Funny how a team can go from 13 wins to nine in just one week.

The Seahawks came into this season amid pomp and circumstance as Super Bowl champs, and they merely added to their aura of invincibility with a blowout win in the opener against Green Bay.

Everyone fully expected them to carry that over to Week 2 in San Diego, but no one — particularly the Seahawks — was prepared for the Gates of Hell. A resurgent all-star tight end and debilitating heat conspired to overwhelm Seattle’s vaunted defense.

Now, just like that, the worry warts are out.

Some think the Hawks — despite an obviously more explosive offense — are suddenly going to be nothing more than a nine-win team. Others wonder whether they can beat good teams on the road. And plenty are concerned that the Hawks are not up to taking every team’s best shot this season.

But let’s not get too carried away. It was one loss — on the road in tough conditions against a quarterback and tight end who had a superlative game. How often will that perfect storm manifest?

As the Seahawks prepare to face another top quarterback, Peyton Manning, in a Super Bowl rematch with the Denver Broncos this week, let us look at all of the reasons not to worry:

• The loss in San Diego was an anomaly. The Seattle defense struggled in the high heat and the effect was compounded by early failures to get off the field on third down (San Diego was 10 of 17).
• Despite getting dominated in play differential, the Hawks trailed by just six and had the ball with a chance to win with three minutes left. The defense played its worst game since a 34-28 loss in Indianapolis last season, and the Hawks were still down only 27-21 with a shot to win it.
• The Hawks got pressure on Philip Rivers; he just played an expert game and found longtime cohort Antonio Gates for three touchdowns. The Hawks shut down tight ends last season and surely will make Denver’s Julius Thomas a major point of emphasis in practice this week. On top of that, Manning is not as nifty in the face of pressure as Rivers is. The Super Bowl showed that. So if Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett keep playing as well as they have so far, the defense shouldn’t have the same problems in Seattle that it had in San Diego.
• The offense was pretty efficient despite not having the ball very much and despite some blocking issues against an aggressive San Diego defense. The three touchdown drives were conducted in 1:25, :52 and 2:58. Of course, the Hawks also punted four times and could not move the ball when they absolutely had to — at the end of the game. But due to the huge disparity in plays (75-40), the offense can’t take too much blame for this one. No one should be worried about Russell Wilson and company.
• The Hawks have few injuries. Compared to many teams in the league, the Hawks are a picture of health — their backup cornerbacks being the only major injury issue. Assuming they stay that way, the Hawks will only get better as they go.
• As for this week, the Seahawks are 3-1 under Pete Carroll in the game before their bye, winning the last three seasons by an average of 17 points. After hosting the Broncos this week, they are off before heading to Washington for a Monday night game in Week 5.
• Even if the Hawks somehow drop to 1-2, the next six games are full of bad teams they should dominate before a pretty tough-looking second half of the season. It’s hard to see them going any worse than 11-5 — and odds are just as good they still win 13.