3 'Best-Case Scenarios' For Seahawks in Halloween Face-Off With Jaguars

The season may already be lost, but the Seahawks still hold out hope for a late run to the playoffs. If they're going to accomplish such a feat, then they need to get back in the win column before heading into their Week 9 bye.

A great opportunity to do so has presented itself in the form of the 1-5 Jaguars—a team that just got its first win in 20 tries. Even with Geno Smith still under center, this is a game Seattle should—and has to—win. Failure to do so would essentially be rock-bottom in this already disastrous campaign.

Here's how the Seahawks can cap off their Halloween with a treat.

1. Seattle's run defense continues turnaround vs. James Robinson

Over the past two weeks, the Seahawks have limited Steelers running back Najee Harris and Saints running back Alvin Kamara to a combined 3.0 yards-per-carry (134 yards on 44 touches). Now they're faced with another great challenge in Robinson, who's the engine of the Jaguars' offense. Robinson is eighth among running backs in yards (460), tied for fifth in YPC (5.5) and tied for third in touchdowns (five). If they manage to bottle him up and put the game in the hands of rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the Seahawks will be in a great spot to walk out of Lumen Field with their first home win of the season.

2. Shane Waldron dials up DK Metcalf early and often

After Metcalf exploded for an 84-yard touchdown to put Seattle on the board early Monday night, Smith didn't target him again until the fourth quarter. In that time, the offense faltered and Smith wound up passing for less yardage than what the aforementioned score accumulated. He'd connect with him once more on a 12-yard strike in the fourth quarter, but that was it. In the end, the Seahawks could not find the end zone again and put up just three points the rest of the way. Bottom line: this cannot happen again, especially against a Jaguars defense that ranks 31st in stopping the pass. With his star quarterback, Russell Wilson, still on the sidelines, Waldron must do everything he can to help Smith settle in, and a great way to do just that is by scheming the ball into his best player's hands. Let DK cook.

3. Unnecessary penalties, burnt timeouts become last week's news

Through the first seven weeks of the season, the Seahawks have been a severely undisciplined football team. All that came to a head in their Monday night loss to the Saints, in which a lack of situational awareness in multiple instances led to their demise. Costly penalties and inexplicably burnt timeouts have become the norm in Pete Carroll's system, despite being so easily avoidable. And while the Jaguars naturally offer margin for error, making such mistakes can help them hang around in this game and threaten for the upset. Seattle needs to play a relatively clean game on Sunday.