It might be a step too far to say that the Seattle Seahawks won their breakup with Kenneth Walker III, but at the very least, they made quite the statement against the Super Bowl MVP on "Sunday Night Football." The reigning champions dealt the Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the season in a one-sided, 20-3 beatdown in Walker's first game back in the Pacific Northwest and entirely stifled their offense in the process.
Walker entered Week 7 as the NFL's leading rusher but managed only 36 yards on 14 carries against the vicious Dark Side defense. Patrick Mahomes was under constant duress because of the imbalance created by the non-existent run game and oversaw an ineffective passing attack. It was the first game in Mahomes' legendary career where his team did not reach the red zone even once.
Kansas City received little help from kicker Harrison Butker, either. He missed two field goals while the game was still technically within reach — not that the offense had much of a chance to find the end zone anyway.
It was not a perfect outing for Seattle on the other side of the ball, but it did plenty enough to capitalize on the near shutout its defense pitched.
Sam Darnold threw an interception in the end zone but was otherwise excellent in a 20-for-28 performance. More than half of his 257 yards went to superstar receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who finished the night with nine catches for 150 yards and a touchdown. Running back Emanuel Wilson also went for 100 yards and a touchdown on his 24 carries in the absence of Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price, who were expected to lead the way after Walker's departure.
In the end, though, it was the Seattle defense that was the story, making the game essentially non-competitive for most of the way.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the Seahawks' primetime victory. Below are our takeaways, highlights, stats and in-game analysis.
Kenneth Walker entered this week leading the NFL in rushing yards despite having only played in five games. He had run for at least 70 yards in each game so far this season, had gone over 100 in four of five games and had topped 170 yards twice. He was on pace to break the single-season rushing yardage record.
Alas, he had yet to face a defense like the one employed by his former team — and that defense totally shut him down on Sunday night. The Seahawks came into the week allowing just 3.5 yards per carry, and they held Walker to even less than that. They were flying to the ball all night.
Walker ran 14 times for just 36 yards. His longest rush gained only seven yards. The Seahawks emerged from the game having yet again not allowed an individual running back to run for over 100 yards. The streak has now reached 36 games, with the last time an opponent touched them up for 100-plus yards on the ground coming back in October of 2024.
Kansas City, being totally unable to run the ball, had a knock-on effect on the rest of the offense, resulting in one of the worst performances of the Patrick Mahomes era. Mahomes has now made 153 regular-season and postseason starts, and this game ranked tied for 153rd in points (3), 151st in first downs (8), 150th in yards per play (3.9), 148th in success rate (36.8%) and 147th in EPA per play (-0.11), as noted by ESPN's Ben Solak noted. It was that brutal of a night.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had yet another huge night. He finished with nine catches for 150 yards and a touchdown, and some of those catches were just completely ridiculous. He made two seemingly identical grabs up the left sideline in the first half, hauling in the ball over his shoulder and over the back of Mansoor Delane each time.
Smith-Njigba entered the week leading the NFL in receiving yards, just like he did a year ago. He still leads the league in receiving yards, by even more now than he did before. He's averaging 123.9 yards per game, which puts him on pace for 2,105 yards on the year. If he gets there, he'll break the all-time record, which is currently held by Calvin Johnson, who had 1,964 yards back in 2012. He's also the first player in the Super Bowl era with at least 850 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns in his team's first seven games of the season, per ESPN.
JSN and Walker entered the week as the favorites for Offensive Player of the Year. After this game, you have to consider JSN the solo favorite. If JSN wins again, he'll become the first back-to-back winner since Marshall Faulk won it three times in a row from 1999 through 2001. (Earl Campbell also won three times in a row from 1978 through 1980.) Don't put it past him.
There were certainly bigger issues for them in this one, but it might be time for the Chiefs to make a change in the kicking game.
Harrison Butker was once one of the more accurate kickers in the league, and he had a pretty big leg, capable of getting it done at a decent clip on 50-plus-yard kicks. Through 2023, he made 89.1% of his total field goals, and 28 of 40 (70%) from beyond 50 yards. Since then, though, Butker has made just 82.2% of his kicks, and only 8-of-18 (44.4%) from beyond 50 yards. He missed one of those 50-plus-yard kicks short by several yards in this game, making him just 1-of-5 from 50-plus this year, and he missed another from 45 yards out, pushing it wide to the right.
In a league where kickers are getting better and showing off bigger legs, Butker is getting worse. The Chiefs should consider moving on.
The Seahawks dominated this game with their defense (see the above section on Walker, as well as how they held Patrick Mahomes to 165 scoreless yards on 33 attempts and came away with an interception), but their offense deserves mention beyond just the JSN show.
Seattle ran 69 plays to just 50 for the Chiefs, thanks in large part to the Seahawks repeatedly converting on third- and fourth-down opportunities. The Seahawks went 11-for-16 on third down and 1-for-1 on fourth down, converting 75% of their late-down chances into a new set of downs.
Naturally, JSN did a lot of that work, but they also got timely plays from George Holani and Sam Darnold to extend drives.
As a result, the Seahawks possessed the ball for 35:51, while the Chiefs had only 24:09 with the ball in their hands. Kansas City's defense was worn down by the end of the game, as evidenced by the late 21-yard touchdown run by Emanuel Wilson, where a crater-sized hole opened up in the Chiefs' defensive line and he went untouched into the end zone.
Seattle totally bottled up the Kansas City offense all night. Were it not for an end-zone interception thrown by Sam Darnold, this would have been a total laugher. The Seahawks dominated the Chiefs, pretty much from start to finish. They move to 4-3 with the win, while the Chiefs drop to 5-1 with their loss.
This one is just about over. After the missed field goal, the Seahawks marched right down the field and stomped their way into the end zone with this big run through a massive hole by Wilson. That one looked too easy.
After missing short from 58 yards earlier in the game, Butker pushed his latest kick wide to the right. It's still a 10-point game with just over 8 minutes remaining.
Kelce just surpassed Marvin Harrison for the fifth-most catches in NFL history. He now has 1,103 career receptions. Only Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald, Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten have more.
After a very eventful play where Derick Hall forced a fumble by Mahomes and about six different players had a chance to recover it, the Chiefs jumped on the ball and set up a 50-yard field goal by Harrison Butker to cut into the lead late in the third quarter.
Seattle finally failed on a third down and had to settle for a short kick from Jason Myers to make it almost a two-touchdown game. Still, the Seahawks are now 9 of 12 on third downs so far, and they have controlled the ball for 25:27 to Kansas City's 11:24 as a result.
Seattle's WR/KR is questionable to return with a knee injury.
Harrison Butker tried a 58-yard field goal that would have cut the lead to 10-3, but it fell several yards short. Seattle leads by 10 at halftime. The Seahawks will get the ball first coming out of the break as well.
What a turn of events. The Seahawks looked like they were potentially about to take a three-score lead, and instead the Chiefs have a chance to cut it down to one score before halftime. Williams under-cut a throw intended for either JSN or Rashid Shaheed and took it all the way back into Seattle territory to set up a potential field goal attempt.
What a sick throw and catch by Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Chiefs brought heavy pressure on third-and-long, and Darnold just dropped the throw right in the bucket for JSN over the top of Mansoor Delane. The Seahawks have been excellent on third downs so far, converting 7 of 9 tries.
The Chiefs converted a fourth-and-1 with a nice inside run by Kenneth Walker, but two plays later, Patrick Mahomes faked a toss to Emmett Johnson, rolled out to his left, and sailed a pass over the head of his intended receiver and right into the waiting arms of Okada. Mahomes has been off target high with a few throws tonight. First turnover of the game for either side. Seahawks have a chance to take a two-score lead now.
Seattle converted three third-and-medium-to-longs on their drive from the 7-yard line down to the opposite 7-yard line, but failed on third-and-goal and settled for a Jason Myers kick to take the lead. This has been a quick half so far. Four drives into the game, we're just about halfway through the second quarter and it's now 3-0.
We've had three drives so far, and all three have ended in punts despite both teams achieving at least one first down on the drive. It's been a field-position battle so far, and the Seahawks are starting their second drive backed up deep in their own territory (7-yard line), just like their first drive (14-yard line).
The Chiefs had a third-and-6 near midfield and converted with a swing pass to Kenneth Walker III, but an illegal shift penalty on Travis Kelce negated the play. (Kelce never got set before the snap.) Patrick Mahomes then missed an open Kelce on third-and-11, forcing the Chiefs to punt. Seattle will have a chance to take an early lead at home.
After leading the NFL in receiving yards last season, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is doing so once again this year. He's actually on pace for the first-ever 2,000-yard receiving season. If he keeps up his current pace, he'll end the year with 2031 receiving yards. The current record is held by Calvin Johnson, with 1,964 yards. The Chiefs have been one of the NFL's better pass defenses this season, checking in 11th in net yards per attempt.
Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III returns to Seattle tonight. He left the Seahawks this offseason to sign a three-year, $43.05 million deal with the Chiefs. He led the NFL in rushing yards entering Week 7 despite having only played five games. He has more rushing yards than all Seahawks running backs combined. He'll face off against one of the league's best run defenses tonight: Seattle has alowed only 3.5 yards per carry this year, fourth-best in the NFL.
