There are plenty of scenarios for the Seahawks to make the playoffs.
But almost all of them involve Seattle winning both of its remaining games.
So, the first order of business for the Seahawks is to beat the New York Jets Sunday and the Los Angeles Rams next week at Lumen Field and let the rest of the chips fall where they may (and specifically, then hoping Washington and Green Bay each lose a game).
The Jets come to Seattle still harboring playoff hopes of their own, if faint, and hoping to snap a four-game losing streak and keep alive hopes of their first winning season since 2015 and only the second since 2010.
So, lots for both teams still to play for.
Let’s take a closer look at the matchup with the Jets with our weekly keys to the game and prediction.
Matchup to watch
Seattle WR DK Metcalf vs. New York CB Ahmad “Sauce’’ Gardner
Gardner, the No. 4 overall pick of the 2022 draft, is regarded as not only the favorite to win the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award, but also as already one of the best corners in the NFL. Tyler Lockett may be back for Seattle. But even if he makes a rather miraculous return following hand surgery, he may not be at his usual productivity and efficiency, which will again put more of the onus on Metcalf to compensate. Metcalf had seven catches for 81 yards without Lockett last week against the Chiefs, but just one catch for 10 yards in the second half. Gardner tends to stick to playing on the left side, so the Seahawks could move Metcalf away from him — but then he’d be going up against former Seahawk D.J. Reed, who’s also having a Pro Bowl-caliber year.
Player to watch
Running back Kenneth Walker III
Has Walker truly found the key to every-down success? The Seahawks hope so after a potentially revelatory second half last week when he rushed for 91 yards on 17 carries. That came after he had 16 yards on nine carries in the first half, and after he was urged by coach Pete Carroll to be more decisive, and basically get the ball, pick a hole and go. That resulted in runs of 20, 20 and 11 that led to his big second half. But such similar success won’t come as easily against a New York team allowing just 4.0 yards per carry — sixth best in the NFL. The Seahawks are 5-2 this year when they finish with 100 or more yards rushing, 2-6 when they don’t.
Coaching decision to watch
Pressuring Mike White
Struggling offensively and having lost four in a row, the Jets are going back to White at quarterback in place of Zach Wilson, with veteran Joe Flacco slated to be the backup. White has six starts in two NFL seasons and impressed in three starts earlier this year before suffering a rib injury that held him out the last two weeks. White has started games already this year at Minnesota and Buffalo, so he may not be too awed by the surroundings at Lumen. Still, being on the road and his relative inexperience would seem to point to Seattle trying to do what it can to rattle him, especially early on. The Seahawks hardly bothered to blitz Patrick Mahomes last week, officially recorded with two, according to Pro Football Reference. But a more aggressive approach might make more sense this week.
The X-factor
Desperation
We’ve cited this before as a factor in a game for one side or the other. But it’s never felt more real for the Seahawks than now. Not only is a playoff berth realistically at stake — Seattle can be eliminated Sunday with a loss — but so is getting a winning season and avoiding the kind of thudding end to the season — going from 6-3 to a losing record and out of the postseason — that has never been seen in the Carroll era.
Players who could surprise
Edge rushers Darrell Taylor and Boye Mafe.
Taylor has revived what was on course to be a disappointing season with some better play in recent weeks — he has three sacks in the last four games in 72 snaps played and now has six for the season, one away from the seven of last year that elicited a lot of excitement, and second on the team behind the nine of Uchenna Nwosu. Mafe, meanwhile, has played well enough in recent weeks that coaches said this week they need to increase the playing time of the second-round pick out of Minnesota. Seattle needs both to be at the top of their game Sunday going against a pair of tackles that the Seahawks are well-acquainted with — former Seahawks Duane Brown on the left side and George Fant on the right. Seattle has just four sacks the last three games and nine over the last six after getting 27 in the first nine games of the year, a trend the team needs to reverse.
Key stat
First-quarter scoring
The Seahawks have not scored a point in the first quarter since Dec. 4 against the Rams, which happens to also be the last time Seattle won a game. Seattle fell behind Carolina 10-0, and the 49ers and Chiefs 7-0 in the first quarter the last three games in never having a lead in any of them. Seattle had actually been one of the better first-quarter scoring teams until this recent slump, still ranking tied for third in the NFL for the season in averaging 5.6 points per game in the first quarter. So, the Seahawks can do it — they just haven’t lately. This would be a good week to change that, especially against a Jets team that has scored just two touchdowns in the first quarter all year and ranks 28th in first-quarter scoring at 2.7 per game.
Prediction
Seahawks 17, Jets 13. The Jets’ defense is statistically playing about as well as the 49ers for the season, each allowing 4.8 yards per play — and we saw how the 49ers’ D pretty much dismantled Seattle in two games this season — could make this game a real slog. But the Seahawks have everything to play for and are at home and that should be enough.