Seahawks rediscover their pass rush as they remain unbeaten on the road

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SEATTLE (AP) — Perhaps the Seahawks needed to get away from Seattle for their formidable defense to return to form.

In Sunday’s 20-12 victory against the Jaguars, the Seahawks limited Jacksonville to 273 yards of offense and sacked Trevor Lawrence a career-high seven times. Seattle moved to 3-0 on the road this season while carrying a 1-2 mark at Lumen Field, and the pass rush was a key factor in its latest victory outside the Emerald City.

In a back-and-forth, 38-35 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week earlier, the Seahawks brought down Baker Mayfield only once.

“We didn’t do that last week; we did it this week,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “That’s how we’ve got to play moving forward. I thought the guys played great.”

Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who returned from a quadriceps injury, had his first two sacks of the season, as well as five QB hits.

“D-Law played a tremendous game,” Macdonald said. “To be able to play the run the way we played the run, he’s one of the guys leading the charge there. Just the mentality, too. The guy is just an absolute beast.”

The Seahawks held the Jaguars to 59 rushing yards, and Travis Etienne Jr. finished with 27 yards on 12 carries. On the other side of the ball, Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba had big days, while for the defense, it was a collective effort.

“I think we nailed our process this week,” Macdonald said, “and I think the challenge is going to (be to) keep rolling.”

Smith-Njigba has emerged as one of the best receivers in the NFL. The third-year wideout had a season-high 162 receiving yards on eight catches, including a touchdown.

Smith-Njigba overtook the Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua as the league leader in receiving yards.

There have been games, like a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, in which the Seahawks’ run game sprung to life. Sunday was not one of those.

Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet combined to carry the ball 24 times for 58 yards. The Seahawks are 27th in the league in rushing yards per attempt.

Six games into his Seattle tenure, Darnold has proven to be not just efficient, but willing to take shots downfield. Though he completed a season-low 59.3% of his passes on Sunday, Darnold finished with 295 yards, tied for his second most in a game this year.

Darnold has 1,541 passing yards through six games, tied for third most in the league.

Rookie wide receiver Tory Horton had touchdown catches in two of his first three games, as well as a punt return for a score against the New Orleans Saints. But Horton was targeted only once by Darnold on Sunday and finished without a catch for the first time since the Seahawks’ season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

All-Pro cornerback Devon Witherspoon, linebacker Derick Hall, safety Julian Love and cornerback Tariq Woolen all sat out Sunday, and defensive tackle Jarran Reed left in the fourth quarter.

22 — The Seahawks have won 22 of their last 28 games that kicked off at 1 p.m. on the East Coast.

The Seahawks host Houston next Monday night.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl