguars in the first five games combined, and recorded 16 quarterback hits.

Leading the way were Byron Murphy II, who had 2.0 sacks and four quarterback hits, and DeMarcus Lawrence, who was back after missing one game due to injury and had 2.5 sacks, his first as a Seahawk, as well as five quarterback hits and three tackles for loss.

And the Seahawks front wasn't just getting the job done on passing plays, their run defense, which has been good all season, showed up again against a Jaguars team that came into the game ranked fifth in the league in rushing yards (137.0) and sixth in rushing yards per carry (4.9). On Sunday the Jaguars were held well below those numbers, with Jacksonville rushing for just 59 yards on 19 attempts for a 3.1 yards-per-carry average. Leading running back Travis Etienne, who came into the game averaging 5.2 yards per carry, was held to just 2.3 yards per carry on 12 rushes.

2. If it wasn't already obvious before Sunday, Darnold-to-JSN is one of the best quarterback-receiver duos in the NFL.

With the Seahawks trailing early and looking to get their offense going, Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba gave them the spark they needed, as those two have done so often this season. On the first play of Seattle's third possession, Smith-Njigba ran past new Jaguars cornerback Greg Newsome, and Darnold hit him in stride with a perfect throw for a 61-yard touchdown. With that catch, Smith-Njigba, who finished with eight catches for 162 yards and a touchdown, had his fourth 100-yard game in six weeks, and his yardage total Sunday was the second-highest of his career after his 180-yard game against the Rams last season.

Darnold, meanwhile, enjoyed another efficient and explosive day, completing 16 of 27 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns, giving him a passer rating of 121.7, his fourth straight game with a rating over 111. The Jaguars defense made it tough on Darnold and the Seahawks to sustain drives throughout the games, but Darnold was money throwing downfield, as he has so often been this season. In addition to his 61-yard touchdown to Smith-Njigba, Darnold also hit tight end AJ Barner for a 61-yard gain late in the game, all but putting the game on ice.

3. This year's free-agent class made big contributions.

As we've already covered in the first two items, two of the big contributors to Sunday's win were Darnold, who has been fantastic all season, and Lawrence, who had his best game in what has been a very strong season for the veteran edge player. Both Darnold and Lawrence were key free-agent signings this offseason, and both have been great additions so far this season.

Also making big contributions to the win was receiver Cooper Kupp, another free-agent signing, who had two catches for 40 yards on the same drive, one of which was an 11-yard touchdown, his first in a Seahawks uniform.

Yet another free-agent addition who stepped up on Sunday was veteran cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who made his first start of the season in place of an injured Riq Woolen and recorded seven tackles.

4. The Seahawks took care of the ball against the team leading the NFL in takeaways.

A big talking point all week for the Seahawks was ball security, and for good reason. The Jaguars came into the game leading the NFL with 14 takeaways, including a 99-yard pick-six last week, and prior to that they had at least three takeaways in each of their first four games.

On Sunday, however, the Jaguars had a zero in that category for the first time all season, as the Seahawks were able to play turnover-free football, a critical part of their success in a close, low-scoring game.

5. With Julian Love out, safeties Coby Bryant and Nick Emmanwori stepped up.

Coby Bryant has been the one constant in Seattle's secondary this season as players have battled injuries, and on Sunday he played like a steadying force on the back end. Bryant started his day with tackles for loss on each of Jacksonville's first two possessions, and finished with seven tackles.

Emmanwori, meanwhile, tied Drake Thomas for the team lead with nine tackles, and had a tackle for loss, and also provided pressure on a third-down blitz that led to an incomplete pass and a punt.