“We’re still climbing. The best is yet to come.” — Shaquill Griffin
The Seahawks are 4-1, despite still not playing their best game — and that’s how we know they’re Super Bowl contenders.
Their lucky 30-29 win over the Rams had a lot of good in it: Russell Wilson’s near perfection, Tyler Lockett’s toe-tapping magic, Chris Carson’s winning efforts and more. But the Hawks still were unable to lock up the win on their own merits — the Rams had to lose it on a missed field goal.
Of course, the Rams would have been lucky to win themselves since Jason Myers missed a first-half field goal that meant the Rams did not need to overcome a four-point deficit at the end.
The Hawks lost two close shootouts to the Rams last season, and now they have won one against the Super Bowl runners-up — proving these teams remain evenly matched. That Sunday night game in Week 14 will be huge.
By that time, though, the Seahawks should have found their defensive groove and be a complete contender.
Wilson and the offense already are playing at a Super Bowl level. Wilson continued his best start yet with a performance that Pete Carroll called “one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play”: four TD passes, 73.9 percent, 300 total yards. Even Wilson himself called it “one of the best” as he celebrated the late Paul Allen, who was inducted into the Ring of Honor before the game.
Many fans and media are already touting Wilson for MVP — we’re hoping they mean Super Bowl MVP, because winning that game is the only thing that matters. But, it’s also true right now that no QB (not even the equally magical Patrick Mahomes) is playing better than Wilson.
The Seahawks have scored 133 points in five games, which matches the number they scored in the first five games of their 2014 Super Bowl season and is four shy of the total to start their 2013 Super Bowl season, when they also opened 4-1.
In 2013, their defense started just as strong — their point differential was 56. But this defense has given up 118 points, which is a few more than the 2014 defense that also took a while to get going.
As Shaquill Griffin told Q13, this defense is still getting it together. And remember: Jarran Reed will be back in two weeks, for the Baltimore game.
“We’re just learning how to put it all together,” Carroll said. “I’ll stop saying that pretty soon here because we’ll be halfway through the season. But I feel like we are still growing together. We need these experiences. We need big challenges like this.”
Wilson’s teammates heaped praise on him for his stellar play, calling him a Hall of Fame player and “one of the best I’ve ever seen play quarterback.” Wilson was emotional after the win because he was thinking of Allen.
Tyler Lockett made one of the greatest catches in Seahawk history, a toe-tapping touchdown in the smallest corner of the end zone with Eric Weddle right on top of him. Lockett was deservedly proud of the play and said he would watch it several times before going to sleep. Players around the league were impressed and passed along kudos to Lockett.
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) October 4, 2019
Jamarco Jones filled in at guard when D.J. Fluker suffered a hamstring injury and had what Carroll called a “beautiful performance.” Jones said he enjoyed getting to face superstar Aaron Donald.
Jadeveon Clowney had another impact performance, highlighted by his forced turnover. He said he loves being in Seattle and is learning stuff about football he never learned in Houston.
Some (not us) thought the Hawks should bench Carson after his early fumbles, so Carroll took a second to chastise those critics: “Isn’t it great we didn’t give up on him? Wouldn’t that be crazy? ‘Sit him down. Don’t let him play.’ BS to that.”
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 
Something worth noting is that — like the 2013 team — they are winning the initial schedule despite not playing particularly well. The image of the 2013 team is that they blew through everyone they played, but in reality they benefited from a favorable schedule and struggled early against some poor teams.
While this team’s secondary is unlikely to rise above capable, that will be fine as long as the DL coalesces — which it should — and RW plays the best football of his career. The road ahead gets tough, but still looks like an 11- or 12-win team.
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RE the secondary: I think the 2020 starting safeties might be the ones who have been inactive the last two weeks …
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Good point. They seem to like Thompson, and I expect that he will get a lot of rope. Still, it’s apparent by now that neither he nor Hill are world beaters. I can’t see McDougald on the team next year if Blair and Amadi are ready.
Here’s how I look at the luck factor: Luck is involved in any sporting contest; the closer a game or match is, the more luck comes to bear on the outcome. Thus in a close game, luck is always among the decisive factors. In baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, golf et al the effect smooths out because of the number of games/matches played — i.e., you win some, you lose some, and over time the cream rises to the top.
In football, though, the short schedule exacerbates the effect of luck. So, yes, the Seahawks got more breaks on Thursday, and that may well be significant when it comes to winning the division. But had Greg the Leg’s kick gone through, the ‘Hawks could likely point to several moments where the breaks didn’t go their way. That’s the football landscape, and mere mortals aren’t going to change it.
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