Seattle Seahawks 27, Carolina Panthers 10 | Week 17 | December 28, 2025 | Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
The seahawks vs carolina panthers match player stats from December 28, 2025 tell a story that is hard to argue with. Zach Charbonnet powered his way to 110 rushing yards and two touchdowns, Sam Darnold finished 18 of 27 for 147 yards with a score, and Seattle’s defense smothered Carolina’s offense to a dismal 139 total yards as the Seahawks rolled to a 27-10 victory, moving to 13-3 and within reach of their first NFC West title since 2020.
Table of Contents
Final Score and Quarter-by-Quarter Breakdown
Quarter | Seattle Seahawks | Carolina Panthers |
|---|---|---|
Q1 | 3 | 0 |
Q2 | 0 | 3 |
Q3 | 14 | 0 |
Q4 | 10 | 7 |
Final | 27 | 10 |
It was a game of two halves in every sense. The first half was a defensive battle that ended in a 3-3 deadlock. Then Seattle’s defense forced back-to-back turnovers to open the third quarter, and just like that, the Seahawks turned a tight game into a comfortable win.
Seahawks vs Panthers Player Stats: Complete Box Score
Passing Stats
Player | Team | CMP | ATT | CMP% | YDS | TD | INT | QBR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sam Darnold | SEA | 18 | 27 | 66.7% | 147 | 1 | 1 | 77.2 |
Bryce Young | CAR | 14 | 24 | 58.3% | 54 | 0 | 1 | 45.8 |
Bryce Young’s 54 passing yards stands as one of the worst single-game outputs you will see from a starting quarterback all season. The Panthers’ offense managed just 40 net passing yards after sacks are factored in. Meanwhile, Darnold completed 18 of 27 passes for 147 yards and one touchdown with one interception, a modest but effective stat line that matched exactly what Seattle needed from him.
Rushing Stats
Player | Team | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zach Charbonnet | SEA | 18 | 110 | 6.1 | 2 | 29 |
Rico Dowdle | CAR | 12 | 59 | 4.9 | 0 | 11 |
Bryce Young | CAR | 5 | 30 | 6.0 | 1 | 10 |
Kenneth Walker III | SEA | 9 | 44 | 4.9 | 0 | 12 |
Charbonnet set a new season high with 110 rushing yards, surpassing his previous best of 83. He was the engine of this offense, and Carolina simply could not contain him after halftime. Seattle rushed for 163 yards as a team compared to Carolina’s 99. That gap on the ground is what separated the two teams more than anything else.
Receiving Stats
Player | Team | REC | TGT | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AJ Barner | SEA | 3 | 3 | 43 | 14.3 | 1 | 17 |
Jaxon Smith-Njigba | SEA | 4 | 5 | 28 | 7.0 | 0 | 9 |
Jalen Coker | CAR | 2 | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 | 8 |
Tetairoa McMillan | CAR | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | 5 |
Xavier Legette | CAR | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 3 |
Carolina’s top wide receivers, Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, and Xavier Legette, were limited to a combined four catches for 24 yards. That is the kind of defensive performance that sends a message heading into the playoffs. Tight end AJ Barner was Seattle’s most impactful pass catcher, hauling in all three of his targets for 43 yards including the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.
Team Offense Overview
Stat | Seattle SEA | Carolina CAR |
|---|---|---|
Total Yards | 288 | 139 |
Rushing Yards | 163 | 99 |
Passing Yards (Net) | 125 | 40 |
First Downs | 19 | 10 |
Plays | 66 | 52 |
Yards Per Play | 4.4 | 2.7 |
Time of Possession | 34:18 | 25:42 |
3rd Down Conv. | N/A | 1 of 11 |
Turnovers | 2 | 2 |
Sacks Allowed | 3 | 2 |
Penalties | 4 (40 yds) | 3 (20 yds) |
Carolina converting just 1 of 11 third down attempts tells you everything. The Panthers barely moved the chains all afternoon, and when they did, it was mostly Bryce Young scrambling out of trouble rather than the offense executing its game plan.
Defensive Highlights
Stat | Seattle DEF | Carolina DEF |
|---|---|---|
Total Sacks | 2.0 | 3.0 |
Sack Yards | 14 | 22 |
Interceptions | 1 | 1 |
Forced Fumbles | 1 | 1 |
Fumble Recoveries | 1 | 2 |
TFL | 5.0 (21 yds) | 5.0 (25 yds) |
QB Hits | 4 | 4 |
Missed Tackles | 1 | 7 |
Passes Defended | 3 | 4 |
3rd Down Stops | N/A | 10 of 11 |
Seattle’s defense held a 73,163-person crowd at Bank of America Stadium largely silent for three quarters. Carolina’s defenders held their own against Darnold’s arm, but the run defense was where they were exposed. An open-field tackle by Ty Okada on Rico Dowdle for a loss of two on the second play of the game seemed to send a message about how the defense planned to play.
Kicking and Special Teams
Player | Team | Stat |
|---|---|---|
Jason Myers | SEA | 2/2 FG (48 yd, 30 yd), 3 XP |
Riley Fitzgerald | CAR | 1/1 FG (35 yd), 1 XP |
Myers continues to be one of the most reliable kickers in the league. The 48-yarder he nailed in the first quarter, set up by Charbonnet’s 25-yard burst on third and 15, was a massive moment that gave Seattle a foothold in a low-scoring first half.
Scoring Summary: How It All Unfolded
Q1 | 3:28 Jason Myers 48-yard field goal. Seahawks 3, Panthers 0.
Q2 | 3:50 Riley Fitzgerald 35-yard field goal. Seahawks 3, Panthers 3.
Q3 | 8:49 Zach Charbonnet 2-yard rush TD. Seahawks 10, Panthers 3.
Q3 | 5:39 AJ Barner 17-yard catch from Sam Darnold. Seahawks 17, Panthers 3.
Q4 | 13:48 Bryce Young 10-yard scramble TD. Seahawks 17, Panthers 10.
Q4 | 5:36 Jason Myers 30-yard field goal. Seahawks 20, Panthers 10.
Q4 | 2:35 Zach Charbonnet 1-yard rush TD. Seahawks 27, Panthers 10.
The Game-Changing Third Quarter
The first half was forgettable. Both offenses struggled, field goals were the only scores, and it genuinely felt like either team could take control. Then the third quarter opened and everything changed in the span of about six minutes.
Lawrence recovered a fumble by Chuba Hubbard deep in Carolina territory and Charbonnet cashed in with a 2-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing possession, Young’s pass to McMillan was intercepted by Julian Love, leading to Darnold’s 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end AJ Barner.
Two turnovers. Two touchdowns. A 3-3 game became 17-3 in the blink of an eye. That sequence broke Carolina’s spirit. The Seahawks needed just four plays to convert, Darnold hitting a wide open AJ Barner for an easy 17-yard catch and score to make it 17-3 and give them two TDs in the span of 3:13.
That is the kind of complementary football that separates good teams from great ones. The defense creates the turnover, the offense converts immediately, and the game is effectively over before the fourth quarter even arrives.
Sam Darnold: Efficient, Not Flashy
Look, the raw numbers are not going to jump off the page. 147 yards, one TD, one INT. But the context matters. The passing yardage total was his second lowest of the season, but the Seahawks defense made sure that Darnold didn’t need to produce too much offense.
Darnold had 25 touchdown passes on the season entering Week 18, marking back-to-back seasons with that mark. He was also closing in on 4,000 passing yards for the second straight year. The Panthers were a former team for Darnold, who played for Carolina in 2021 and 2022 before reinventing his career in Minnesota last year and continuing that form in Seattle.
After throwing the interception in the end zone during the second quarter, Darnold and his defense had a back-and-forth about how that happens and how the team responds.
“It’s unbelievable. Our defense has been doing that all year,” Darnold said. “They’ve been stepping up in such a huge way. Especially, for me, on that turnover, I’ve got to move on in my progression and at least make it a us-or-nobody throw. But for us it’s just complementary football.”
That quote sums up what Seattle has been all season. Nobody panics. The defense covers for the offense, the offense covers for the defense, and they keep stacking wins.
Charbonnet’s Career Day
Eighteen carries. 110 yards. Two touchdowns. Season high in rushing yards. Charbonnet was the best player on the field Sunday, and it was not particularly close.
He sparked the game-opening drive with a 25-yard burst on third and 15, a run that kept alive the march that led to Myers’ first field goal. Then in the third quarter he punched in the 2-yard score after the fumble recovery. He closed the game with a 1-yard TD in the final three minutes to put it out of reach.
Entering this game, Charbonnet needed one touchdown to become the first Seahawks player since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to have double-digit rushing touchdowns in a season. He got two of them. The Beast Mode comparison might be a stretch in terms of career trajectory, but on this particular day in Charlotte, the echoes were real.
Bryce Young and Carolina’s Offensive Struggles
This is a tough one for Panthers fans. Bryce Young has shown real progress in 2025, and Carolina entering this game at 8-7 was a legitimate team with playoff relevance in the NFC South. But Sunday was a reminder that the offense still has a ceiling when things do not go its way.
54 passing yards on 14 completions. A passer rating of 45.8. Zero passing touchdowns. Bryce Young was limited to 54 yards on 14-of-24 passing and threw an interception, while Carolina’s wide receivers McMillan, Coker, and Legette were limited to a combined four catches for 24 yards.
Young addressed the performance honestly after the game:
“Credit to them,” Young said. “They made adjustments to the game plan and did a better job of executing it. We are going to go up against different schemes and teams that are going to make adjustments. We need to be able to react to that and counter it. We will watch the film and learn and grow from it.”
The 10-yard touchdown scramble in the fourth quarter at least showed the dual-threat dimension that makes Young hard to contain when the passing game opens up. He added 30 rushing yards on the day. But the passing game was strangled completely by Seattle’s secondary.
Carolina didn’t reach 100 yards of total offense until very late in the third quarter or convert a third down until the second half. One third down conversion on eleven attempts. That is not a recipe for winning football at any level.
Seattle’s Defense: Back to Its Best
The Seahawks allowed 581 yards the week before against the Rams. That was an outlier, and everyone in the Seattle locker room knew it. Coming into Charlotte, the focus was on reclaiming the defensive identity this team has built all season.
“Wasn’t our best showing last week,” safety Nick Emmanwori said. “But definitely this week we had a goal to just bounce back and get back to what we’re used to.”
They did exactly that. The Panthers managed 139 total yards. Seattle had 10 of 11 third down stops. The defense forced two turnovers and turned both into points within minutes.
DeMarcus Lawrence, who had the fumble recovery on Chuba Hubbard’s carry deep in Carolina territory, was the catalyst for the third-quarter explosion. “We’re going to make sure we take care of business,” Lawrence said, already looking ahead to the must-win game against San Francisco.
Mike Macdonald’s defense had allowed only 18.6 points per game entering this week, which ranks among the best in the NFL. Sunday reinforced why this unit is considered one of the best in football right now.
“Same story every week: We didn’t flinch,” Macdonald said. “A big emphasis this week was, ‘Can we stack plays in all three phases?’ It took us a half to do it but I felt like in the second half, we did a great job.”
Injury Report: Key Updates from Both Sides
The game was not without its injury concerns.
Seattle Seahawks:
- WR Rashid Shaheed left in the first half with a concussion and did not return.
- WR Cody White left with a groin injury in the first half.
Carolina Panthers:
- TE Ja’Tavion Sanders was carted off on the very first play of the game with a broken ankle. He was done for the season.
- CB Robert Rochell left with a concussion.
- LB Claudin Cherelus exited with a calf injury in the third quarter.
Sanders’ injury was a major blow for Carolina right from the jump. Losing your tight end before the offense even runs its second play is a rough way to start a football game.
What the Stats Tell Us About Seattle’s Ceiling
If you follow NFL game analysis closely, you will notice that the best teams in any given season are the ones that find ways to win even when their offense is not clicking on all cylinders. Seattle did exactly that on December 28th.
The Seahawks won a game where their quarterback threw for under 150 yards. They won despite committing two turnovers themselves. They won with three injured skill players. They did it because the defense was elite, the run game was dominant, and the team never lost composure.
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The NFC West title picture remained razor-thin after this win. Seattle could have wrapped up the division crown in Week 17 had the 49ers and Rams both lost or tied, but the 49ers held on to beat the Chicago Bears 42-38 in a thriller on Sunday night. That meant the Seahawks needed to win at San Francisco in Week 18 to secure home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who leads the NFL in receiving yards in 2025, had a modest showing of 28 yards on four catches in this one. That number will not tell the full story of his season. What matters is that the team did not need him to go off in Charlotte. The ground game and the defense carried the weight.
Head-to-Head Context
The series record coming into this game had the Seahawks leading 9-4 all-time over the Panthers. The Seahawks have dominated the series, winning four of the past five and eight of ten. Seattle has scored at least 23 points in each of the past six meetings.
Carolina’s pattern of alternating wins and losses continued to haunt them. The Panthers followed up a win with a loss for the fifth straight time this season. That kind of inconsistency is what keeps a team hovering around 8-8 instead of pushing into the upper tier of the conference.
The pre-game closing odds had Seattle as 6.5-point favorites with an over-under of 42.5. The final score of 27-10, a 17-point margin, reflected exactly the kind of gap that existed between these two teams on this day.
Final Takeaways
The seahawks vs carolina panthers match player stats from December 28, 2025 paint a clear picture. Charbonnet’s 110-yard, 2-touchdown day was the performance of the game. Seattle’s defense held the Panthers to 139 total yards and one of 11 on third downs. Bryce Young’s 54-yard, 45.8 passer rating afternoon is one the Panthers will want to forget quickly.
Seattle entered 2025 as a legitimate Super Bowl contender, and nothing about this performance changed that. The defense is back to its best. The run game just found its best form of the season. And a Week 18 winner-take-all game at San Francisco was exactly the stage this team wanted to stake their claim on.
Final: Seattle Seahawks 27, Carolina Panthers 10
