Observations from Seahawks’ 30-24 win over Titans

Nov 23, 2025, 1:43 PM | Updated: 2:07 pm

Seattle Sports

It wasn’t quite the dominant performance many expected, but the Seattle Seahawks are leaving Tennessee with their eighth win of the season.

Seahawks beat Titans | Observations | Instant Reaction | Stats

Sam Darnold threw two touchdown passes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Zach Charbonnet added a rushing TD and the Seahawks held on for a 30-24 victory over the Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

Seattle led by 20 points twice in the third quarter and looked as if it was ready to pull away, but it let the Titans hang around before ultimately pulling out a win that didn’t feel nearly as close as the final score indicated.

Here are four observations after the Seahawks improved to 8-3.

JSN treating Seattle fans to another historic chase

What hasn’t been said about Jaxon Smith-Njigba at this point? Seattle’s third-year wide receiver continued his ridiculous season with another massive performance, hauling in eight passes for a career-high 167 yards. The performance included two catches of more than 50 yards, including a career-long 63-yard reception on a TD connection with Sam Darnold.

Smith-Njigba broke DK Metcalf’s single-season franchise receiving record in the process, reaching 1,313 yards to surpass Metcalf’s 1,303. Metcalf’s record, however, is just the smaller piece of history Smith-Njigba has been chasing.

JSN breaks Seahawks’ season receiving record – in just 11 games

Calvin Johnson’s single-season NFL record of 1,964 receiving yards is still very much in play and became even more attainable for the Ohio State product Sunday. Smith-Njigba entered Sunday needing to average 117 yards over his final seven games to break Johnson’s record. That number is now down to 108.5 yards over his final six games.

We just saw how much excitement a player chasing history can add to a stretch run during the Mariners’ season with Cal Raleigh. Now Seattle sports fans are getting to relive that same sort of experience through Smith-Njigba. To have two such seasons in the same year is something we shouldn’t take for granted, because it may never happen again.

WHAT. A. TOUCHDOWN. 63 YARDS. @jaxon_smith1

📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/QAThIMNY9B

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 23, 2025

A clean day from Darnold

Much of the discussion about the Seahawks this week centered around quarterback Sam Darnold following his costly four-interception performance against the Rams last week. He was able to rebound against the Titans on Sunday with a clean day that featured no turnovers and a few of the explosive passes that have become a signature of his game in Seattle.

Darnold finished with 244 yards while completing 16 of 26 passes. It wasn’t his best game considering the competition, and there were at least two throws that could have been intercepted that he got away with, but his decision making overall looked much more sound than a week ago.

It’s hard to take too much away from a game against a team that was 1-9 entering this game. But if Darnold had turnover issues again this week, it would have been very alarming.

SECOND OF THE GAME.

📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/4EkQdb0uCP

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 23, 2025

LB injuries a moot point

If there was one concern for the Seahawks defensively heading into this game, it was their linebacker depth due to the absences of Ernest Jones IV and Tyrice Knight. With both out, Seattle turned to practice squad call-up Patrick O’Connell to start alongside Drake Thomas, and the pair played well enough to help keep the Titans from pulling off a shocker.

Thomas, who has a been a breakout contributor while earning a starting role this year, led the team with nine tackles, and O’ Connell chipped in eight and had key a third-down sack inside the Seahawks’ 5-yard line to stop a scrambling Cam Ward and force a field goal on the Titans’ opening drive. Additionally, the Seahawks held Tennessee to just 64 yards rushing and 2.9 yards per carry, including 27 yards on 16 carries from running backs.

Of course, this was a game where the Seahawks were the much better team and should have been able to win regardless of missing players like Jones or Knight. But O’Connell’s solid day in particular is another example of a less-heralded player stepping up when his number is called under coach Mike Macdonald. It’s a great trend that just keeps on going for these Seahawks.

Titans’ surging pass rush slowed

For as much as the Titans have struggled this year, their pass rush has been pretty good, especially over the past month. Tennessee had racked up 17 sacks over its past four games, including three games with four or more. But the Titans were able to get to Darnold only one time on Sunday.

This was one area it seemed Tennessee might be able to take advantage of with star defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons having the potential to wreak havoc on an interior group for Seattle that has seen right guard Anthony Bradford have his share of struggles and was playing with a banged-up Grey Zabel at left guard and backup Olu Oluwatimi at center.

The Seahawks have allowed just 11 sacks this year, a number that would have seemed unfathomable through 11 games last season.