There are no automatic wins in this league.
“Every team in the NFL has first-rounders, Pro Bowlers and All-Pros,” Seahawks Pro Bowl defensive end Leonard Williams said this week. “I think if you sleep on any team in the league, they have potential to beat you.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“We’re focused on us and getting better this week. We’re never going to overlook a team.”
Williams is a 31-year-old veteran in his 11th NFL season. He was answering questions about his Seahawks (7-3) coming off a 21-19 loss at the Los Angeles Rams for the NFC West lead last weekend, a game they thought they should have won, now preparing to play at the 1-9 Tennessee Titans Sunday in Nashville (10 a.m., FOX television, channel 13 locally).
Tennessee has the league’s fewest wins. The Titans have fired their head coach during this season, second-year man Brian Callahan. They’ve lost 13 of the last 17 games. Their offense with rookie quarterback Cam Ward is ranked last or near last in every major category. The Titans had the first-overall pick in this year’s draft, Ward. They are on track to have it again this coming spring.
Yet the fact is these Seahawks could be playing the 1985 Chicago Bears this week, and they still have to fix their biggest problem themselves: The offense needs to stop giving the ball away.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSeattle has 20 turnovers in 10 games. That’s the most giveaways in the league.
Quarterback Sam Darnold has 14 turnovers, 10 interceptions plus four fumbles. That’s tied with Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa for the NFL’s most by one player.
“Overall, just way too many turnovers going on as an offense,” coordinator and play caller Klint Kubiak said, “between myself, between, between the whole operation.
“It’s not going to help us win, so we’ve got to be way better there.”
That’s against any opponent. Including the league’s worst team in each of the last two seasons.
The News Tribune’s keys to the game Sunday in Music City:
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) hands the ball to teammate Kenneth Walker III (9) during the first quarter at SoFi Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)1. Sam Darnold rebounding
The turnovers start and mostly end with the guy who handles the ball every snap.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFor Seattle, that’s the same guy who led them to a 7-2 start as the league’s most efficient and best deep-ball passer. Until Los Angeles.
How he rebounds from his career high-tying four interceptions that directly handed the Rams two of their three touchdowns last Sunday in southern California isn’t just the key to not letting the Titans in this game. It will over the final seven games of the season determine whether the Seahawks win the NFC West and have home playoff games for the first time since 2020.
“It’s unacceptable,” Darnold said this week. “We understand as an offense, we have to be better, I have to be better, at protecting the football.
“And we’re doing everything that we can in practice for when the game comes to try to take care of the football a little bit better.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“(It’s) make good corrections, and do everything that we need to move on to Tennessee.”
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) passes during the first quarter of the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in Seattle.2. Blocking Jeffery Simmons
The strength of Tennessee’s team is its defensive line. The strength of that defensive line is Simmons.
The three-time Pro Bowl veteran has 5 1/2 sacks in eight games played. That’s the best sack rate of the 28-year old’s seven seasons in the league.
He’s lines up over the center, the guard and at times the offensive tackle. Simmons can wreck offensive lines and games by himself. Coach Mike Macdonald and his Seahawks experienced it in Nashville two summers ago. Simmons took over the two joint practices the Seahawks and Titans had in Tennessee in August 2024.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“We may or may not have watched some of that practice tape over the last couple days,” Macdonald said this week, with a wry smile. “And it was some bad football on our part. So, we’ve come a long way, too. “We’re laughing on the defensive staff, like, ‘Holy crap! Glad that (practice film) only exists in our building, their building, and nowhere else.”
Simmons often lines up opposite the left side of offensive lines. That’s where stud rookie Grey Zabel plays guard for Seattle.
Zabel injured his knee last weekend at Los Angeles. The injury looked serious at the time. But magnetic resonance imaging tests showed no structural damage. Thursday, Zabel surprised Macdonald by practicing.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe first-round pick is questionable to play Sunday. Judging by toughness that promoted Kubiak to call him “a little gangster” this week, signs are Zabel will play.
If Zabel doesn’t play in Tennessee, Christian Haynes will make his first NFL start at left guard. The 2024 draft choice was on injured reserve the first nine games of this season. He’s played 10 regular-season snaps in the last 12 months.
That would be a Seahawks problem against Simmons.
“Jeffery’s a great player,” Macdonald said. “You don’t see a lot of A-gap players that can play inside and out. Shoot, he can rush outside too and play all three downs. ...But he’s one of the best. He plays hard, plays physical, and they do a good job of moving him around and matching him up.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“So, he’s a guy that we’re going to have to account for.”
Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons #98 of the Tennessee Titans reacts in the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images)3. Feature Kenneth Walker
Kenneth Walker showed at Los Angeles last week his elusiveness and explosiveness to make unblocked defenders miss. While co-running back Zach Charbonnet ran into Rams at the line, Walker juked and ran past them for first downs.
The day after that game, Macdonald said Walker has earned more of the lead-back role, particularly in the red zone and near the goal line. Walker had that until a job share Seahawks coaches started this summer to manage the oft-injured Walker through the entire season.
The time is now for Walker. He has seven games left on his contract.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“He’s showing that he’s earning more opportunities to get the ball,” Macdonald said Monday afternoon. Then Friday Walker went on the injury report with a new glute issue. The Seahawks list him as questionable, though Macdonald says that’s “precautionary” and “maintenance.”
Expect Walker to be Seattle’s lead back in Tennessee. At least he should be.
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) catches a pass in the flat during the first quarter of the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in Seattle.The pick
Macdonald’s defense often controls games, no matter how often Darnold and the offense turn the ball over. This is a game Seattle should control Ward and the Titans.
The Seahawks haven’t pitched a shutout on defense since Sept. 27, 2015, 26-0 over Chicago in Seattle.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThey haven’t had a road shutout since Dec. 15, 2013, 23-0 at the New York Giants the season they had the league’s top-ranked defense and won the Super Bowl.
Seahawks 20, Titans 0.
Seattle Seahawks defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence (0) and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (7) pressure Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) during the fourth quarter of the game at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in Seattle.AdvertisementAdvertisement
