NFL: Seattle Seahawks Week 5 “Hawk Notes”

10/8/2026

(Seattle, WA) It’s week 5 of the NFL season and it’s a huge week for the Seahawks as many would guess this is one of thoxse early season games that is actually a “must win” game. Not as far as getting into the play-offs but winning the NFC West you first need to hold serve against your biggest competitors in your conference. Right now there is only 1 undefeated team in the NFC West and it’s not the Seahawks but rather their fierce rival the San Francisco 49ers.

Last week the Hawks turned things around by getting the win over the Chargers after that loss in Washington. However, there were still many things Seattle needs to improve on and clean up.

Hawk Veterans in right mindset ahead of huge showdown with 49ers

Last year the Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers twice in 3 weeks, clinching the NFC West title in week 18 at San Francisco and then elimintaing the 49ers two weeks later from the play-offs with a blow-out win at Lumen field.

If anyone thinks the Seahawks are resting on their laurels they know good and well that what happened last year has no impact on this season. “None of what happened last year matters,” linebacker Ernest Jones IV said. “It’s a new year, new season. They’ve got a hell of a group. They’ve put together four good games, won every one of them. This is a new team — just like we have a new team, they have a new team, they’re doing some different things. We have to go out there and do our job.”

Both sides say it’s just another week but it is a divisonal game which are always more intense. “They might feel a certain way,” safety Julian Love said. “Regardless of what happened last year, we don’t like them; they don’t like us. They might not like us a little bit more because of what happened at the end of last season, but it is what it is. You know it’s going to be a fistfight against a division opponent, and that’s all of them. We don’t like anybody in our division.”

Buckle up and get ready for another battle between these two teams. 

Seahawk Senior Media Reporter John Boyle has more in his story on this link.

Penalties

The Seahawks defense were hit hard with yellow flags last Sunday extending drives for the Chargers and allowed them to have a chance late in the game. The players decided they needed to do something about it and had a defensive players only meeting on Monday to talk about the penalties that they have to avoid.

There’s always going to penalties as Coach Mike Macdonald says they are a cost of doing business. But 16 penalties and 150 yards of penalty yardage goes far beyond the cost you can give up on a regular basis.

The meeting was led by the veterans, Julien Love, Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed and Ernest Jones IV. Reed said, sometimes these issues are better dealt with the players. “We got together as a defense on Monday, players only, and we just had a real, honest, blunt meeting with each other about what we expect and what we want to go through,” Reed said. “We hit it head on, because that was way too many penalties for us as a team, especially the personal (foul) penalties. Some of the stuff is just the cost of doing business, but the ones that can be avoided, we need to avoid those penalties.” 

Reed added, “We’ve got to be smart. The guys play hard and we like to be a physical group. Sometimes just the way the rules are in the league, there’s a lot of stuff that we can’t do. We’re just not there, and we can’t just try to do too much or overdo, but the guys are playing hard, it’s a testament to them. Once you get to the situation, if you think it’s going to be a certain type of flag situation, we’ve got to be smart.”

Thanks to John Boyle, Seahawks media reporter for contributions to this section, read his full story on this link.

More Shaheed

In the Chargers game with a depleted offensive backfield, offensive coordinator Brian Fleury dug deep to come up with a way to add more speed in the backfield. Rashid Shaheed was called upon to carry the ball a couple of times running the jet sweep. Shaheed is one of the most feared kick and punt returners in the league and Fleury wanted to get him into space where he can use his athletic ability and speed to put pressure on the edges.

Shaheed got his first chance from the L-A 28 and took the sweep around the left end all the way to the endzone for 6. He got another chance later in the game and picked up 5 yards and had 2 carries for 33 yards and a TD.

Fleury has used Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp out of the backfield. Shaheed was excited to get his chance to work from behind the offensive line. “It’s a lot harder for guys to key on what we have planned,” Shaheed said. “They see us in the backfield and automatically think that something’s up. Anything can happen when a guy is in the backfield like me, Jax (Jaxon Smith-Njigba), or Coop (Cooper Kupp). There are so many different routes that can be ran and it definitely helps out the guys running down the field. We can attack the linebackers, get their eyes on us and allow guys to be able to run freely back there. I’m excited for what we have planned in the future.”

Fleury says obviously you can’t make a living running your receivers out of the backfield but does want to give Shaheed more chances to change things up. It opens up our offense just that much more regardless of who is back there.