JACKSONVILLE—As Jaxon Smith-Njigba ran past the Jacksonville secondary, Sam Darnold unleashed a gorgeous deep ball that hit Smith-Njigba in stride, allowing the Seahawks' third-year receiver to run into the end zone untouched for a 61-yard touchdown.

In a game that featured tough defense from both teams, points were often tough to come by, so that second-quarter big play was crucial for the Seahawks in a 20-12 victory. It also served as a reminder, not that anyone should need one at this point, of just how great Smith-Njigba and Darnold have been this season.

Smith-Njigba finished his day with a season-best 162 yards on eight receptions, the second-highest yardage total of his career behind his 180-yard game against the Rams last season. Darnold, meanwhile, was 16 for 27 for 295 yards and two touchdowns, and crucially against an opportunistic Jaguars defense, no turnovers, giving him a 121.7 passer rating, meaning he a rating of 111 or better in four straight games.

With Sunday's 61-yard catch, Darnold and Smith-Njigba have connected on a deep ball of 36 yards or longer in every game this season.

"It's pretty," Smith-Njigba said of Darnold's deep ball. "It's up in the air in the perfect spot, and he allows me to adjust and make a play on the ball. We just keep connecting, so hopefully we keep it going."

Smith-Njigba has now eclipsed 100 yards in four of six games, with his season low still being a respectable 79-yard performance in a win in Arizona. With 696 yards through six games, Smith-Njigba is now the league's leading receiver after overtaking Rams receiver Puka Nacua, who left this week's game early with an ankle injury.

"His consistency has been amazing, just the way he has come to work every single day, the way that he practices every single day," said Darnold. "That's a testament to the way he works and the standard that him and really Coop (Kupp) and a lot of the guys kind of set the standard in that room. They never waver from it."

While leading the league in receiving would be a big accomplishment, that's not something Smith-Njigba is thinking about this early in the season.

"Not at this moment, it's a long season, we've got a long ways to go, and we just need to keep stacking wins," Smith-Njigba said.

In what has turned out to be one of the sillier preseason storylines about the 2025 Seahawks, there were some people wondering, after the Seahawks signed Kupp in free agency, how the veteran receiver and Smith-Njigba would coexist since both have spent a lot of their careers playing in the slot. The answer that any Seahawks coach or player would give when asked about that topic leading up to the season was that both Kupp and Smith-Njigba are great receivers, not great slot receivers, and that it would all work out. And sure enough it has worked out very well, with Smith-Njigba leading the way while Kupp has pitched in numerous clutch catches, including a 29-yard catch and run on Sunday that he followed with an 11-yard touchdown.

On Sunday, Smith-Njigba lined up out wide on a career-high 88.5 percent of his routes, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, and he caught 7 of 11 targets when lined up out wide for 163 yards, with his one catch in the slot going for a 1-yard loss.

Asked about the incorrect notion that Smith-Njigba was "just" a slot receiver coming into this season, Macdonald smiled and said, "That's a good evaluation, that they wrongfully pegged him as a slot guy. That's the answer. He's just a great receiver."

While there' s a long way to go this season, Smith-Njigba is currently on pace for an all-time receiving season, and if there's anyone who can relate to that, it's his teammate, Kupp. In 2021, Kupp earned the receiving triple crown, leading the NFL in receptions (145), receiving yards (1,947) and receiving touchdowns (16) on his way to AP Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Pro honors. Kupp's receiving total was the second highest in a single season in league history behind Calvin Johnson, who had 17 more yards in 2012 than Kupp did in 2021.

"It's not an easy thing to do what he's been doing, knowing that we're coming into games with opportunities for him to get the ball at all three levels, and defenses know that he's going to be a target," Kupp said. "To consistently win over and over again when a defense is planning to try to take him out of the game, it speaks volumes. It shows the ability, the route-running, being able to underhand the offense well enough to move around and be in different spots. He's doing a really good job, he's a really cool football player."

Darnold, meanwhile, put together another strong performance in a season full of them, using big plays like the aforementioned 61-yard touchdown to Smith-Njigba and 29-yarder to Kupp, as well as a 61-yard completion to tight end AJ Barner. And importantly, he was part of a team-wide effort to take care of the football, something that has been an issue for Jaguars opponents this season. Prior to Seattle's turnover-free game on Sunday, the Jaguars had at least one takeaway in every game and three or more in four games, giving them a league-leading 14 through five weeks.

"Jacksonville had done a great job all year of taking the ball away from teams, and that was a huge emphasis for us to be able to take care of the football and for runners to be able to take care of the football in the open field," Darnold said. "I feel like we did a good job of that today."