It’s consistently ‘Career Day’ against the Seahawks defense

I don’t think you really need any more perspective on how bad the Seattle Seahawks defense has been over the past few years, but this is going to be light reading that should have more impact than a 1,000-word deep analysis.

Whether in a win or loss (usually in a loss), the Seahawks defense has had so many sub-standard performances that it leads to some of the best games of the opposition players’ respective careers. I’m not even including rookie Puka Nacua, who had 10 catches for 119 yards in his debut but since it’s his debut, 1 catch for 1-yard would’ve also been a career high in the pros.

This list is just for notable opposing players who within the past handful of seasons all managed statistical career highs against the Seahawks that have not since been bettered.

2020

Wayne Gallman (New York Giants). 135 yards rushing on only 16 carries. It’s his only 100-yard rushing game and he’s currently out of the league.

2021

Davis Mills (Houston Texans). 331 yards passing and 33 completions, albeit in a blowout loss so there was some garbage-time padding.

2022

Cordarrelle Patterson (Atlanta Falcons). 141 yards rushing and an NFC Offensive Player of the Week award.

T.J. Hockenson (Detroit Lions). 179 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns. Hockenson only has three 100+ yard receiving games to date, and he’s been in the league since 2019. He also caught a two-point conversion so his 14 points scored against the Seahawks is also a career high.

Tom Kennedy (Detroit Lions). 3 catches for 54 yards. He only has one other game of more than 15 yards.

Taysom Hill (New Orleans Saints). 113 yards rushing and 3 rushing touchdowns (and 4 total touchdowns). He only has 2 rushing touchdowns in the 13 games played since facing the Seahawks, and zero games above 61 rushing yards.

Rachaad White (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). 105 yards rushing. It’s his only 65+ rushing yard game as he enters his second season.

Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas Raiders). 229 yards rushing and 74 yards receiving. The 229 yards on the ground is a Raiders franchise record.

Brock Purdy (San Francisco 49ers). 332 yards passing. This is still Purdy’s only 300-yard game of his young career.

Jordan Mason (San Francisco 49ers). 64 yards rushing. 55 of those yards came on one play, but his second-best yardage game is 56.

Isiah Pacheco (Kansas City Chiefs). 32 yards receiving. This is all on one catch off a screen pass, but it’s also his longest play from scrimmage whether receiving or rushing.

2023

Tutu Atwell - 6 catches for 119 yards are both career highs. Over half of Atwell’s scrimmage yards (451) in his 22-game career have come in three matchups against Seattle.

And those are just career highs. I did not include these facts:

• Two of Alexander Mattison’s three 100-yard rushing games have been against the Seahawks (2020 and 2021);
• Antonio Gibson’s 111 yards rushing in 2021 is one of only four 100-yard games he’s had over 46 appearances.
• Dak Prescott’s 472-yard passing game in 2020 was a career-high at the time and still his 2nd most to date;
• Josh Allen’s 415-yard passing day in 2020 is tied for his 2nd highest total;
• Colt McCoy’s 328 yards passing in 2021 is his 3rd highest total and highest in a win, and his 35 completions were his 2nd most;
• Robert Woods’ 150 yards receiving in 2021 is his 5th highest mark.

But other than that, the defense has fared pretty well.