Idle Seahawks fall in latest NFL power rankings after their bye week

Competing in the NFL is a tough business. Teams are not only pressed when they face each other on Sundays, either. The competition is a 365 days a year commitment, and being idle even for one of them can cause you to fall behind in the race.

That was the case this week for the Seattle Seahawks, who were on their bye week after beating the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football.

That didn't stop them from falling in the latest batch of NFL power rankings from Matt Johnson at Sportsnaut. He has them down one spot from last week, now No. 6 in the league.

Seahawks fall one spot in power rankings

"The Seattle Seahawks have a Super Bowl-caliber defense, especially once Devon Witherspoon and Julian Love return to the secondary. One unit that’s really flying under the radar, though, is Seattle’s offensive line. Heading into the Week 8 bye, the Seahawks ranked 21st in ESPN pass-block win rate (58 percent) and 12th in run-block win rate (72 percent). Last year, they were in the bottom 10."

The reason for Seattle's drop was a three-spot rise from the Green Bay Packers, who went from sixth to third place in the rankings after beating DK Metcalf, Aaron Rodgers and the PIttsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.

The fall is no big deal for the Seahawks, who are excelling on offense, defense and special teams. There are a few individual weak links in the chain such as right guard Anthony Bradford and the weakside linebacker tandem of Tyrice Knight and Drake Thomas.

Overall though, this is the best Seahawks team we have seen since the 2015 season - which was the last time they were ranked first in DVOA.

As Johnson mentioned, there's only one real weakness for this team: their rushing attack. Despite having one of the heaviest run/pass splits in the league, they're only averaging 106.1 rushing yards per game, which ranks 21st in the NFL going into Week 9.

To some extent it's not the Seahawks' fault - as they are facing loaded boxes at a very high rate and there's only so much you can do when there are eight or nine defenders playing the run every first and second down.

Seattle is taking advantage of the situation with a strong play action attack and an aggressive approach from Sam Darnold - who's quarterbacking as well as any other starter in the game right now.

Eventually opponents are going to start opening up and playing lighter boxes to account for the lethal deep-ball connection between Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and hopefully Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet will be able to get going, then.

Otherwise we really have no complaints - it's not a bad idea to try to land an upgrade at right guard ahead of the trade deadline, but even with Bradford's poor pass blocking this team has a real chance to make a deep playoff run if their key pieces stay healthy.

Aug 23, 2025; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; General view of a Seattle Seahawks helmet prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Seahawks fall one spot in power rankings

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