In a tumultuous night for Seattle sports, the Seahawks pulled the city’s morale up by winning their late primetime matchup against the Houston Texans. What looked to be a runaway statement win against a formidable opponent early turned into a close, one-score game late, but there were enough studs that stepped up to finish the job.

Honorable mention for Studs goes to the North Dakota State duo of Jalen Sundell and Grey Zabel in the interior of the offensive line. While the tackles had their hands full on the outside, they cleared lanes and allowed the Seahawks to run up the middle more than usual with both running backs.

Here are your Studs and Duds for Week 7.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba

JSN’s 2025 season is truly unprecedented in Seahawks history. Despite facing a top-3 defense with arguably the best cornerback in the NFL in Derek Stingley Jr., Smith-Njigba keeps looking as though he’s playing Madden on rookie mode. He finished with 8 receptions on 14 targets for 123 yards and a touchdown.

Every time Sam Darnold needs someone open, JSN is getting separation on a different route in a different part of the field. He crossed Derek Stingley Jr’s face to open the scoring, catching him flat-footed in zone coverage for just a split-second, which was plenty for Darnold to trust he’d be right where he wanted him. He gets right by the corner on a slant route in the 3rd quarter and runs for another several yards. He got open down the sideline for a dime-drop in the bucket to keep the same drive going. He can also get 5 yards on a screen without having to get as physical as a possession receiver like Nico Collins needs to to get the same result. We’ve never seen this good of a route-runner in a Seahawks uniform. He rendered the elite Texans defense as barely more useful than others, just needing a few more targets to get the same results he continues to pile up, week after week- and Seattle can just keep feeding him with faith.

Ernest Jones IV

Jones’ linebacking abilities aren’t limited to the stat sheet, but he filled it up in this one. In the second quarter, he caused a strip-sack fumble which Drake Thomas nearly returned for a touchdown, and Houston recovered for a safety- which got called back due to penalty (the second safety called back in the first half that would’ve gone the Seahawks way). In the third quarter, he took advantage of a bad pass by CJ Stroud, and leaped to make an interception. He finished with 11 total tackles, a tackle for loss, an interception and a pass breakup. He also kept Stroud guessing the whole night, as he disguises his rushes and coverage plays as well as any other LB in the league. Last season’s trade for him completely changed the defense for the better, and he brings up the level of all of his teammates, too.

Abraham Lucas & Charles Cross

Lucas doesn’t receive as much love as he deserves, but showed out Monday night. Him and Charles Cross had the task of protecting Sam Darnold from two of the top pass rushers in the league in Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. While they weren’t perfect, you couldn’t ask them to be- although Anderson scored a touchdown on a strip-sack fumble of Darnold, that was the lone sack from the Texans edge group on the night. Even though the two put up 11 pressures, Cross and Lucas fared so much better than the tackles on the other side, Aireontae Ersery and Tytus Howard- both of whom Houston drafted- that may have been the difference in the game. They also cleared lanes in the run game, consistently getting downfield push on the Texans defensive line and keeping the sequencing just unpredictable enough for pass plays to work.

Drake Thomas

Since taking Tyrice Knight’s starting job over Weeks 3-5, Thomas has played every defensive snap the past two weeks, and the entire defense looks more fluid. He plays with a hair-on-fire approach, and in spite of his middling measurables, he fits into the system much better than the athletic tester Knight is at the moment. He constantly got in the backfield, taking advantage of the defensive line’s stellar play to capitalize, with 5 total tackles, and two tackles for loss. He also shows such good play recognition skills that he’s in the right spots in coverage constantly, defending three passes on the night. Thomas is emerging as a crucial player for the Seahawks defense that can take advantage of playing around stars- reminiscent of Super Bowl 48 MVP Malcolm Smith.

Klint Kubiak

After the offense rolled to a 16-0 lead early, Klint Kubiak tried a trick play that shifted the momentum in the game the other direction- and it’s not the first time. On 1st and 10 from Houston’s 21-yard line, as both the run and pass game are rolling on the drive, Darnold pitched to Kupp in the backfield, and Kupp threw it right over JSN’s head to Texans safety Calen Bullock, beginning a drive for them in which they marched down the field and scored their first points of the game. The Texans defense took the momentum into the following drive, where Denico Autry blocked Jason Myers’ first field goal attempt of the night.

Despite his excellent bag of tricks, Kubiak has had trouble closing out games in the past. The Jalen Milroe fumbled pitch against the Buccaneers in Week 5 ended up being the difference in that close game. The fundamentals are sound in his offense, but the gimmicks have gone terribly wrong thus far in 2025.

Elijah Arroyo

After getting going with an awesome play-action pass down the sideline and an over-the-middle grab early in the game, Arroyo broke the trust he had finally been gaining in the offense with a costly fumble in the 4th quarter. The Seahawks were looking to go up three scores and close the game out, and trusted Arroyo with a possession catch near the first-down marker on 2nd and 14- but two Texans defenders got to him and ripped the ball out, giving them decent field position and plenty of time to drive down the field and make it a one-score game. His big-play and possession potential was finally making good on the 2nd-round pick Seattle invested in him, but he needed to know that Houston’s defense is as physical as any, and he once again finds himself needing to earn more trust to have the prominent role they envision for him.