“But we’ll have to deal with that going forward. (But) we’ll tell you what, our guys played unbelievably hard,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said after the game. “Towards the end of the game, they played supplemental football in the red zone and played a really great red zone defense, and for the offense to get into that situation was compensatory to say the least. Then to go down with a 98-yard touchdown drive and pretty much seal it was pretty awesome.”

Seattle outscored Miami 370-205, but against Miami’s second and third quarterbacks. The Dolphins’ offensive trio of Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane combined for 94 yards on 10 touches. Miami was 1 of 15 on third and fourth downs. Seattle had six sacks. The Seahawks’ defensive presence was clearly felt.

Wide receiver DK Metcalf caught another long touchdown and rushed for over 100 yards for the second straight game as Seattle found answers for its running attack. Geno Smith delivered a largely positive performance despite two interceptions in one day due to deflected passes.

“Metcalf can score anytime, anywhere you are,” Macdonald said. “We love him. He works his ass off. I’m just glad No. 14 is on our side. He’s a problem. He’s a huge problem for the defense.”

After allowing the New England Patriots 185 yards on the run in Week 2, Seattle gave up 65 yards on 18 rushing attempts (3.6 yards per run), despite playing most of the game without defensive linemen Byron Murphy II and Leonard Williams.

Smith finished the game completing 26 of 34 passes for 289 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Charbonnet ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries and Metcalf totaled four catches for 104 yards and one touchdown.

For the second straight game, strong safety Rayshawn Jenkins led the Seahawks with 10 total tackles. Five different players had sacks.

Miami scored zero points in two red zone games. The Dolphins’ quarterbacks were underwhelming, but head coach Mike Macdonald kept the defense focused on the football and playing as a unit.

Edge rusher Derick Hall had a career day, totaling five tackles, two sacks and four quarterback hits. The Seahawks collected a total of six sacks and 12 quarterback hits as a group – and were finally able to capitalize on their pass rush, which lurked in the backfield but rarely translated the pressure into negative plays.

Hall, a 2023 second-round pick, has three sacks in three games after having none as a rookie.

“I think the biggest part of it is just knowing what I needed to attack in the offseason,” Hall said of his jump. “I really focused on developing my pass rush and taking it to the next level. I’ve had a year under my belt, know what to expect, know how things are going to go, have guys that trust me like Uchenna (Nwosu) and Boye (Mafe).”

The run defense was improved, even in the absence of the best interior defenders, and the back line coverage limited any deep throws. Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa would have been a far more challenging opponent, but the defense held up nonetheless.

Metcalf was in control of his 71-yard touchdown, and when the coverage was right, he took a long route.

“That was a play we’ve been repeating all season to give DK (Metcalf) the opportunity to read that right there,” Smith said after the game. “If we get the coverage we want, he’s going to make the most of it. So they played low quarter (coverage) on that side; they play half-high on the other side; we put the safety in the position we want him in and he really locked in on the dig route and DK was able to get behind him.”

Now he has scored a 50-yard touchdown in two consecutive games and also had 100-plus yards as a pass receiver in both games. Seattle’s diverse set of pass receivers makes it difficult to cover the Seahawks, as there is always one free when the defense tries to take one away from him.

Metcalf’s 264 receiving yards in the first three games of the season are his best since 2020. That same season, he reached a career-high of 1,303 receiving yards with 83 catches.

Despite the lopsided victory, Seattle’s offensive line lost. Smith’s first interception of the day came when he was under pressure in his own end zone – he was forced to take the ball out and pass it to Charbonnet. The ball sailed, bounced off Charbonnet’s fingertips and landed in the hands of Dolphins cornerback Kader Kohou at Seattle’s 6-yard line.

The pocket kept breaking down around Smith, forcing him to move outside and make more difficult shots. That happened from every spot too, as right guard Anthony Bradford continued to struggle, but the rest of the unit couldn’t make up for it.

During the week, Macdonald said they would continue to rotate Bradford and rookie Christian Haynes at right guard. Bradford played the entire game.

“Yeah, I just felt like (Anthony Bradford) really earned those opportunities throughout the week,” Macdonald said. “Right now, it’s a week-to-week thing. We’ll see. We’ll look at the tape. (Bradford) got a holding penalty. I don’t want to talk about how well he played because I don’t know for sure right now.”

Smith was sacked three times and scored seven times. The unit did improve in the running game, however, with Charbonnet rushing for 56 yards on just eight carries in the second half. Charbonnet also just ran with more conviction.

Speaking of Bradford, he has already received seven penalties in two games, two of which were against the Dolphins. Seattle was regularly in 3rd-and-long situations due to self-inflicted errors.

It was the Seahawks’ most penalty-laden game since Week 11 of last season. If those are addressed, especially on offense, Seattle won’t be so far behind. That’s what limited the unit for most of the last three quarters.

In total, there were 157 yards of penalty yardage. This slowed the game and slowed the attack speed of both teams.

If Seattle were completely healthy, this team might not be winning so ugly. Williams (ribs) and Murphy (hamstring) were the latest injuries to the Seahawks’ defense. Outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu and middle linebacker Jerome Baker are also already out.

“I mean, that’s the expectation. You just walk the line,” Macdonald said of the substitutes stepping in. “The guys are dressed, you know, that’s how we expect our defense to play. It’s like, ‘Okay, they’re down, next guy’s up.’ Let’s get back to work.”

On offense, Seattle has moved on to third-string right tackle Stone Forsythe and Charbonnet at running back with Kenneth Walker III out with an oblique injury. Charbonnet has obviously improved from last week and the Seahawks have had effective backups on defense. Still, they are missing many starters. This is not the best version of this team.

Seattle will face the Detroit Lions (2-1) on the road on Monday, September 30th – the first primetime game of the season. Detroit defeated the Seahawks’ NFC West rival, the Arizona Cardinals, 20-13 on Sunday.