Seahawks clobber Falcons, 37-9

Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times on Dec 7, 2025

Published in Football

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ATLANTA — If you slept in and missed the first half of the Seattle Seahawks game Sunday don’t worry.

The Seahawks — well, the offense, anyway — also slumbered through the first half, leaving them stuck in a tie with the Atlanta Falcons at halftime and creating fears that maybe this was the Sunday they would finally succumb to an upset.

It took the Seahawks just 12 seconds for Rashid Shaheed to wake everyone up on the Seattle sideline, and to begin putting those fears — and this game — to bed.

Shaheed’s 100-yard return of the second-half kickoff started a 17-point third-quarter run by the Seahawks, who cruised to a 37-9 win over the beleaguered Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Sam Darnold shook off a sluggish first half that featured an interception and two sacks to throw three touchdown passes in the second half, two to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who got his numbers back on track after being held to a season-low 23 yards by the Vikings last week.

The Seahawks forced three turnovers in the second half, including the first interceptions of the season for Devon Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori (also the first of his career for Emmanwori, a rookie) as the Seahawks took a 37-9 lead with 8:27 remaining and played the rest of the game in front of a vastly depleted crowd that appeared to be rooting for the visitors.

The Seahawks are 10-3 and have a chance to move into first place in the NFC West all by itself if the Los Angeles Rams lose Sunday afternoon at Arizona.

And a win by the Green Bay Packers over the Chicago Bears could put the Seahawks atop the entire NFC.

The game was tied at 6-6 when Shaheed — who was acquired by the Seahawks from the New Orleans Saints at the trade deadline last month — took the opening kickoff and burst through a big hole and outraced the rest of the Falcons defense to scamper easily into the end zone to make it 13-6 with 13:48 to play in the third quarter.

It was the first career kickoff return for a touchdown for Shaheed, who entered the NFL in 2022 with the Saints. He had two punt returns for TDs with New Orleans.

It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown for the Seahawks since Laviska Shenault had a 97-yarder last season against the San Francisco 49ers.

For a moment the Falcons didn’t appear daunted, driving to Seattle’s 18, where they faced a third-and-1. Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson broke up the middle with enough to get the first, but as he did Jarran Reed reached in and knocked the ball loose.

Witherspoon recovered the bouncing ball at the 12.

Darnold and the Seahawks mounted their best drive of the game, moving 88 yards in eight plays to take a 20-6 lead with 6:18 to play in the third quarter.

The TD came on a 28-yard reception on a crossing pattern by Smith-Njigba from Darnold, who completed all five of his passes on the drive for 80 yards.

Three plays into Atlanta’s next series, Witherspoon broke up a Kirk Cousins pass intended for tight end Kyle Pitts with the ball flying into the air where Emmanwori bobbled and came down with it, giving the Seahawks the ball at the Falcons 47.

That led to a 37-yard field goal by Jason Myers that put the Seahawks ahead 23-6 with 2:39 to play in the third quarter.

Atlanta drove for a field goal on its next drive.

No matter, the Seahawks got the ball at their 40 following an out-of-bounds kickoff and Darnold hit Shaheed for 33 to get the Seahawks moving. A few plays later he hit Cooper Kupp for an 11-yard score to make it 30-9.

Three plays into Atlanta’s next series, Witherspoon perfectly read a Cousins screen pass to receiver David Sills and tipped the ball into the air and caught it in traffic at the Seahawks 35.

The Seahawks needed just six plays to convert that one, Darnold hitting Smith-Njigba from two yards out to make it 37-9.

Each team got only two field goals in the first half, a 30 minutes of football that was as exciting to watch as that description sounds.

Darnold again got off to a slow start, completing just 9 of 15 passes for 67 yards in the first half, getting sacked twice and throwing an interception on a tipped pass in the second quarter.

The pick came on a third-and-1 play at the Seattle 19 when Darnold rolled to his left and threw to tight end Elijah Arroyo, but Atlanta cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. broke up the pass and into the hands of safety Mike Hughes at the 30.

The play didn’t hurt the Seahawks as a holding penalty moved the Falcons back and Emmanwori then blocked a field goal.

But the play typified how the half went for Darnold.

Along with not being able to consistently get the Seahawks offense moving he also twice overthrew Smith-Njigba, once in the end zone in the first quarter.

The Falcons were without leading receiver Drake London for the third straight game because of a knee injury and his absence was noticeable leaving Cousins — who is finishing out the year at QB for Atlanta after former UW star Michael Penix Jr., suffered a season-ending knee injury last month — often left to resort to throwing quick short passes and screens.

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