How the New Orleans Saints want to beat the Seattle Seahawks

Remember last year’s Seattle Seahawks game against the New York Giants?

Of course you don’t. Not because you don’t remember exactly how that one ended, but because when the Seahawks missed the playoffs by one game, you couldn’t help but look back to a horrible home loss to a lowly Giants team that finished their own season with three wins total but put up 420 yards of offense and nearly 30 points in Seattle. So, you thought, far better to just put that one out of your memories forever.

Ignore the pain. What Giants loss? Oh, Russell Wilson plays there now? Never heard of either.

This is a good time to revisit that one, though. Surprises happen in the NFL — who saw the Chiefs starting 0-2? — and the Seahawks’ Week 3 opponent, the New Orleans Saints, are desperate to deliver fans a surprise win because it only gets worse in Week 4 after their trip to Seattle.

Seattle Seahawks’ pass rush ‘creating chaos’ without blitzing

The good news is that this Seahawks defense is certainly not the same defense from the first half of last season. Seattle underwent a midseason makeover at inside linebacker by acquired Ernest Jones last year, and they extended him this past offseason. The Seahawks finished the final half of the 2024 season as a top unit in defensive scoring and have continued the trend through two weeks so far, holding opponents to 17 points in each contest.

How do the Saints want to beat Seattle? It’s pretty similar to New York’s approach last year.

New Orleans wants to lean into the run and defend it — a similar approach to the Seahawks, though the latter is entirely more well-rounded, and this time Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold has the upper hand in the “proven commodity” category.

The Saints have done a decent job with it so far. Their two losses are both by one score, and they put up more rushing yards (121) against the 49ers last week than the Seahawks did (84) in Week 1. In an ideal world for New Orleans, QB Spencer Rattler can give a bit more with his legs to complement the running backs; he’s picked up three first downs with scrambles so far this season, but they Saints will need more. New Orleans may even have won that against the 49ers – its five-point loss could’ve swung the other way if it not for a missed field goal and an Alvin Kamara fumble in field goal territory.

But that last point is the most important. New Orleans, like New York last season, is a team with weapons (because every team has them), but also one that makes too many mistakes too often. The Seahawks may only be in Year 2 with head coach Mike Macdonald, but they’re more refined with higher expectations and a defense that’s returned starters. They’ve shown they have the ability to stop the run — the defensive line as a whole has been great through two weeks — and are tied for second in the league with four interceptions. That’s notable since Rattler has yet to throw one this season.

Macdonald wants to bring wins back to home fans at Lumen Field, and the Seahawks should be favored to do it in Week 3. They’ve gotten good pressure on veteran quarterbacks in back-to-back weeks and feel like a promising bet when forcing a young passer to try to win this one.

Score prediction

Seahawks: 24
Saints: 20

How the New Orleans Saints want to beat the Seattle Seahawks

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