Seahawks keys against a tough Houston defense Monday night: watch trenches
They’ve been the key to this Seahawks season since last winter. That was when the team changed the offense, its blocking system and its play caller.
So, yes, it figures the guys on the offensive line are the key to game seven, Seattle (4-2) hosting the strong defense of the Houston Texans (2-3) at Lumen Field. It’s the latest Monday night regular-season game in Seahawks’ history. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. as the back half of an ESPN NFL doubleheader.
Seattle’s won four of its first six games despite its O-line failing to consistently block in a start-and-mostly-stop running game. The Seahawks are still in the bottom part of the league in rushing offense, 24th at 104.2 yards per game.
They’ve had a 100-yard rushing day by a ball carrier only once, week two at Pittsburgh. Lead back Kenneth Walker had his eighth career 100-yard rushing day with 105 against the Steelers, and he gained 79 of those yards only after halftime.
Seattle managed just 60 yards rushing last week while winning 20-12 at Jacksonville.
Now the Seahawks face a Texans defense that is fourth in the NFL overall, seventh against the run and first in points allowed (12.2 per game).
“There are times when we’ve got to be a little more consistent across our entire offensive line,” coach Mike Macdonald said after practice Saturday. “The guys are playing hard, determined, but we’ve got room to grow, as well.”
The Texans’ primary 4-2 nickel defense also presents a new challenge for Seattle’s protection of quarterback Sam Darnold trying to pass.
The Seahawks’ O-line has been more consistent with pass blocking than with run blocking. Darnold has been sacked only seven times in six games. That’s part of the reason Darnold has been among the league’s most efficient and accurate passers (70.8% completion rate, tied with Houston’s C.J. Stroud for the NFL’s fifth-best). Darnold leads the league with 9.6 yards per pass attempt.
The Texans aggressively send edge rushers Danielle Hunter, the former Minnesota Vikings sack leader, and Will Anderson vertically up the field more than any of Seattle’s first six opponents.
“They play a little bit different than the way we play our scheme,” Macdonald said of Hunter and Anderson, “and they’re a little bit wider. They’re up the field in more of an attack mentality. Both (are) extremely talented and powerful guys. They play hard, so you’ve got to block them long. You can’t just block them for a half count, and then the down’s over. They’re going to take it through the spear of the whistle, which is why you respect them.
“I’m going have to account for those guys. They’re really good players. The way that they play their coverage allows the (Texans’ pass) rush to come alive, as well.”
That’s going to be a test for right tackle Abe Lucas and left tackle Charles Cross.
The Seahawks are likely to help Lucas in particular with a running back or tight end to double-team or chip block Houston’s edge rushers charging directly up the field. Lucas has struggled at times in one-on-one pass blocking with elite edge rushers.
The clearest example came in the final minute of Seattle’s week one game against San Francisco. The 49ers’ Nick Bosa pushed Lucas back into Darnold while he was looking to pass in the red zone with the Seahawks trailing 17-13. Darnold lost the ball into Lucas’ back before he could bring it up to throw it. The Seahawks lost the fumble and the game.
“Him at his best is someone that we’re going to need, with his mentality, on the right side of our line,” Macdonald said of Lucas, “and we’ve got to keep going.”
If Lucas, likely with help, and Cross can slow down Hunter and Anderson rushing straight up the field, Darnold could have the time to continue making Jaxon Smith-Njigba the league’s leader in receiving yards.
It would also help the Seahawks if they could run block, and thus run the ball, more consistently.
Key 2: Communicate better
The Seahawks are 4-8 at Lumen Field since Macdonald became their head coach before the 2024 season. They are 9-11 at home since the start of the 2023 season.
They spent much of the offseason talking about bettering this, and starting games more quickly especially at home. Yet they are 1-2 in Seattle for far this season.
In the last home game two weeks ago, Baker Mayfield and Tampa Bay shredded Macdonald’s defense for 38 points and 426 yards.
Macdonald and Seahawks defensive players have talked how they must change the ways they communicate play calls before the snap amid the noise inside Lumen Field. Macdonald, the defensive play caller, uses fewer words and talks less from the sideline into the helmet speaker of middle linebacker Ernest Jones. Jones often has to use hand signals to communicate the calls to his teammates while in formation, or even in huddles.
Cross says this issue applies to the offensive line, too.
“Just communication,” the left tackle said. “Making sure everyone’s on the same page and continuing to get better from week to week.”
Asked if communication issues have caused “challenges” in the running game on offense, Cross said it’s also fundamentals of blocking.
“My fight comes down to the small details, whether it’s hat (helmet) placement (on blocks), first step, things of that nature,” Cross said.
Sounds like they need to hear each other better Monday night against the Texans.
Key 3: Getting the secondary whole
It may not happen this game.
Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon and Pro Bowl safety Julian Love are questionable to play. Witherspoon has only played two of six games because of a bruised medial-collateral knee ligament. Love has missed half the six games with a hamstring injury.
Macdonald was asked Saturday if Witherspoon and Love need to work out before the game to test the injuries before the Seahawks determine if they can play. “No,” the coach said.
That suggests the coaches and medical staff may have already made the decisions. The Seahawks have their one bye week following this game. They won’t play again until Nov. 2 at Washington.
“It’d be great. It’d be awesome to have those guys back. You know the answer, Julian’s a great player, Spoon’s a great player,” Macdonald said. “But we’ve got great players that are playing, too.
“If they don’t play, we’ll count on those guys, too.”
“Those guys” include Riq Woolen, Nick Emmanwori and Ty Okada.
Woolen is returning from missing the Jacksonville game last week with a concussion he got in the loss to the Buccaneers, to play cornerback. Emmanwori, the rookie safety, has been the primary nickel with Witherspoon out. Emmanwori will be playing his third game Monday in his return from a high-ankle sprain.
Okada has started the last two games at safety with Love out. The Seahawks have allowed 584 yards passing the last two games. They are 24th in pass defense (235.5 yards per game). The entire starting secondary hasn’t played together in full since the first five plays of the season. That was the snap Emmanwori when injured his ankle. Witherspoon hurt his knee later in that game, banging into Josh Jobe as the cornerback intercepted a pass by the 49ers’ Brock Purdy.
Stroud knows all this. Expect him and the Texans’ offense to test Seattle’s secondary throwing the ball down the field.
The pick
The Texans began this season with losses at the Rams (14-9), to the Buccaneers (20-19) and at the Jaguars (17-10). Then they shut out the Titans (17-0) and ripped the Ravens in Baltimore (44-10).
That Ravens game got the attention of Macdonald, the Ravens’ defensive coordinator two years ago. That means he made his Seahawks well aware of it this week.
Stroud can extend plays outside the Seahawks’ pass rush that had seven sacks of Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville last week. The prediction here is Seattle contains him, and slow Nick Chubb and Houston’s 16th-ranked rushing offense.
Expect a defensive game that may look like a slog.
Seahawks 16, Texans 14
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
