What's at stake for the Seahawks this week? And what was the fun trivia that came out of Sunday's 44-13 win over the Saints at Lumen Field?
Let's address those questions in this week's Four Downs with Seahawks beat reporter Bob Condotta.
Why is this a big week for the Seahawks?
For one, the Seahawks are getting the toughest thing the NFL asks teams to do all season -- play a road game on a Thursday night -- out of the way early.
There's simply no easy way to prepare for that. The Seahawks were back to work Monday morning for what would be a Wednesday in a normal game week, putting in their early-down game plans on each side of the ball.
At least it's not a long trip to Phoenix.
The Seahawks' other Thursday night game comes in December at home against the Rams on Dec. 18 and follows a home game against the Colts.
After this, and until that Thursday night Rams game, the Seahawks' schedule settles into a predictable routine of games every Sunday, other than a Monday nighter against Houston on Oct. 20, which is followed by the Seahawks' bye.
This week will be a challenge for the Seahawks, even with Arizona facing issues of its own, overcoming the disappointment of a 16-15 last-play loss at the 49ers Sunday to fall to 2-1 and losing starting running back James Conner for the season to an ankle injury.
If the Seahawks can overcome the short week and improve to 3-1, the long-term payoff might be immense.
How immense?
Since the 49ers beat Arizona to get to 3-0 on Sunday, the Seahawks can't move into first place this weekend.
But thanks to the Rams blowing a 26-9 third-quarter lead in Philadelphia and losing 33-26, the Seahawks can at least move into a tie for second.
And in a league in which almost a quarter of the season will have elapsed by the end of the weekend, it's not too early to look at the standings.
If the Seahawks can win Thursday they can take the weekend off and watch the 49ers and Rams deal with games Sunday that loom as far more challenging than might have been perceived a few weeks ago.
The 49ers will host a Jacksonville team that is showing signs of life under first-year coach Liam Coen, beating Houston 17-10 on Sunday to improve to 2-1 and ranking in the top 10 in yards gained and fewest yards allowed. The 49ers learned Monday that standout pass rusher Nick Bosa is out for the season with an ACL injury.
The Rams return home to host an Indianapolis team that might be the surprise of the NFL at 3-0 and scoring the second-most points in the league behind new starting QB Daniel Jones.
The line on the 49ers game dropped from San Francisco favored by 5.5 to as low as 3.5 by Monday afternoon on VegasInsider.com.
The line has also dropped significantly on the Rams game, from 6.5 at opening to 3.5.
The line is going the other direction for the Seahawks' game against Arizona.
The Cardinals opened as a 2.5-point favorite. But some lines Monday had the Seahawks favored by as much as 1.5.
In other words, it's a true "Any Given Sunday" weekend on tap for the NFC West in which in the worst-case scenario the Seahawks could be 2-2 and the only team without a winning record in the division when it's done, or 3-1 and in a possible two-way tie at the top.
One game, three quarterbacks
Sunday marked the first time that Sam Darnold, Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe all took snaps at quarterback. A reader wondered the last time three QBs took snaps in the same game for the Seahawks?
For anyone who missed it, Milroe, the 92nd overall pick in the 2025 draft out of Alabama, got his second snap of the season when he entered the game on the fifth play of the third quarter, with Darnold moving out wide as a receiver.
As he did against the 49ers, Milroe kept the ball, this time gaining three yards on a first-and-20 play.
That was all the action Milroe got.
Darnold played through the end of the third quarter before being replaced by Lock, who played 18 snaps on the last four series and completed 2 of 3 passes for 15 yards.
Some quick research on Pro Football Reference reveals that the last time the Seahawks had three quarterbacks all record stats in the same game -- and did so as quarterbacks -- came in a 2001 contest in Oakland against the Raiders.
In a 38-14 Oakland win, the Seahawks started Matt Hasselbeck, turned to Trent Dilfer when the score reached 38-0 in the third quarter, then went back to Hasselbeck when Dilfer was injured after just two plays (both passes). When Hasselbeck was injured a little later, Brock Huard entered and finished out the game.
Since then, the Seahawks have usually been a two-QB team, especially after the arrival of Russell Wilson in 2012 and Geno Smith taking over in 2022.
Those two started all but two games for the Seahawks since 2012 -- Lock getting two in 2023.
The last time the Seahawks had three different QBs play in the same season is 2008 (Hasselbeck, Seneca Wallace and Charlie Frye).
They have had other players throw passes in other seasons, such as Jaxon Smith-Njigba last year.
Three different QBs taking a snap in the same game was indeed a rarity.
Where did Sunday's blowout rank in Seahawks' history?
The quintessential "all three phases" victory -- meaning, solid contributions from the offense, defense and special teams -- was indeed one for the record books.
To cite a few:
The 38 points at halftime were tied for the third-most in a half in team history behind only a 45-point outburst in a game against the Vikings in 2002 (the famous game where Shaun Alexander tied a team record with four rushing TDs) and 42 points against Buffalo in 1977 (a 56-17 win over the Bills at the Kingdome). All three of those totals came in the first half.
The Seahawks eased off the pedal Sunday in the second half to score only six points.
Forty-four points is tied for 15th-most in team history and the third-most in the last eight years behind only two memorable shootouts with Detroit (a 51-29 win in January, 2022 and a 48-45 win in October, 2022).
The 31-point margin of victory is tied for 14th in team history and is the highest since a 40-3 win over the Jets in Seattle in Dec. 2020.
The most points scored and largest margin of victory in team history are from the same game and likely to be hard to top -- a 58-0 win over Arizona on Dec. 9, 2012. The Seahawks led 38-0 at the half in that game.