SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks rode their dominant defense to a big win over a division rival to vault into first place in the NFC West.
No, it isn’t 2013. These are the 2024 Seahawks, who, after struggling mightily against the run earlier this season, held the visiting Arizona Cardinals to 49 rushing yards in Sunday's 16-6 victory.
The defensive line kept Kyler Murray under consistent pressure thanks to a dominant performance from Leonard Williams, the secondary flew around to smack away passes, and safety Coby Bryant scored on a 69-yard pick-6.
Sunday's defensive performance was reminiscent of the Seahawks of a decade ago and a promising sign that first-year coach Mike Macdonald’s system is starting to click.
Macdonald, who coordinated Baltimore's NFL-best defense last year, was leading one of the worst rush defenses in the league earlier this season. But Seattle consistently stuffed the Cardinals, who came in as the fifth-best running team in the league at 149.4 yards per game.
“Three games in a row now we played pretty decent on defense,” Macdonald said. “There is an expectation and standard here throughout the course of our Seahawks history that we’re trying to live up to and build on. So that’s the idea.”
At 6-5, the Seahawks drew even with the Cardinals in the tightly bunched division. The teams play each other again in two weeks at Arizona.
Last month's trade for linebacker Ernest Jones IV has clearly paid off. Seattle hasn't allowed a running back to rush for more than 79 yards since its Week 8 loss to Buffalo, which was Jones' first game in a Seahawks uniform. He has led the team in tackles in every game he's played and has helped resurrect the run defense.
The Seahawks' run game continues to underperform. Seattle got 65 yards on the ground Sunday, with the Cardinals holding Kenneth Walker III to 41 yards on 16 attempts. Zach Charbonnet had 22 yards on six carries.
Walker hasn’t topped 100 yards since Week 1. Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb needs to think of something different to get the running backs involved.
Williams single-handedly disrupted the Cardinals with 2 1/2 sacks, four quarterback hits, three tackles for loss and one pass defensed.
“I thought he was dominant,” Macdonald said. “I knew he played great and then I looked at the stat line and he played out of his mind.”
The Seahawks finished with five sacks, seven quarterback hits, five tackles for loss and six pass deflections against the Cardinals, shutting down a team that had averaged 29.3 points over its previous three games.
Geno Smith finished with 254 yards passing and a touchdown, but he threw another momentum-stalling interception. Smith was picked off on a third-and-6 play on the Arizona 18-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter, ending an 11-play, 73-yard drive.
Smith has an NFL-most 12 interceptions this season, more than in either of his previous two seasons as the Seahawks' full-time starter.
“That was a huge drive for us. ... Obviously made a terrible mistake down there, something I got to clean up,” Smith said. “But it was a big drive. We wanted to put the game ahead at least two scores.”
The offensive line has contributed to the problem. Guard Anthony Bradford left with an ankle injury, and the line struggled to protect Smith, who was sacked five times.
Macdonald said Bradford is expected to miss next week's game.
77 — Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the team with six catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, marking the fourth consecutive game that Smith-Njigba has led the team in receptions. He topped 100 yards receiving in the previous two games.
“He’s getting open,” Smith said. “He’s catching the ball. He’s doing a great job in the screen game. All-around great player. I just think the way that teams are playing us coverage-wise, I feel like it’s the ultimate sign of respect.”
The Seahawks play at the struggling New York Jets on Sunday.
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Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams (99) celebrates a sack during an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon, left, and cornerback Coby Bryant, right, tackle Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Seattle. The Seahawks won 16-6. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams (99) celebrates a sack with Dre'Mont Jones (55) and linebacker Derick Hall (58) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith moved to abandon two criminal cases against Donald Trump on Monday, acknowledging that Trump’s return to the White House will preclude attempts to federally prosecute him for retaining classified documents or trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The decision was inevitable, since longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. Yet it was still a momentous finale to an unprecedented chapter in political and law enforcement history, as federal officials attempted to hold accountable a former president while he was simultaneously running for another term.
Trump emerges indisputably victorious, having successfully delayed the investigations through legal maneuvers and then winning reelection despite indictments that described his actions as a threat to the country's constitutional foundations.
“I persevered, against all odds, and WON," Trump exulted in a post on Truth Social, his social media website.
He also said that “these cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”
The judge in the election case granted prosecutors' dismissal request. A decision in the documents case was still pending on Monday evening.
The outcome makes it clear that, when it comes to a president and criminal accusations, nothing supersedes the voters' own verdict. In court filings, Smith's team emphasized that the move to end their prosecutions was not a reflection of the merit of the cases but a recognition of the legal shield that surrounds any commander in chief.
“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” prosecutors said in one of their filings.
They wrote that Trump’s return to the White House “sets at odds two fundamental and compelling national interests: on the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities . . . and on the other hand, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law.”
In this situation, “the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” they concluded.
Smith’s team said it was leaving intact charges against two co-defendants in the classified documents case — Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira — because “no principle of temporary immunity applies to them.”
Steven Cheung, Trump's incoming White House communications director, said Americans “want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country.”
Trump has long described the investigations as politically motivated, and he has vowed to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January. Now he will start his second term free from criminal scrutiny by the government that he will lead.
The election case brought last year was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing Trump as he tried to reclaim the White House. He was indicted for plotting to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in 2020, an effort that climaxed with his supporters' violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
But the case quickly stalled amid legal fighting over Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution for acts he took while in the White House.
The U.S. Supreme Court in July ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial.
The case was just beginning to pick up steam again in the trial court in the weeks leading up to this year’s election. Smith’s team in October filed a lengthy brief laying out new evidence it planned to use against him at trial, accusing him of “resorting to crimes” in an increasingly desperate effort to overturn the will of voters after he lost to Biden.
In dismissing the case, Chutkan acknowledged prosecutors' request to do so “without prejudice,” raising the possibility that they could try to bring charges against Trump when his term is over. She wrote that is “consistent with the Government’s understanding that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office.”
But such a move may be barred by the statute of limitations, and Trump may also try to pardon himself while in office.
The separate case involving classified documents had been widely seen as legally clear cut, especially because the conduct in question occurred after Trump left the White House and lost the powers of the presidency.
The indictment included dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructing federal efforts to get them back. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
The case quickly became snarled by delays, with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon slow to issue rulings — which favored Trump’s strategy of pushing off deadlines in all his criminal cases — while also entertaining defense motions and arguments that experts said other judges would have dispensed with without hearings.
In May, she indefinitely canceled the trial date amid a series of unresolved legal issues before dismissing the case outright two months later. Smith’s team appealed the decision, but now has given up that effort.
Trump faced two other state prosecutions while running for president. One of them, a New York case involving hush money payments, resulted in a conviction on felony charges of falsifying business records. It was the first time a former president had been found guilty of a crime.
The sentencing in that case is on hold as Trump's lawyers try to have the conviction dismissed before he takes office, arguing that letting the verdict stand will interfere with his presidential transition and duties.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office is fighting the dismissal but has indicated that it would be open to delaying sentencing until Trump leaves office. Bragg, a Democrat, has said the solution needs to balance the obligations of the presidency with “the sanctity of the jury verdict."
Trump was also indicted in Georgia along with 18 others accused of participating in a sprawling scheme to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election there.
Any trial appears unlikely there while Trump holds office. The prosecution already was on hold after an appeals court agreed to review whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case.
Four defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Michael Sisak and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.
President-elect Donald Trump gestures after speaking during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President-elect Donald Trump gestures after speaking during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President-elect Donald Trump arrives before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
