The result was never in doubt in the Seattle Seahawks' 44-13 win over the New Orleans Saints.
The Seahawks scored 38 first-half points, and their defense shut down the Saints’ offense until a meaningless fourth quarter saw head coach Mike Macdonaldon both sides of the ball. Seattle’s 44 points were its most since a 48-45 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 4 of the 2022 season.
Tory Horton’s 95-yard punt return touchdown — the first by a Seattle player since Tyler Lockett in 2015 and longest in franchise history. After the ensuing Saints drive fizzled out, New Orleans set up to punt. Safety D’Anthony Bell, who was elevated from the practice squad for the game, blocked the kick and gave the offense the ball inside the 15-yard line. That fueled the Seahawks to a quick 21-0 lead before the first quarter was even over. New Orleans only got a field goal on a 16-play drive to start the second quarter. Seahawks wide receiver Dareke Young returned the ensuing kickoff 63 yards to give Seattle the ball on the opposing 38-yard line. It only took three more plays to extend the lead to 28-3. With the offense humming, the Seahawks led 38-6 at halftime after tacking on an additional 10 points.Once the top home field advantage in the NFL, the Seahawks’ home crowd noise has waned over the years as their Super Bowl XLVIII title gets further in the rear-view mirror. Entering Week 3, the Seahawks had lost seven of their last eight games at home. Against the Saints, however, Lumen Field was as loud as it has been in years. The special teams' excellence got the crowd going early, but the defense is now rising to the level of third- and fourth-down noise. Mike Macdonald’s unit is rewarding that fan effort with more frequent stops to get excited about. The Saints were just 5 for 15 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth down. With the fans and stout defense controlling the game, it rapidly spiraled for New Orleans. The penalties ramped up fast for the Saints as well, with 11 fouls for 77 yards. Seattle’s defense is quickly emerging as one of the league’s best through three weeks. The Seahawks haven’t allowed more than 17 points in any single game and have now surrendered under 300 yards in consecutive contests.The Week 3 win was especially impressive considering the defensive injuries. Seattle was without safety Julian Love and cornerback Devon Witherspoon in the starting lineup, and rookie safety Nick Emmanwori also sat for the second straight game. That forced former undrafted safety Ty Okada into the lineup for his first NFL start and put cornerback Derion Kendrick on the field much more often. All the backup pieces played well enough to keep the Saints at bay until garbage time.Seattle’s offense had it pretty easy all day, but Darnold kept the ball out of harm’s way and put points on the board — capitalizing on all the opportunities his special teams and defensive units provided. Darnold was 10 for 11 for 169 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone. That was good enough to log a perfect passer rating of 158.3. For the day, Darnold finished 14 for 18 for 218 yards, posting a 154.2 passer rating. The run game still isn’t incredibly efficient for Seattle, which picked up just 2.6 yards per carry . That has meant that Darnold has to step up, and he’s done that in the last two games for the Seahawks.Jaxon Smith-Njigba remains the Seahawks’ clear No. 1 wide receiver, but Horton is on the rise as a rookie. In addition to his punt return score, the fifth-round rookie had three catches for 32 yards and a touchdown. Horton could contest Cooper Kupp as Seattle’s legitimate second receiver. Smith-Njigba is going to keep handling most of the workload, but Kupp hasn’t been consistently productive yet.The shades of a rookie Tyler Lockett are there. Horton’s rise is following a similar trajectory, and Lockett ended up as the No. 2 receiving leader in team history.The fourth-quarter rest for the Seahawks’ starters was huge heading into a Thursday night showdown with the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 25. Arizona is coming off a narrow 16-15 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
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