Jaxon Smith-Njigba stars as Seahawks deal Chiefs first loss - ESPN

SEATTLE — Jaxon Smith-Njigba wasn't the main story heading into Sunday night's matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs, a game that marked Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III's return to Lumen Field amid his scorching start to the season.

But Smith-Njigba — not his former teammate — was the game's biggest star.

The NFL's leading receiver and reigning AP Offensive Player of the Year continued his historic start by catching nine passes for 150 yards and a touchdown in Seattle's 20-3 win. Smith-Njigba has 867 receiving yards this season. That's 231 yards more than anyone else, and, according to ESPN Research, it's tied with Lance Alworth in 1965 for the eighth most through seven games in NFL history.

«He's tremendous,» Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. «I don't know how else to describe him. He's had some adversity this week. Just going to leave it like that. But just really proud of him as a person. As a person, competitor, teammate, how do you not just have the most respect for the guy and love him for how he operates?»

Smith-Njigba's 27-yard touchdown in the second quarter was his eighth of the season, and that also leads the NFL. The TD occurred on a play that quarterback Sam Darnold changed at the line of scrimmage before floating a pass down the left sideline to Smith-Njigba, who was being covered one-on-one by cornerback Mansoor Delane.

The Chiefs hadn't allowed a touchdown catch to an opposing receiver during their 5-0 start entering Week 7.

«I have pretty good confidence that if we're throwing him the ball, he's going to come down with it,» Macdonald said. «When you see him singled like that… I knew that's where Sam was going to go with the ball.»

Of Seattle's 11 third-down conversions (in 16