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Takeaways from Seahawks' gutsy Week 7 win vs. Texans

The Seattle Seahawks earned a huge 27-19 victory over the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football.
Connor Benintendi|
Oct 20, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks safety Ty Okada (39) celebrates after sacking Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field.
Oct 20, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks safety Ty Okada (39) celebrates after sacking Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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Seattle Seahawks

Stacking a second-straight win heading into the bye week, the Seattle Seahawks gutted out a tough 27-19 win over the Houston Texans on Monday, Oct. 21, at Lumen Field.

An impressive defensive performance and another huge game from superstar wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba fueled the Seahawks (5-2) against a Texans team that entered the primetime contest on a two-game win streak.

Seattle now heads into the Week 8 bye with a lot of momentum, and time to get healthy. Here’s what we learned from another statement victory in Week 7.

Missed first half opportunities

The Seahawks left up to 16 points off the board in the first half and could’ve been up 23-0 at halftime. Instead, they led just 14-6 after two quarters.

In the first quarter, Seattle nearly had a safety on CJ Stroud as he had retreated to his own goal line under pressure. Although he was tackled in the end zone, the contact from Seahawks edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu began outside the end zone. It wasn’t a safety.

Then, leading 14-0 in the second quarter, the Seahawks got pressure on Stroud again. Stroud was hit and threw a backwards pass, which linebacker Drake Thomas recovered around Houston’s 5-yard line. Thomas fumbled it, and the Texans recovered it in their own end zone. That made it a touchback for Houston.

Already, the Seahawks left nine points on the field.

Still, the Seahawks forced a punt. Putting together a good drive to Houston’s 40-yard line, Klint Kubiak tried to get too cute. Cooper Kupp threw an interception on an end-around wide receiver pass, halting a promising drive. Houston cut the lead to 14-3.

The Seahawks had a field goal blocked before halftime, and the Texans got three more points. Instead of leading by a massive margin, it was just a one-score game at halftime 

Seahawks’ run defense might be best in NFL

Seattle entered the game ranked third in the league in rush yards allowed per game (79.0). Houston came into the game averaging 116.2 rush yards per game. The Seahawks held the Texans to just 56 yards on the ground.

No sequence was more emblematic of that stout run defense than over two consecutive plays in the third quarter.

With the Seahawks leading 20-12, they forced two negative run plays on third and fourth down to reclaim possession of the ball on Houston’s 41-yard line. Seattle scored on the next possession to extend its lead to 27-12 near the end of the period.

Linebacker Ernest Jones IV has been a huge part of that, and he had 11 tackles and a tackle for loss. As a team, the Seahawks had 10 tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits and three sacks. Nobody on Houston's offense had an easy night.

Defense keeps performing shorthanded

The Seahawks were still without starters Devon Witherspoon and safety Julian Love. Seattle’s defense still stood tall as clearly one of the most disruptive units in the league.

Opponents have now recorded under 300 yards of total offense in five of the Seahawks’ seven games so far this season. The Texans had just 254 on Monday night, and they were just 1 for 3 in the red zone.

Considering all the missed opportunities by Seattle overall, that was a huge stand by the defense. Houston’s offense was completely stagnant for most of the game, and that was primarily a product of Seattle’s pass rush and the back-end coverage, which has been operating with backups in and out of the lineup since Week 2.

That’s a testament to Mike Macdonald, and the defense’s buy-in from top to bottom.

JSN continues nuclear start

There’s no receiver in the NFL like Smith-Njigba right now. With eight catches for 123 yards and a touchdown on Monday night, Smith-Njigba now has 50 catches for 819 yards and and four scores in just seven games.

For perspective, he’s on pace for 121 catches, 1,989 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. That would break former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson’s single-season record of 1,964 yards set in 2012.

At this point in the season, no team has proven it can cover Smith-Njigba consistently. He’s entering unguardable territory, with five games of at least 100 yards and three ina row heading into the bye week.

Up Next

The Seahawks enter a bye week before facing the Washington Commanders (3-4), who have currently lost two straight games, in Week 9.

Seattle and Washington go to battle on Sunday Night Football at 5:20 p.m. on Nov. 2 at Northwest Stadium.

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Connor Benintendi
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