Seattle’s bread-and-butter was too much for Kansas City. Jaxon Smith-Njigba and a suffocating defence lifted the Seattle Seahawks to a 20-3 Sunday Night Football win over the Chiefs at Lumen Field, handing Kansas City its first loss of the season and snapping Seattle’s two-game skid.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Credits: ESPN)
The defending Super Bowl champions looked every bit the part on Sunday night. Seattle’s defence held the Chiefs to just 213 total yards, 11 first downs and 3-of-11 on third down, while Smith-Njigba tormented the Kansas City secondary with nine catches for 150 yards and a touchdown. It was a complete performance — the kind that reminded everyone why Seattle raised the Lombardi Trophy last February.
Seahawks beat Chiefs 20-3: Smith-Njigba stars on Sunday Night Football
Smith-Njigba set the tone early in the second quarter. After a 33-yard gain got Seattle into the red zone, Jason Myers kicked a 25-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. On the next series, Ty Okada intercepted Patrick Mahomes, and Seattle drove again — Darnold scrambling for seven yards to keep the drive alive before connecting with Smith-Njigba for a 28-yard touchdown to make it 10-0 with 1:44 left in the first half.
Quarterback Sam Darnold finished 20-of-28 for 257 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and he was never sacked. The interception nearly cost Seattle points late in the half, when Nohl Williams picked off Darnold in the end zone and returned it 64 yards — but Harrison Butker’s 58-yard field goal attempt fell short as time expired, preserving Seattle’s shutout into halftime.
Seattle finished with 24 first downs and 410 total yards, converting 11-of-16 third downs. Emanuel Wilson sealed the win with a 21-yard touchdown run after Butker missed a 45-yard attempt wide right midway through the fourth quarter that would have cut the deficit to seven.
Chiefs held to 3 points as Mahomes and Walker struggle
For Kansas City, it was one of the lowest-scoring outputs of the Mahomes era. Mahomes finished 19-of-33 for 165 yards with an interception and a 58.3 passer rating, and for the first time in a Mahomes start — postseason included — the Chiefs did not even reach the red zone.
The running game offered no relief. Kenneth Walker III, the former Seahawk and Super Bowl MVP who signed with Kansas City in the offseason, entered the night averaging a league-leading 133 yards per game. Seattle held him to just 36 yards on 14 carries, extending its streak to 36 games without allowing a 100-yard rusher, the league’s longest current run.
The one bright spot for Kansas City was a milestone for Travis Kelce, who caught four passes for 44 yards to move into fifth place all-time in receptions. It was little consolation on a night when the Chiefs managed just three points — their only score coming in the third quarter — and fell to 5-1.
Seattle, meanwhile, improved to 4-3 and kept itself firmly in the NFC West race. With the win, the Minnesota Vikings became the NFL’s last unbeaten team. For a Seahawks side that came in needing a statement after two straight losses, Sunday night delivered exactly that.
Source: ESPN — read the full story there.