Seahawks Feel Like They Have 'Something Special' Going After Fourth Straight Win

The Seahawks have a good thing going after winning their fourth in a row, and second straight in blowout fashion.

Nov 09, 2025 at 08:40 PM

John Boyle

Seahawks.com Senior Reporter

Addressing his team in the locker room following a 44-22 victory, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald praised his team's "decisive, shocking" effort in Sunday's win over the Cardinals, which improved the team's record to 7-2.

"When you score 44 points and you win a game by 21 points, and you close the game out on offense in the end, that's bigtime stuff in the NFL," Macdonald said.

And we'll go ahead forgive Macdonald for being a bit off on the margin of victory, it can be hard to keep up when the team has won by 24 and 22 points in back-to-back weeks.

"At our place, in the division, leaving no doubt, it's some high-powered stuff," Macdonald continued in his postgame speech. "You've got to be proud of that, men. We're going to enjoy the heck out of this win. That's a great job. That's a great team win. We had guys go down this week, guys stepping up making plays. That's freakin' 70 guys on the roster, that's 12 as One stuff. That's awesome. That's a great job, that is how we win. That is Seahawks football. How you prepare the whole week, nobody flinches, all you do is just nail every day, then it's decisive, shocking—then in the second half it got a little funky—then it was relentless, and we finished the thing off."

The Seahawks aren't just 7-2 and in first place in the NFC West in their second season under Macdonald, they're looking every bit like one of the league's top teams, getting it done in all three phases and winning by big margins in several games. Seattle has lost two down-to-the-wire one-score games this season, while almost all of their seven wins have been decisive, including Sunday's 22-point win, a last weeks' 38-14 win in Washington, a 31-point win over the Saints, a 14-point road win in Pittsburgh, and a 27-19 win over Houston that saw the Seahawks jump to a 14-0 lead. Overall, the Seahawks now have a plus 103 point differential that ranks first in the NFC and second in the NFL behind only Indianapolis (115), and they raced to 28-0 leads in each of their last two games.

"We have our process," Macdonald said when asked about those fast starts. "I think we're learning our process, too, about how we get ready for a game. The guys are doing a great job. They're mentally prepared. I think our coaches are doing a great job being very clear about how we're going to start games so guys can go play fasts and decisive. It's only happened how many times. It's not going to happen every time. When it does you're appreciative of the guy's effort."

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is already over 1,000 yards this season after adding 93 more yards on Sunday, including a 43-yard touchdown, echoes his coach's sentiment that the team's preparation has been crucial to their early-season success.

"Preparation," he said when asked for the reason behind the 7-2 start. "Our culture in the building. The guys that we have in this locker room, doing whatever it takes to win. That's from Monday to Sunday. What we're building here, we all feel like we have something special and we just want to keep it going and protect what we have."

Part of what has made the Seahawks' strong start to this season so impressive—and feel so sustainable—is that they are playing well in so many different phases of the game. The defense, which produced two touchdowns in this game while also coming up with several impressive third and fourth-down stops, has been outstanding all season despite injuries to several key players. On offense, Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are off to fantastic starts, the offensive line has stepped up in a big way, and if Sunday's 198-yard rushing performance was any indication, the run game might be finding its way in the second half as well. And on special teams, there have been numerous big plays throughout the season, including turnovers to set up scores, a punt return touchdown and a kickoff recovery touchdown.

"A win in our league is hard," Macdonald said. "It's hard to get to. It takes everybody. Took all 70 today. We had some guys go down this week as you guys are well aware. We had guys step up and nobody flinched. It took all 70 again. That's how we roll. You know, you attribute it to our guys, you know, dedicating how we play our style of football all the time no matter the situation. That's what we're chasing. When we do it right, we play really good ball."

That concept of all 70 players contributing to the team's success has been a common refrain this season, a reference to backups as well as the practice squad—or ready squad as the Seahawks like to call it—being an important part of the team. Throughout the season, the Seahawks have dealt with significant absences on defense, and on Sunday that included starting linebacker Ernest Jones IV being out with a knee injury, while defensive tackle Jarran Reed and safety Julian Love were on injured reserve.

Yet with those players out, there was still Ty Okada making big hits at safety, and there was Brandon Pili shooting into the backfield to help stop a run at the goal line, and of course, there was Tyrice Knight, filling in for an injured Jones, forcing a pair of fumbles on sacks, both of which were returned for touchdowns by outside linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence.

"I believe it's a testament of what we built in training camp," Lawrence said. "We've been going at this for a while, and our young guys are stepping up, playing good football, and we're able to stay healthy and stay out there on the field. We've got a good thing going."

Related Links

Linebacker Drake Thomas, who had two tackles for loss, is another player who has gone from backup and special teamer to starter making big contributions this season.

"It's our team's DNA," he said. "It's a consistent message from top down and we all buy into it. You see that on the field. Someone steps up and makes a play that hasn't been playing the week prior. And to come in with no drop off. It's a product of our team's DNA."

"I think it's the culture we have inside the building. You know whenever your number is called, we count on that guy. We know we can trust him. And when you're in there, you want your teammates to be able to trust you. So the preparation never changes. Whenever your number is called, whoever it is, we have the faith that they'll be ready."

Next up for the Seahawks will be a big test against the Rams, who are also 7-2 and coming off a lopsided victory. Neither team's fate will be determined by a Week 11 game, especially not when they see each other again in December, but it still be a great chance for two of the NFC's top teams to see how they measure up against each other. And while we'll have to wait another week to see what happens in that one, what the Seahawks have done to get to this point shows they have a good thing going in their second year under Macdonald.

"I can definitely see we're building something special," Lawrence said. "There are some things that we can clean up and get better at, but that's a testament to the detail that we put into our work each and every day. Again, the sky is the limit from here. It's just all about us continuing to come together with our camaraderie and taking it one day at a time."