10 big plays that defined the Seahawks season-long run to the Super Bowl

The Seahawks have run 1,132 plays on offense this season.

They have defended 1,183 snaps.

Throw in 139 punts, 141 kick-off returns and 84 field-goal attempts, and you’ve got a total of more than 2,500 football plays spread across 19 total games.

Only an obsessed lunatic or abject moron would choose to sift through all of those in the belief that they could determine which were most important to Seattle reaching its fourth Super Bowl.

Well, I am something of a lunatic and I’m also enough of a moron to believe that I can rank those using three exceedingly specific criteria:

• Win probability
• Expected points added (EPA). This is the stat preferred by nerds. It looks at how much a single play changes the likelihood of scoring, taking into account down, distance, field position and time remaining.
• My (sizeable) gut instinct

Without further ado, here’s my totally definitive, not-at-all debatable countdown of the 10 plays most responsible for getting Seattle to its fourth Super Bowl:

Week 6: Jaxon Thrills in Jacksonville

Jaxon Smith-Njigba needed just 8 seconds in the second quarter to run past the cornerback and catch Sam Darnold’s pass in stride for a 61-yard touchdown that turned a three-point deficit into a four-point lead.

It was one of Smith-Njigba’s two touchdown catches of more than 60 yards this season, evidence that he is as dangerous lined up on the outside as he was in the slot last season.

Smith-Njigba led the league with eight catches of 40 or more yards this season. No one else in the NFL had more than five.

Week 10: Long arms of D. Law

Demarcus Lawrence’s fumble return for a touchdown in the first half against the Cardinals was a huge moment as the Seahawks began to hit their stride as a team.

Oh wait. That doesn’t really narrow things down.

Lawrence scored twice in the first half of this game on strikingly similar plays as a Seahawk pass-rusher hit Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett in mid-delivery, knocking the ball free to Lawrence, who doubled his career touchdown total in a single half.

Week 13: Your most Ernest effort

A fumble gifted Minnesota the ball at the Seattle 13 with 5:09 left in the first half, and the Seahawks leading 3-0. When Jordan Addison was tackled on third down, 1 yard short of what the Vikings needed for the first, they decided to go for it.

Demarcus Lawrence wasn’t fooled on the play action, and as he grabbed hold of Max Brosmer, the Vikings rookie decided he might as well fling it downfield because anything would be better than a sack.

Nope.

Ernest Jones caught the fluttering butterfly of a pass in stride and ran 85 yards for the touchdown.

Week 4: The 28-second drill

The Seahawks led 17-6 entering the fourth quarter and had held the Cardinals to 147 yards of total offense. The Cardinals mounted their two longest drives of the game in the final period, scoring two touchdowns and tying the game with 28 seconds left.

The Seahawks got the ball at their own 40 thanks to a botched kickoff. They had one timeout left and after an incompletion on first down, Jaxon Smith-Njigba made a sideline catch so acrobatic that the officials needed replay to see that he got both feet down in-bounds for a 22-yard gain.

Two plays later, Jason Myers kicked a 52-yard field goal to win the game 23-20 on the final play.

Week 2: Full-fledged cover-up

Three minutes into the fourth quarter against the Steelers, Jason Myers kicked a 54-yard field goal that put Seattle up 17-14. His ensuing kickoff landed at the Pittsburgh 3, bouncing up and over the head of Caleb Johnson, who assumed the ball was dead once it crossed into the end zone. That’s because Johnson’s a rookie, and that’s the way it works in college.

In the NFL? That’s a live ball, and George Holani recovered it for a Seattle touchdown.

Divisional round vs 49ers: The need for Sheed

When the Seahawks traded two draft picks to acquire Rashid Shaheed, one of the fastest receivers in the league, the expectation was he’d serve as a downfield receiving threat.

And he has, as his 51-yard reception in the NFC Championship Game showed.

But his biggest impact has come on special teams, and this was the third time he’s ran a kick (or punt) back for a touchdown.

Week 18: Walker’s third-down magic

It was still a one-score game against the 49ers at this point. A botched snap on first down put Seattle at a disadvantage and when Seattle pitched the ball to Walker on a third-down play in which the Seahawks needed 17 yards, it sure looked like the Seahawks were content to punt.

Spoiler: They were not.

Receiver Jake Bobo stood up a 49ers linebacker with a block and center Jalen Sundell cleared out room for Walker to get the first down and drop 49ers president John Lynch into agony as he watched from a suite.

It was one of five times this season that the Seahawks handed the ball off on third down, needing 15 yards or more, and wound up gaining the first down. Walker is responsible for three of those, including a touchdown at Pittsburgh back in Week 2.

NFC Championship: Comprehensive coverage, no liability

The Seahawks had nine defenders at the line of scrimmage as the Rams prepared to snap the ball, and Rams coach Sean McVay was running toward the official as if he was going to call a timeout, but he held off.

Matthew Stafford scanned through his options before coming late to Terrance Ferguson, the rookie tight end, who was boxed out of position by Seattle cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Witherspoon protested to the official that Ferguson should have been flagged for pass interference, which was hilarious, because even if he had been, Seattle would have declined the penalty to take over on downs.

After the game, McVay said that one of Seattle’s defenders must have blown his assignment because there were two players covering running back Kyren Williams.

“They kind of lucked into having two guys peel on Kyren right there,” McVay said. “I know that can’t be part of their design. It’s a fortuitous bust by them.”

It’s possible McVay has a point. Safety Julian Love was preparing to run past Williams when he turned around to follow the running back as defensive end Demarcus Lawrence was also dropping into that area. However, that is the first time I’ve ever heard a coach point to an opponent’s flawed coverage to explain why his super-smart play didn’t work.

Week 16: The return that kick-started Seattle

Statistically, the most important play of this remarkable game against the Rams was either Smith-Njigba’s 4-yard touchdown catch in overtime or Eric Saubert’s catch on the two-point conversion to win the game.

However …

It is my opinion that Rashid Shaheed’s punt return is the single most important regular-season play I have seen in the 20 years that I’ve been paid to write and/or talk about Seahawks football.

Before that play, Seahawks fans were almost entirely convinced that Seattle needed a new quarterback given the previous possession ending with Darnold’s sixth (!!!) interception in seven quarters against the Rams.

Shaheed’s return gave Seattle the jolt it needed, not only to come back.

If he doesn’t score on that punt return, I don’t believe Seattle wins that game.

If Seattle doesn’t win that game, the Seahawks don’t win the division.

Danny O’Neil was born in Oregon, the son of a logger, but had the good sense to attend college in Washington. He’s covered Seattle sports for 20 years, writing for two newspapers, one glossy magazine and hosting a daily radio show for eight years on KIRO 710 AM. You can subscribe to his free newsletter and find his other work at dannyoneil.com.

This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 10:03 AM with the headline "10 big plays that defined the Seahawks season-long run to the Super Bowl."