Game Recap: Defense Propels Seattle Seahawks to 3-0 via Thumping of Miami Dolphins

Zach Charbonnet's 10-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter sealed a 24-3 win for the Seattle Seahawks over the Miami Dolphins to keep the team undefeated.

Sep 22, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Miami Dolphins tight end Julian Hill (89) runs for yards after the catch against the Seattle Seahawks during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Zach Charbonnet’s 10-yard touchdown run with under five minutes left in the fourth quarter capped off a length-of-the-field scoring drive to seal a 24-3 Seattle Seahawks victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Sept. 22 at Lumen Field.

The Seahawks moved to 3-0 for the first time since 2020, and Mike Macdonald became the first coach in franchise history to start a head coaching tenure with three consecutive wins.

It was sloppy, with 22 total penalties between both teams (11 each) and just four total third-down conversions but, again — a win is a win. Seattle scored 17 points in the first quarter and didn’t score again until there was 4:55 remaining in the game.

“It was sloppy a little bit operation-wise, which we … need to address moving forward. [But] tell you what, our guys played incredibly hard,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said postgame. “You got complementary football towards the end of the game in the red zone and played really great red zone defense, and the offense getting in that backed-up situation was redeeming, to say the least. Then, going down with a 98-yard touchdown drive pretty much sealing it was pretty awesome.”

Seattle outgained Miami 370-205, but it was against Miami’s second- and third-string quarterbacks. The Dolphins’ elite offensive trio of Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane combined for 94 yards on 10 touches. Miami was 1 for 15 on third and fourth down conversions. Seattle had six sacks. The Seahawks’ defensive presence was apparent.

Wide receiver DK Metcalf caught another long touchdown and went north of 100 yards receiving for the second-straight game while Seattle found answers to fuel its rushing attack. Geno Smith, despite a two-interception day on tipped passes, turned in a largely positive performance.

“At any point in time [Metcalf] can put points on the board wherever you’re at,” Macdonald said. “We love him. He’s working his butt off. I’m just glad that 14 is on our side. He’s a problem. He’s a massive problem for defenses.”

After allowing 185 yards rushing to the New England Patriots in Week 2, Seattle gave up 65 yards on the ground via 18 carries (3.6 yards per carry) despite playing most of the game without defensive linemen Byron Murphy II and Leonard Williams.

Smith finished 26-of-34 passing for 289 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Charbonnet rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, and Metcalf totaled four catches for 104 yards and a score.

For the second straight game, strong safety Rayshawn Jenkins led the Seahawks with 10 total tackles. Five different players had sacks.

The defense can win games

Sep 22, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed (90) sacks Miami Dolphins quarterback Tim Boyle (14) during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Miami got zero points out of two red zone trips. The Dolphins’ quarterbacks were unimpressive, but head coach Mike Macdonald has this defense rallying to the football and playing as a unit.

Edge rusher Derick Hall had a career day with five total tackles, two sacks and four quarterback hits. The Seahawks piled up six total sacks and 12 quarterback hits as a group — finally capitalizing on their pass rush that has been living in the backfield but seldom converting pressures into negative plays.

Hall, a 2023 second-round pick, has three sacks in three games after having none as a rookie.

“I think the big part of it is just knowing what I had to attack going into the offseason,” Hall said of his jump. “Really honing in on that, being able to develop my pass rush and take it to the next level. Having a year under my belt, knowing what to expect, knowing how things are going to flow, having guys that trust in me like Uchenna [Nwosu] and Boye [Mafe].”

The run defense was improved, even in the absence of top interior linemen, and the backend coverage limited any downfield throws. Tua Tagovailoa quarterbacking Miami would have been a much more challenging matchup, but the defense stood tall regardless.

DK Metcalf is showing why he’s WR1

On his 71-yard touchdown, the read was on Metcalf. If the coverage was right, he was taking the route deep.

“That was a play that we had been repping all offseason, give DK [Metcalf] the option to read that right there,” Smith said postgame. “If we get the coverage we like, he’s going to take the top off it. So they were playing low quarters [coverage] on that side; they play up half to the other side; we got the safety in the position we want him, and he really bit down on the dig route and DK was able to get behind him.”

Now he’s had a 50-plus-yard touchdown in back-to-back games and more than 100 yards receiving in both as well. Seattle’s diverse set of pass-catchers makes the Seahawks difficult to cover, as one will always be open if a defense tries to take one away.

Metcalf’s 264 receiving yards through the first three games of the season are his most since 2020. That was the same season he posted a career-high 1,303 receiving yards on 83 catches.

The offensive line is still holding the offense back

Despite the lopsided win, Seattle’s offensive line lost. Smith’s first interception of the day was while he was heavily pressured in his own end zone — forcing him to get the ball out and dump it off to Charbonnet. The ball sailed, tipped off Charbonnet’s fingertips and landed in the hands of Dolphins cornerback Kader Kohou at Seattle’s 6-yard line.

The pocket broke down around Smith more often than not, forcing him to move outside and make tougher throws. It came from every spot, also, as right guard Anthony Bradford continued to struggle but the rest of the unit failed to make up for it.

During the week, Macdonald said they would continue to rotate Bradford and rookie Christian Haynes at right guard. Bradford played the whole game.

“Yeah, just felt like throughout the week [Anthony Bradford] really earned all those opportunities,” Macdonald said. “It’s kind of a week-to-week thing right now. We’ll see. We’ll look at the tape. There was a holding penalty that [Bradford] had. I don’t want to speak to how well he played because I don't know for sure right now.”

Smith was sacked three times and hit seven. Where the unit did improve was in the run game, freeing Charbonnet up for 56 second-half rushing yards on just eight carries. Charbonnet just ran with more conviction, too.

Penalties, penalties and more penalties

Sep 22, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel reacts to a call for the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at Lumen Field. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Speaking of Bradford, he already has seven penalties through two games and had two against the Dolphins. Seattle regularly was in 3rd-and-long situations as a result of self-inflicted errors.

It was the Seahawks’ most penalized game since Week 11 of last season. If those get cleaned up, especially on offense, Seattle isn’t nearly as far behind the sticks regularly. That’s what limited the unit for most of the latter three quarters.

In total, there were 177 yards of penalty yardage. It slowed the game down, halting the pace of both teams’ offense.

Stacking injuries

If Seattle was fully healthy, this team may not be putting together such ugly victories. Williams (ribs) and Murphy (hamstring) were the latest injuries on defense for the Seahawks, adding to outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu and middle linebacker Jerome Baker already being sidelined.

“I mean, that’s the expectation. You just go down the line,” Macdonald said of backups stepping in. “The guys are suited up, you know, that’s how we expect our defense to play. It’s kind of like, ‘Okay, they’re down, next guy is rolling.’ Let’s go back to work.”

Offensively, Seattle has continued to trudge forward with third-string right tackle Stone Forsythe and Charbonnet at running back with Kenneth Walker III out with an oblique injury. Charbonnet, obviously, was improved from last week, and the Seahawks had effective fill-ins on defense. Still, though, they are without plenty of starters. This isn’t the best version of this team.

Up next

Seattle faces the Detroit Lions (2-1) on the road on Monday, Sept. 30 — the team’s first primetime game of the season. Detroit beat the Seahawks’ NFC West rival, the Arizona Cardinals, 20-13 on Sunday.