Those doubts about Sam Darnold as the Seahawks’ new quarterback?

That’s SO April. The problems with coach Mike Macdonald’s Seattle defense?

That’s SO last week.

On Sunday in sunny Jacksonville, Darnold was the best he’s been in an impressive, top-of-the-NFL start to his Seahawks tenure. His majestic, 61-yard touchdown pass to league-leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba highlighted Darnold’s 16-of-26, 295-yard day with two scoring throws.

Darnold was so good, he had two completions of 61 yards.

Smith-Njigba had caught eight passes for 162 more yards receiving. Macdonald’s defense that barely touched Baker Mayfield while allowing 38 points by Tampa Bay in a shootout home loss the previous week ransacked the Jaguars’ offensive line and QB Trevor Lawrence. They sacked him a Seattle season-high seven times, and hit him 16 times.

That’s how the Seahawks got back to looking like they had in September with a 23-12 victory over the previously AFC South-leading Jaguars, who had just beaten defending AFC champion Kansas City.

Darnold, the league leader in yards per pass attempt coming in, had third game in six starts with at least 295 yards passing. And the Seahawks (4-2) extended their franchise record for consecutive road wins to nine. Mike Macdonald is now the fourth man in NFL history to win 10 of his first 11 road games as a head coach. He joins the Rams’ Sean McVay (2017-18), George Seifer with the 49ers (1989-90) and Paul Brown with the 1946 and ‘47 Cleveland Browns.

Sam Darnold’s perfect pass for lead

The Seahawks took the lead for the first time in the second quarter. It came thanks to Darnold’s finest throw as a Seahawks quarterback. That includes OTAs, minicamp and all training-camp practices.

He lofted a strike perfectly onto Smith-Njigba’s hands on a deep post route. The NFL’s leading receiver (in yards) ran past Greg Newsome on the Jacksonville cornerback’s first snap after he got traded this past week from Cleveland, for a pretty, 61-yard touchdown.

Smith-Njigba pranced through the end zone preening in front of booing Jags fans. Despite a shaky first half on defense, Seattle led 10-6.

I mean, look at this throw. https://t.co/eCVsK0qTLq

— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) October 12, 2025

Five of Darnold’s first six completions were to Smith-Njigba, who passed the Rams’ Puka Nacua for the NFL lead in yards receiving Sunday.

Two of the highest-yardage games of Smith-Njigba’s career since Seattle drafted him in the first round in 2023 have come in the last two games. He had 132 yards in the team’s 38-35 home loss to Tampa Bay last week.

Defense gets better pressure

Last week in their 38-35 shootout loss to the Buccaneers, the Seahawks didn’t get a hit on the quarterback until 8 minutes left in the game. That left Seattle’s patchwork secondary with injury fill-ins exposed to deep passes.

Sunday was mostly the opposite of that.

With Pro Bowl defensive backs Devon Witherspoon and Julian Love out injured, and Shaquill Griffin up from the practice squad to replace concussed Riq Woolen as starting cornerback, Macdonald blitzed more early in this game. That included rookie safety Nick Emmanwori and cornerback Josh Jobe multiple times in the first half.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ front-four pass rushers got back to what they were doing the first four games of the season. They won their one-on-one battles with offensive linemen.

Tackle Byron Murphy had a sack on the game’s first play. He, Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu each had two hits on Trevor Lawrence in the first half. Seattle sacked the Jaguars QB three times in the half. Nwosu and Williams shared a sack.

DeMarcus Lawrence had his first sack as a Seahawk, after 11 years with the Dallas Cowboys. That sack pushed Jacksonville back into a 50-yard field-goal try with 1 minute left in the half. Cam Little kicked that well wide right to keep Seattle’s lead at 10-6. Lawrence finished with 2 1/2 sacks Sunday, coming off a quadriceps injury.

Macdonald used two of his three timeouts of the half on defense that drive. That gave his offense time for Zach Charbonnet to run for 8 yards, then catch Darnold’s short pass and run for a 14-yard gain.

Those plays set up a 53-yard field goal by Jason Myers in the final seconds of the half. The Seahawks led 13-6 into the third quarter.

Jacksonville got its only score of the first three quarters on another mistake in Seattle’s mixed-up secondary. Griffin and Emmanwori both covered a receiver at the line of scrimmage awaiting a fake bubble screen. Trevor Lawrence faked that throw. No Seahawks went with Brian Thomas as the Jaguars receiver ran alone down the sideline behind Griffin. Lawrence’s easy pass became a 21-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead for Jacksonville.

Brian Thomas Jr. could not be more wide open for six
SEAvsJAX on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVntpic.twitter.com/JjOVLbUEna

— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025

Griffin had both hands wide with palms to the blue sky after the play.

Macdonald had a brief, pointed talk with his 30-year-old cornerback about it at the edge of the sideline.

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