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New Orleans Saints safety Justin Reid had a telling answer after Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, and it should make Seahawks fans smile.
Reid called the Saints’ 2025 season mostly “self-inflicted,” then made one big exception: the trip to Seattle. He said he doesn’t think there’s been any other game, outside of the Seahawks matchup, where it felt like the opponent was “just straight up better” than New Orleans. He used his postgame press conference to drop the illuminating comments.
That’s high praise for a team that already hung a 44-13 beating on the Saints back in Week 3 at Lumen Field
Justin Reid Puts Seahawks in Their Own Category
Reid spent most of his Falcons postgame talking about how New Orleans keeps beating itself.
He called the biggest plays “all self-inflicted,” pointed to botched snaps and exchanges on offense, and repeated that the NFL usually comes down to execution and who makes fewer mistakes. Then he drew a clear line.
Outside of the Seahawks, Reid said he doesn’t feel like any team has simply been better than the Saints. Seattle was the lone exception, the one game where it didn’t feel like a coin flip ruined by self-inflicted errors.
That’s coming from a veteran safety who’s faced both the NFC West leaders and plenty of fellow also-rans on a 2-9 New Orleans team. The comments carry special weight when you analyze the Saints’ schedule. New Orleans have faced playoff-likely teams in San Francisco, Buffalo, New England, Chicago, Tampa, and even the Los Angeles Rams.
According to Reid, Seattle is the cream of that crop.
For Seattle, it’s another data point that opponents aren’t just losing to them, they’re measuring themselves against them.
Seahawks Already Crushed Saints 44-13 in September
Reid’s comment hits harder when you remember what actually happened in that Week 3 game.
Seattle destroyed New Orleans 44-13, jumping out to a three-touchdown lead in the first five minutes. Special teams and defense did a lot of the early damage: an unnecessary roughness flag extended a drive for a touchdown, then came a 95-yard punt return TD by rookie Tory Horton and a blocked punt that set up another quick score.
Sam Darnold barely had to break a sweat. He went 14-of-18 for 218 yards and two touchdowns, posting a 154.2 passer rating and earning a FedEx Air Player of the Week nomination after one of the most efficient games of his career.
Field Gulls summed it up as the kind of blowout that didn’t feel real: by early in the second quarter, Darnold was hitting Horton for another score to make it 28-3 and Lumen Field was in full party mode.
So when Reid circles that game as the one time the Saints were just flat-out outclassed, he’s basically confirming what the scoreboard already screamed: Seattle wasn’t a victim of New Orleans’ sloppiness that day. They were the problem.
What It Says About the Seahawks’ 2025 Rise
Reid’s honesty fits with the way the Seahawks’ season is trending.
Through Week 12, Seattle is 8-3, sitting second in the NFC West and fifth in the NFC playoff picture. They’re averaging 29.5 points per game, third in the league, with Darnold steering a top-tier offense and Jaxon Smith-Njigba already past 1,000 yards.
They’ve also added more firepower since that Saints game, swinging a trade for New Orleans speedster Rashid Shaheed before the deadline, a move that only tightens the link between these franchises.
Meanwhile, Reid and the Saints keep talking about “self-inflicted wounds” and “little details” after close losses. Seattle? They’re the team New Orleans can’t chalk up to bad luck or a missed assignment.
When a proud, veteran safety looks back at a rough season and puts one opponent in its own category, that’s not nothing. It’s a reminder that Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks are no longer just an annoying matchup; they’re the bar some teams are using to judge themselves.
For now, they’re also living rent-free in at least one rival’s head.
Erik Anderson is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. Anderson is also the host of The Rip City Pod on The I-5 Corridor, where he dives into the stories and personalities shaping the Portland Trail Blazers. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson
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