Seahawks enter pivotal 3-game stretch starting with the Cardinals

RENTON, Wash. -- Mike Macdonald doesn't take many pages out of Pete Carroll's playbook, and this week brought another example of how the Seattle Seahawks' new head coach differs from his predecessor.

Whereas Carroll never talked in terms of "huge games" and "must-wins," Macdonald laid out the stakes on Wednesday as his team prepared to face the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals twice in the span of three weeks, with a road game against the spiraling New York Jets in between.

"We've earned the opportunity to be fighting for the lead in the division going into the home stretch," Macdonald said. "So that's the way we're treating it. It's very much like a playoff mindset for us at this point. Can't afford to drop games. You want to have the right to play for these really important games in December and January, you've got to be able to execute and put yourself in that situation. It's basically a December football game."

That wasn't just coach speak.

A win over Arizona (6-4) on Sunday at Lumen Field would give the Seahawks (5-5) at least a share of first place in the tightly-packed NFC West, with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers also sitting at 5-5 heading into Week 12.

According to ESPN Analytics, the Seahawks have a 14.2% chance to make the playoffs and a 10.3% chance to win the division after their upset victory over the 49ers last week in Santa Clara. Both numbers are fractionally lower than those of the Rams, with the predictive model still favoring Arizona (64% and 59.5%) by a wide margin and San Francisco (27.1% and 19.6%) over Seattle and Los Angeles.

The Seahawks' playoff chances would increase to 25% with a win Sunday and drop to 6% with a loss, which validates the urgency that Macdonald mentioned heading into their upcoming stretch.

Seattle's hopes of navigating it seem more realistic now that their reconfigured defense is rounding into form and their offensive may be doing the same.

The Seahawks held San Francisco to season-lows in points (17) and yards (277) in their win last week, which snapped a six-game losing streak to their division rivals. They only allowed one play of more than 14 yards compared to eight in their October loss to the 49ers, which was part of a stretch of five losses in six games that followed Seattle's 3-0 start.

The 49ers ran for 131 yards Sunday, but 40 of them came via Brock Purdy scrambles. Christian McCaffrey's 79 rushing yards were by far his fewest in five games against Seattle since his trade to the 49ers in 2022; he'd averaged 121.5 in the previous four.

That effort by Seattle's run defense came after it held the Rams to only 2.8 yards per carry in a Week 9 loss. The Seahawks have gone from allowing 148.4 rushing yards per game over their first eight (29th) to 99.5 (tied for 11th) over their last two.

Linebacker Ernest Jones IV, acquired in an October trade with the Tennessee Titans, has been arguably the biggest difference-maker in that turnaround. Of his 13 tackles vs. the 49ers, seven came on plays that gained no more than three yards.

"I think No. 13 is probably what's working," safety Julian Love said in reference to Jones, who's taken over as Seattle's defensive signal-caller. "That dude's a stud. We just all really appreciate having him. He's just such a good leader in terms of he's very steady, he communicates clearly and above all, he's a dawg. He's a see ball, get ball mentality, and so when you have that, guys are playing off of him."

Jones has been the most significant of several in-season personnel changes the Seahawks have made on defense, which now has an all-new inside linebacker duo after they waived leading tackler Tyrel Dodson coming out of the bye and replaced him with rookie Tyrice Knight. Seattle also has a new third cornerback in Josh Jobe and an upgraded rotational piece along the defensive line in Roy Robertson-Harris. That's addition to Coby Bryant stepping in at safety in Rayshawn Jenkins' absence.

"We can go out there and play with anybody," Jones said. "We come out there and show what we are and play physically, be disciplined ... all moments, I think we can be something special."

The Seahawks' embattled offensive line has also undergone a significant personnel shift, albeit under different circumstances. That group delivered perhaps its best performance of the season against the 49ers with Abraham Lucas finally back at right tackle and Olu Oluwatimi stepping in at center on short notice after Connor Williams' abrupt mid-week retirement.

Oluwatimi had a perfect pass block win rate, with ESPN Research crediting him with 27 wins and zero losses on qualifying pass-block snaps - though he was driven back on a failed fourth-and-1 run in the fourth quarter. Lucas, meanwhile, had 20 wins and three losses while spending much of the day battling star edge rusher Nick Bosa. He was beaten for a half sack by Bosa, though it appeared he was counting on help from running back Zach Charbonnet that he didn't get.

Lucas rotated with rookie Michael Jerrell, one of three right tackles the Seahawks were forced to use this season while waiting for Lucas to come back from January knee surgery. Lucas played 42 of 60 snaps and was clearly gassed on Seattle's game-winning drive, but he appeared no worse for wear after his first game in almost 11 months, with Seattle listing him as a full participant on Wednesday. Lucas did not practice on Thursday, though OC Ryan Grubb said he felt Lucas was able to handle a full workload.

"This guy's just a physically imposing presence, to start," Macdonald said. "Not that the other guys don't, but Abe, his calling card is physicality. How hard he plays is an anchor point right now on the line. It's just great to see him out there."

Macdonald and Love both spoke to reporters from the team's indoor practice field as opposed to the auditorium, one of several adjustments necessitated by a power outage following a major storm that ripped through Western Washington earlier in the week. The Seahawks were still making do with limited backup power at their Renton, Wash. headquarters as of Thursday.