Seattle, WA
Seattle Seahawks’ Derick Hall: ‘Pass rush wins championships’
Refining a popular NFL adage, Seattle Seahawks outside linebacker Derick Hall said, “Pass rush wins championships.”
The former Auburn standout contributed eight sacks and 20 quarterback hits toward winning a title for Seattle last season, but the Seahawks finished tied for eighth in the NFL with 45 sacks and missed the playoffs despite a 10-7 record.
For 2025, Seattle returns its top four in sacks and signed four-time Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence after he played 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.
“They pay guys to sack quarterbacks,” Hall said during an appearance on KIRO-AM’s “Seattle Sports.” “And, I mean, I feel like if you do that, there’s no chance for the offense to be able to get going, so I think being disruptive at the front is huge. And I think that shows the importance of Coach Mike (Macdonald) and (defensive coordinator Aden Durde) and these guys here. I mean, they bring guys in for the front to be stout. I mean, from top to bottom, we have ones and twos who can go out and be a starter on a lot of teams across this league.”
A second-round draft pick from Auburn in 2023, Hall played in every game as a rookie, but he made more contributions on special teams than on defense. In 2023, Hall did not have any sacks and recorded three quarterback hits as he got on the field for 307 defensive snaps and 287 special-teams plays. Last season, Hall had 674 defensive snaps and 90 special-teams plays as he started 14 of Seattle’s 17 games.
“I think just knowing what to expect,” Hall said about the difference between Year 1 and Year 2. “Like, your rookie year, you’re coming to a new place. You don’t know what’s around. You don’t know nobody. You’re moving out by yourself. You got to find a home. Like, there’s just so much that go into a rookie season, so many challenges and different things that you have to face and then worry about playing ball and then worry about trying to meet the guys and then worry about trying to fit in and how this is going to go, how that’s going to go. You know, it’s a lot that’s on your plate.
“And I feel like you worry so much about trying to be in the present moment that you really forget what got you here, and that’s continue to do what you did every day to play the game. And I felt like there was a lot of struggles my rookie year from that, and then you also want to grow so fast. Come from being so successful in college and then getting here and not being so successful. You, like, wonder, like, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ It’s not what you’re doing wrong. It’s what you’re doing right to be able to continue to grow. And I feel like that’s what helped me out from Year 1 to Year 2 is just continue to come out, put my best foot forward every day, not worry about the mistakes, because mistakes are going to happen. Just continue to play fast, be team-oriented and continue to try to help this team grow. And I feel like that showed a lot.”
Hall registered his first NFL sack in the Seahawks’ 2024 season-opener, when he took down former Auburn teammate Bo Nix in a 26-20 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sept. 8.
Two weeks later, Hall made his first NFL start and recorded two sacks and four quarterback hits in a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins.
“That was, like, my first true game where I’m like, ‘Wow, like, OK, I can truly do this. Yeah,’” Hall said. “And I feel like as a rookie, that’s the stuff you battle. Like, am I really good enough to play in this league?
“And coming into Year 2 and being able to put my best foot forward, going through preseason, having a great preseason, great training camp, getting into the season, first game against the Broncos, got my first sack. Boom. That’s off the board. You get to New England, have some really good rushes, playing good ball. Then Game 3, oh, you’re starting, by the way. Like, ‘Oh, OK.’ Just trying to take it all in, process it, being able to go out and just play ball, and I think that that’s the game that it really, really just broke open for me.”
The Seahawks have two days of mandatory minicamp remaining to finish their offseason program.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
Social media is absolutely flooded with the images, video and words showing a vibrant city and region full of the joys of our soccer heritage. The supposedly dying city of Seattle put on an exceptional show for the world’s game and once again is convincing USMNT players to consider the Sounders for their next stop.
None of that happens with a suburban stadium in Renton. None of it.
The championship banners in Lumen? They’d be gone, reducing the symbols of local soccer excellence from the TV feed.
All those packed local bars with their Sounders scarves, posters and kits? Gone.
This isn’t a hypothetical. Plenty of MLS teams are in metro areas hosting the World Cup. The other US MLS teams aren’t getting this kind of love. LA hosted a bigger US win, but that match experience was not an advertisement for the Galaxy or LAFC.
When Santa Clara hosts the Round of 32 match you are not going to hear a word about the 50-year-old San Jose Earthquakes. If the US advances to the semis in Arlington you won’t hear a peep about FC Dallas. If they make the final in East Rutherford the Red Bulls will be a footnote.
But when the world’s game comes to Seattle the Sounders are the conversation, because this team is in the heart of a city and region that loves it.
Ripping the Sounders away from these types of moments for revenue control while eliminating the free marketing to players and fans is laughable. Renton’s Legacy Square is doing a wonderful job for thousands of visitors a week. It is not Seattle. Nor is Southcenter’s shows in Tukwila.
Moments like Friday, the future Women’s World Cup matches and maybe even a US Round of 16 with hundreds of thousands of people experiencing Seattle’s soccer culture are only possible while soccer is a major tenant in a downtown stadium.
It’s why Don Garber praises the Sounders, and hardly ever mentions the flood of owners who built tiny houses in the burbs. “MLS isn’t what it is without the Sounders.”
The Sounders aren’t what they are without Lumen Field in Seattle. Full stop.
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Catching up on Sounder at Heart
Here’s what you missed on the site this week.
World Cup
Next Seattle match: Wednesday, June 24 between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Qatar.
Sounders
Next match: July 16 hosting Portland Timbers during rivalry week.
Reign
Next match: July 4 at North Carolina
Defiance
Next match: June 21 vs Real Monarchs.
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Looking back at the news
Everything else you need to know
World Cup
NWSL and women’s soccer
Puget Sound and other stuff
Ranger Suarez carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Friday night.
Suarez (3-3) struck out five and walked three in 6 2/3 innings. His no-hit bid ended with Josh Naylor’s one-out double in the seventh.
The 30-year-old lefty earned his first win since April 27 against Toronto.
Caleb Durbin put the Red Sox ahead with a second-inning solo homer, his fifth of the year. Durbin had his second three-hit game this season, with his first coming against Tampa Bay on June 10.
Ceddanne Rafaela scored on a wild pitch in the seventh, and Marcelo Mayer drove in two more runs with a bases-loaded single.
Carlos Narváez added a sacrifice fly before Seattle finally escaped the inning on a diving catch by Dominic Canzone in right field.
Suarez issued a two-out walk that loaded the bases in the seventh on his final pitch of the night, but Justin Slaten ended the threat by striking out pinch-hitter J.P. Crawford to preserve a 5-0 lead.
Mayer added one more insurance run with a ninth-inning RBI double. The Mariners got on the board thanks to Julio Rodríguez’s two-run homer in the ninth.
Seattle starter Bryce Miller (3-1) struck out seven in five innings. He allowed three hits and one run.
Luis Castillo, who has started in all but three of his 258 career appearances, gave up five runs in four innings of relief as the Mariners revived their “piggyback” rotation.
Up next
Red Sox LHP Connelly Early (5-5, 3.81 ERA) starts opposite Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (5-3, 3.28) on Saturday night.
Seattle, WA
Seattle fans pack waterfront hours early as USA defeats Australia, advances in World Cup
SEATTLE — Soccer fans descended on Seattle’s waterfront well before kickoff Friday, staking out their spots early to watch a highly anticipated World Cup matchup at Seattle Stadium between the United States and Australia. That patience paid off as Team USA won the match and now advances to the knockout round.
The atmosphere at Pier 62 was electric from the start, with fans lining up for prime viewing positions, whether down on the water’s edge or taking in the sweeping scene from the waterfront overlook above.
“I mean, look at all these people that are here hours beforehand to celebrate this incredible game,” said Paul Hanson, who was rooting for Team USA. “The hairs are going up on the arm.”
The energy was a draw in itself.
“The energy is amazing, everyone’s in a great mood, it’s just a lot of fun to be down here,” Maggie McNeil said.
Not everyone in the crowd was wearing red, white, and blue.
Lizzie Manning hails from Melbourne, Australia, and is now living in the Pacific Northwest.
Manning told KOMO News she hasn’t been back home in nearly a decade, but taking in the U.S.A-Australia match with the waterfront crowd gave her a taste of it.
“Whenever I see another Australian I’m like, ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie, oy oy oy,’” she said. “I feel so close to home. I need a meat pie, life’s good.”
“I’ve met so many people who are visiting from other countries,” Seattle resident Maddie Chaplain said. “I sat next to a couple yesterday who was eating dumplings for the first time from Argentina, that was so awesome.”
With Team USA advancing, fans like Aaron Olson say they’ll be back for more.
“USA’s gonna win it,” Olson said. “I will come down here every game. This is spectacular.”
The World Cup watch parties continue on Pier 62 throughout the tournament. They are free and open to the public with online registration, but capacity is limited.
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