Stacy: The 3 areas where the struggling Seahawks need to improve

The Seattle Seahawks want to repeat as champs, but they don’t look like a Super Bowl team right now.

Bump: Darnold injury adds twist to Seattle Seahawks QB discourse

They don’t need to be perfect — last year’s squad wasn’t — but they certainly need to improve in these three key areas:

Run game

Turnovers have been costly and the story of three of their four losses, all of which were by three or fewer points. Sam Darnold has thrown at least one interception in every one of his starts this season, with the exception of Week 1 when he played just one series. Even for a quarterback who can be turnover-prone and streaky, that’s a problem.

But Seattle wasn’t built with the expectation that its quarterback will save the offense. The Bills and Chiefs can get away with thin receiver rooms or questions elsewhere, but Seattle doesn’t have the same privilege without Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes under center. That wasn’t a problem when it worked last year, but the formula included being the most complete team in football with good running backs, an elite wide receiver, a solid tight end, a championship defense, and a playcaller who knew how to get the most out of his passer.

The key to getting back to a Super Bowl with this roster (and with this quarterback) isn’t by “fixing” Sam Darnold — who must play better and whose profile has also been pretty firmly established — but instead making the most of playmakers everywhere else. That starts with the run game.

The Seahawks average 109 rushing yards per game, which is 19th league wide, but they’re 29th in EPA/rush and miss running back Ken Walker’s explosiveness. There’s a chance for improvement here with the acquisition of All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson and the return of running backs Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price, but they haven’t seen it yet.

The result? Against Chicago on Monday, and far too often this season, the Seahawks have been a one-dimensional offense. They can’t get the most out of play-action. They depend almost entirely on explosive plays from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has accounted for a whopping 55% of Seattle’s total passing yardage. But there’s a chance to settle in here over the next two weeks against the Cardinals (19th in rushing yards allowed per game) and the Raiders (29th).

Special teams need to be special again

It felt like every other ESPN roundtable spent the offseason pointing to a flukish 2-point recovery from Charbonnet in a pivotal Week 16 win over the Rams as the reason for Seattle’s Super Bowl run. But Seattle doesn’t get back into that contest without a 58-yard punt return touchdown from Rashid Shaheed, which has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with a bad Rams special teams unit in 2025. In fact, the Seahawks might not have won some of those 14 games they did without major contributions from special teams all year long, a unit that finished second in DVOA behind the Jets.

Where’s that been?

Last year saw three return touchdowns from Shaheed, six field goals from kicker Jason Myers to win a low-scoring game against Indy and another five keep them afloat in the Super Bowl (and set an NFL record). They also took advantage of a muffed punt in the NFC Championship, making up for rare struggles from their defense.

The Seahawks haven’t been as sharp in 2026, which felt especially obvious Monday night with a missed PAT, blocked field goal, and a stellar punt by Michael Dickson that was wasted when Rodney Thomas slid the ball into the end zone for a touchback.

Red zone defense

Can anyone explain what’s happening here?

ESPN’s Benjamin Solak is trying. He posited a theory on a recent episode of The Mina Kimes Show.

First, we need to stress the gap between production in and outside of the red zone: the Seahawks are the worst red zone defense in football, but the No. 1 total defense. They’ve not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 36 games (a stretch dating back to 2024), and limit opponent yardage and overall points (seventh in scoring). That’s until offenses are in the red zone, where Seattle’s defense is allowing touchdowns on 83% of red zone drives.

Seattle’s secret to success outside the red zone could be costing it in those scoring situations, though.

“The Bears trapped the Seahawks in nickel whenever they were goal-to-go,” Solak said. “The Bears ran four no-huddle plays inside the 10-yard line in this game. Since the start of 2025, there’s only been eight no-huddle snaps against Seattle in goal-to-go. That’s regular season, postseason, all combined. The Bears did it four times, and they got them in nickel in three of them. And the last one they’re in dime. So, you’ve got six DBs on the field, you get to goal-to-go, and the Bears say, screw you, no subs, we’re going to rush to the line. We can run the ball out of 11 personnel because our (offensive) line is so kick butt and (tight end) Colston Loveland is so good, and now you have to solve short yardage running plays with six DBs on the field. Oh, ‘we live in nickel’ doesn’t feel so fun anymore, does it?”

The Seahawks know it’s a problem.

“The simple fact is we’re not good enough in it,” Seattle defensive coordinator Aden Durde told reporters Thursday. “We have to correct it.”

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