Sunday Night Football for Week 9 pits the first-place Seattle Seahawks (5-2) traveling to the nation’s capital to square off against the Washington Commanders (3-5). Seattle is coming off back-to-back wins over Jacksonville and Houston, looking for their second three-game winning streak of the season. Washington was dominated on MNF by Kansas City without quarterback Jayden Daniels, who missed the game with a hamstring injury. The Commanders desperately need to bounce back after losing three in a row.
The Seahawks sit atop the NFC West, tied with the LA Rams, looking to keep recent momentum going to make it three consecutive wins. Seattle rolled into last week’s bye after beating Houston in Week 7, 27-19. This week, the Seahawks line up across from one of the worst passing defenses in the league, as the Commanders are allowing 244 passing yards per game.
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A year removed from the Commanders winning 12 games and appearing in the NFC Championship game, it’s been a rough 2025 campaign thus far. Jayden Daniels has been banged up as Washington sits in third place in the NFC East after eight games. Daniels will return to the lineup in Week 9, albeit without WR1 Terry McLaurin to help him out in the passing game.
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more as the Seahawks and Commanders close out the Sunday game slate in Week 9.
Seahawks-Commanders start time: 8:20 p.m. ET
Location: Northwest Stadium | Landover, Maryland
TV channel, live stream: NBC, Peacock
Seahawks vs. Commanders live updatesLive9 updates
Ryan Young
Jayden Daniels found Zach Ertz a couple of times, but their first drive of the night didn’t result in much. A blindside block penalty doomed them, and they’ll have to punt it away.
Here comes Sam Darnold and the Seahawks offense.
Ryan Young
The Commanders have received the opening kick, and “Sunday Night Football” is officially underway
Kate Magdziuk
Seahawks WR1 Jaxon Smith-Njigba has arrived and is looking dapper with the suit and tie.
Another 100-plus receiving yard game incoming for the third-year superstar? Entering Week 9, Smith-Njigba led the NFL in receiving yards with 819 — 99 more receiving yards than the league’s No. 2-ranked player, Ja’Marr Chase.
Whew.
Kate Magdziuk
The Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders kick off Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. ET, airing live on NBC and Peacock. Consider this your 20-minute warning!
Sam Darnold against Jayden Daniels — who ya got?
Kate Magdziuk
The Seahawks and Commanders have each made several roster moves in preparation for “Sunday Night Football.”
Here’s a look:
Seattle Seahawks
Activated FB Robbie Ouzts from IR
S Jerrick Reed II signed from the practice squad to the active roster
S Julian Love and TE Eric Saubert were placed on IR
WRs Cody White, Richy White III were elevated from the practice squad
Washington Commanders
Elevated WR Treylon Burks from the practice squad
Elevated DT Sheldon Day from the practice squad
Kate Magdziuk
After a stunning 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has cooled a bit — albeit with the caveat that he’s dealing with a hamstring injury on top of any concerns of a potential sophomore slump.
Despite an improvement in his touchdown and interception rates this season, Daniels has seen a dramatic drop in his completion percentage from 69% last season to 61% in 2025. Part of that can be blamed on the pass catchers, currently with a higher drop rate (6.6% to last year’s 4.3%), but he’s also seen a lower on-target throw rate so far this season (75.2% to 78.2% last season), per Pro Football Reference.
The matchup against Mike Macdonald’s defense might not be the cure for that, either, ranked bottom three in yards per play allowed (4.7), with an 11-8 TD-INT ratio and fourth-lowest scoring drive percentage allowed so far in 2025 at 32.1%.
Kate Magdziuk
Kate Magdziuk
The Washington Commanders will once again be without their top receiving option in Week 9, as Terry McLaurin was ruled out with a quad injury. McLaurin played his first game since Week 3 against the Chiefs last week, but he exited early after playing just 25 snaps, posting a 3-54-1 stat line in limited playing time. He’d missed time since originally suffering the quad injury back in Week 3 and appears to have tweaked the issue.
That means that Jayden Daniels, returning from a hamstring injury of his own, is set to be without his top receiver. That could put Deebo Samuel Sr. in for more work, as well as a continued role for second-year WR Luke McCaffrey — brother of star running back Christian McCaffrey — who has been coming on as of late.
Kate Magdziuk
With less than 90 minutes remaining until the Seahawks and Commanders kick off on “Sunday Night Football,” each team has announced its Week 9 inactive for gameday.
Here’s a look:
Seattle SeahawksWashington Commanders
QB Josh Johnson (Emergency 3rd QB)