NFL: Seattle holds off penalty marred showdown with the Chargers

10/4/2026

(Seattle, WA) The Seattle Seahawks were looking to put the disappointing loss at Washington last week in the rearview mirror when the Chargers came to town on Sunday afternoon. The Seahawks came in with a 2-1 record while the Chargers were still looking for their first win.

The Set-up

Seattle was getting a ton of help back on the field on the defensive side of the ball led by the return of safety Julien Love. The Hawks also activated Trevon Diggs who they signed late in the summer and he’s been on the practice squad until he was ready to go in the new system.

The offense took a shot at their depth in the running back room when rookie Jadarian Price was put on IR after re-aggravating a chest/shoulder injury in practice. This left Emanuel Wilson and George Holani as the two who were going to called upon tlo carry the load in the backfield.

For the Chargers, the questions swirl around whether or not the new L-A offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel and QB Justin Herbert can get on the same page as the offense has struggled mightily scoring a total of 44 points or an average of less than 15 points per game.

3rd team both squads had to face

Little did either team know that the officials were in the mood to toss yellow laundry all game long with a total of 30 penalties being enforced for a total of 280 yards. 150 on Saettle and 130 on the Chargers.

The flag-a-palooza was so bad that Seattle fans began booing when the Chargers were called for yet another infraction. Fans watching are also probably tired of hearing the announcers and the retired refs say that by the letter of the law that was a penalty. Fans for both teams got hear the voice of Head Ref Scott Novack more than the play-by-play guy.

1st Quarter

Both defenses got off to a fast start, literally in the first two plays of the game. On first down for the Chargers, Justin Herbert dropped back and attempted to throw the ball over the middle Drake Thomas playing underneath stepped up and picked off the pass giving the Seahawks great field position on the L-A 45.

Sam Darnold and company came out and wanted to strike quickly so they also dropped back to pass but his pass was behind his intended receiver and right into the hands of the Chargers Tuli Tuipulotu for his first career interception and giving the ball back to the Chargers on their own 48.

L-A would then drive 30-yards on plays ending in a Cameron Dicker 40-yard field goal with 11:54 to go in the 1st for a 3-0 lead.

Seattle would get the ball and was foced to punt but Chargers returner Derius Davis muffed the catch and it was recovered by Connor O’Toole on the L-A 23-yard line. The seahawks took 1 play to strike when Darnold swung out a screen pass to Emanuel Wilson who took it to the house behind some great downfield blocking to get into the endzone for 6. Jason Myers added the PAT and it was 7-3 with 9:55 to play in the 1st.

The two teams would then exchange punts on 4 straight possessions to end the first quarter. The officiating crew was busy putting a damper on the game throwing multiple flags with 7 accepted penalties and 5 against the Seahawks.

2nd Quarter

A slow start to the second 15-minutes with more punts. A stretch of 10 possessions of punts, each team having to boot the ball 5 times. Seattle would get it back on their own 35 with 10:23 to go in the half and after Darnold getting sacked and a 2-yard pass completion it looked like punt #6 in a row was next but instead Darnold found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 28-yard completion. 

They’d push the ball down to the 28 and then ran a jet sweep to the left flipping the ball to Rashid Shaheed who turned the corner and found a massive hole with great downfield blocking and Shaheed scampered in for 6. Jason Myers came on for the PAT and after making 69-consecutive PAT’s he missed and the Hawks led 13-3.

After another pair of punts, Seattle’s Ernest Jones III picked off a Herbert pass deep in Charger territory giving it back to the offense on the L-A 20. On 1st down, Darnold found TE AJ Barner for a nice 12-yard gain setting up a 1st and goal on the 8 with less than a minute to play. Wilson got the hand-off and again found a massive hole over the left side and cruised in for the score. Myers added the PAT to start a new streak and Seattle led 20-3.

The Chargers showed a little life after Herbert was able to scramble for 26-yards into Seattle territory. A late hit with time ticking down on Seattle set up a 39-yard Dicker field goal attempt that he hit as time expried in the 1st half and at the break the Seahawks had a 20-6 lead.

At the half the Seattle defense was back holding the Chargers to just 92 total yards, 5 1st downs and just 6 points with 3 turn-overs, two interceptions and a muffed punt recovery.

3rd Quarter

Seattle began the 2nd half with the 1st possession and picked up where they left off in the 1st half with a nice 8 play drive that went 68-yards and capped it off with a quick pass from Darnold to Tory Horton for a 6-yard touchdown. Myers added the PAT and the Hawks pushed their lead to 27-6. 

The Chargers were getting hit every which way but were hanging in there with the Seattle defense. Their first possession of the 2nd half may have been their best all season going 11 plays covering 81-yards and finishing with a short pass to Kimani Vidal from Justin Herbert, Vidal then powered in for 6 and the Chargers were showing some life trailing 27-13.

Seattle got the ball back and had a good drive going but faced a 3rd and 8 on the Charger 35 and the Darnold pass was incomplete. Myers came on for a 53-yard field goal attempt but pushed it left missing. Seattle was then bailed out by one of what seemed like 100 penalty flags on the night and got a “leverage” call against the Chargers. 3-plays later it was 4th down again this time from the Charger 27 and Myers made the 35-yarder to push their lead to 30-13 with 1:19 to play in the 3rd.

4th Quarter

The Seahawks had owned the 4th quarter in the first 3 games being the #1 team in the NFL in point differential and the Chargers were the worst team. You know what they say, “any given Sunday”. The roles reversed in this 4th quarter as the Seattle offense ran out of magic running only 12 offensive plays, picking up 25 yards of offense and getting shut out.

The Chargers weren’t done and made a run. They began by finishing a 16 play, 85-yard drive that began with about a minute to go in the 3rd. L-A scored when Omarion Hamton scored with a 2-yard run. On that drive the Chargers overcame a 2nd and 17 and a 3rd and 24. L-A closed within 10 with 7:48 to go in the game.

Seattle would go be forced to punt with 4:01 to play on their next drive and the Chargers took over on their own 7-yard line. 

The Chargers would then go hurry up and moved the ball quickly with the key play being a 44-yard scramble and throw from Herbert to Quentin Johnston on a 3rd and 7. Herbert then hit Tre’ Harris on a 21-yard pass that he ran out of bounds at the Seattle 19 with 2:17 to play in the game.

L-A coach Jim Harbaugh then decided to kick the field goal on 1st down, prior to the 2:00 warning as he had all 3 time-outs and could stop the clock 4 times. The Camron Dicker field goal was good making it 30-23.

Seattle again couldn’t do anything with the ball yet again and Michael Dickson punted it away dropping it inside the 20 at the Chargers 11 with 1:42 to play and no time-outs. 

L-A apparently trying to catch the Hawks thinking pass only ran the ball and got 9 yards but they needed another 80 yards and a touchdown. After a 9-yard completion and the clock running, Herbert dropped back again but this time Seattle’s Uchenna Nwosu got around his blocker and strip sacked Herbert and Derick Hall recovered for Seattle. 

Darnold then kneed the game out and Seattle held on for the win.

What’s Next?

The Seahawks are now 3-1 on the season and they will next take on the 49ers next Sunday at Lumen field. The 49er’s held off Denver on Sunday to improve to 4-0 and are currently in 1st place leading the NFC West. 

The Chargers drop to an eye-popping 0-4 and will host the Denver Broncos next Sunday as they sit at the bottom of the AFC West standings.

Stand-outs

Offensively, the running game was much improved as Emanuel Wilson got the majority of the workload carrying the ball 21 times for 81 yards and a TD. He also caught 3 passes for 38 yards and a TD.

Rashid Shaheed got to run a couple of times and both caught the Chargers off guard with the first jet sweep a 28-yard TD run and then a solid 5 yard gain. Altogether the Hawks ran the ball 33 times for 138 yards and 2 scores.

Defensively, the secondary looked a lot more in sync this week than last b ut several penalties hurt their cause at times. Julien Love back directing traffic helped and the front 7 was really stout especially in the 1st half limiting the Chargers to less than 100 yards of offense.

The Hawks were led by Ernest Jones IV with 12 tackles, 6 solo, a sack and a tackle for loss. Jones also had an interception. Drake Thomas also had a pick. Seattle picked up two other turnovers when Connor O’Toole recovered the muffed punt and to end the game Derick Hall recovered the strip from Herbert by Uchenna Nwosu.

Seattle sacked Herbert 4 times with Nick Emmanwori and Byroin Murphy joining Jones and Nwosu and the defense had a total of 9 tackles for loss.

Seattle Stats

For Chargers Stats click this link

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