 Photo By: Fox 13 Seattle Da Boot Sports 9/21/2025 Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports By: Ken Trahan It was hard to watch. I feel bad for those that faithfully did so from start to finish Sunday. The New Orleans Saints went with their “whiteout” look at Lumen Field. From a symbolic perspective, the color rush uniform represented waving the white flag before this one even started. These Saints surrendered, figuratively. Then, they surrendered literally. The Seahawks had lost seven of their last eight games at home. The Saints were the panacea, a true remedy for those losing ways. Enjoying themselves immensely were Klint Kubiak, John Benton and Andrew Janocko and Michael Byrne. All four were on the staff of Dennis Allen in New Orleans last season. Kubiak certainly enjoyed calling plays against this Saints defense. As for rookie New Orleans coach Kellen Moore, it was a bitter homecoming. The Prosser, Washington native no doubt enjoyed returning to his original home state but no doubt did not enjoy watching his team perform so poorly. Moore and his staff must absorb blame as well. On this day, this was not a well-prepared team. This was not a well-coached team. This was not a disciplined team. Then again, this is not a talented NFL team. The result was a direct result of all of the above. Here are my quick takes on the 44-13 Seattle win over the Saints: **Inactives for the Saints were Khristian Boyd, Taliese Fuaga, Trey Palmer, Devin Neal, Dillon Radunz, Devaughn Vele and Chase Young. **Cam Jordan started and played in his 229th career game, surpassing Drew Brees for the most games played in franchise history. **Torricelli Simpkins started at left guard while Asim Richards started at right tackle. **The Saints took the opening kickoff and drove to the Seattle 45-yard-line. On third down, Rattler threw short and a bit errant for Juwan Johnson. Kellen Moore elected to go for it on fourth-and-two. Rattler rolled right and had Alvin Kamara open deep but overthrew him, a big miss. **The Saints got a stop and it did not matter as Bryan Bresee committed a personal foul well after a play, a terrible mistake. That came just after Bresee had a shot at a sack of Sam Darnold and missed him. **That led to a 12-yard touchdown pass from Darnold to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The drive covered 55 yards in six plays, taking 2:32 off the clock. Jonas Sanker was the closest defender to Smith-Njigba. **Tight end Jack Stoll had his first catch as a Saint on the next series, an 8-yard completion. **Then, Moore went for his “tush push” play on fourth and less than a yard from the New Orleans 38-yard-line. Simpkins committed a false start which was actually a good thing as Rattler came up short and the Saints had to punt. **Tory Horton then returned Kai Kroger’s punt 95 yards for a touchdown. He was untouched as the coverage was simply awful and Seattle took a 14-0 lead with 7:31 to play in the first quarter. **It was the first punt return for a touchdown in 10 years for Seattle. It was also the longest punt return in Seahawks history. Nehemiah Pritchett appeared to get away with a block in the back adding to the misery. **Kelvin Banks and Chris Olave then committed false start penalties, followed by a hold against Banks to start the next offensive series. The Saints actually committed another rholding penalty, this one on Richards, but it was mercifully declined and the Saints had to punt. **Anthony Bell came off the edge, completely unblocked, and blocked Kroger’s next punt attempt. It was a complete blown protection scheme, giving Seattle the ball at the New Orleans 11-yard-line. It was the first punt the Saints had blocked since 2011. **Justin Reid went down on the next play, leaving the game and Kool Aid McKinstry also left. Both were evaluated for concussions but were cleared to return. **Kenneth Walker III scored on a 3-yard run on the next play to make it 21-0 with 4:22 to play in the opening quarter. **The 21 points were the most scored in a first quarter by the Seahawks since 2006. **For the second straight week, Rattler had an interception negated by a penalty which sustained a drive for New Orleans. **The Saints outgained Seattle 94 yards to 54 yards in the opening quarter and possessed the ball for 12 minutes to just three minutes for the Seahawks and New Orleans trailed 21-0. **The Sains mounted a drive covering 65 yards in 16 plays but it stalled. Blake Grupe kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 21-3 with 12:47 to play in the first half. **The Saints then allowed a 60-yard kickoff return by Dareke Young to the New Orleans 38-yard-line. **Horton caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Darnold two plays later to extend the lead to 28-3 with 11:18 to play in the half. Horton whipped McKinstry. **Devon Godchaux then committed a roughing the passer penalty. Of course, Darnold still completed a 45-yard pass to Smith-Njigba, who whipped McKinstry, making it a 60-yard gain on the play. **That led to a 1-yard touchdown by Walker and it was 35-3 with 7:42 to play in the half. The drive covered 76 yards in four plays. It was easy, way too easy. **Banks committed yet another false start. **Grupe then continued his poor season, missing a 52-yard field goal wide right. **While Grupe could not make a 52-yard effort, Jason Myers nailed a 56-yard effort to make it 38-3 with 1:29 to play in the half. **The largest deficit for the Saints in the Sean Payton era was 21 points. **New Orleans drove to the Seattle 6-yard-line. On the final play of the half, Grupe kicked a 22-yard field goal to make it 38-6 at halftime. **The 38 points were the most allowed by the Saints in the first half in the 59-year history of the franchise. **The Saints had 206 yards to 177 for Seattle in the half. **New Orleans had eight penalties for 62 yards in the half, continuing the parade of mistakes which have plagued the team in all three games. **The second half began the same way. Somehow, Nathan Shepherd managed to commit a holding penalty on a run play by Seattle. **Somehow, the Saints got a stop. **Somehow, Reid was offside, make that way offside as he blocked a field goal attempt. With a second chance, Myers nailed a 46-yard attempt to increase the lead 41-6 with 11:29 to play in the third quarter. **Myers capped another drive with a 37-yard field goal to make it 44-6 with 4:39 to play in the third quarter. **The Saints finally scored a touchdown on the first play of the first quarter as Rattler, scrambling right, found Stoll in the back of the end zone with a 13-yard touchdown pass, the first touchdown of Stoll’s career, to make it 44-13 with 14:53 to play in the game. **The drive covered 80 yards in 11 plays, taking 4:46 off the clock. **Drew Lock took over for Seattle at quarterback, at that point. **Seattle punted for the first time with 13 minutes to play in the game. **Rashid Shaheed returned a punt 40 yards to the Seattle 44-yard-line. **Rattler committed his first turnover of the season on a fourth down play as Derion Kendrick picked off a throw as he was rolling right and nearing the boundary. **Rookie Quincy Riley forced a fumble with a hard hit on George Holani and Pete Werner recovered with 3:31 to play in the game. **Tyler Shough entered the game for his first NFL action and his first two passes were incomplete, forcing a punt. **New Orleans finished with 11 penalties for 77 yards and Seattle declined two other infractions. That trend continues. Rattler finished 28 of 39 for 217 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Chris Olave had 10 catches but for only 57 yards. This offense has no explosiveness, whatsoever. The longest play from scrimmage was a 21-yard completion from Rattler to Johnson. That was the only play in excess of 20 yards for New Orleans. The Saints have scored just 47 points in three games. It is the first 0-3 start for the Saints since 2016. It was also the seventh straight loss for New Orleans, dating to last year. It was the first game since Oct. 2, 2022 that Seattle scored 40 or more points in a game when the Seahawks beat Detroit 48-45. Where do you go from here? It is certainly a learning experience for Moore, the youngest head coach in the league in his first head coaching position. Any objective observer realized this would be a rebuilding season resulting in a poor record for the Saints. Did anyone see it being this bad already? Perhaps some did. The Saints were competitive in losses to Arizona and San Francisco. They were not competitive, in any way, at Seattle. I thought and stated that this team could win five or six games and that would be acceptable progress, given the circumstances. Based on what we saw today, reaching that number of wins seems improbable, at best. John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) *John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. A huge Thank You to Cardio Health Solutions owned by Ron Sancho for sponsoring and believing in our publication!
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