The Seahawks spent the first month of the season merely surviving — overcoming a decimated offensive line, injuries in their secondary, big passing numbers from opposing quarterbacks and poor third-down performance on both sides, among other things.

They managed to hit their bye week at 3-1, thanks to an OT win in Detroit and victories over Carolina and New York, which are a combined 1-9 after both lost yet again in Week 5.

The Seahawks used a stunningly stout run defense, some big takeaways and some great offensive coaching to make it through the first month. Now they need their offensive line and secondary to get healthy so they can fix issues that otherwise will cost them against the good teams they are about to face.

They finally had both corners healthy against New York, and Devon Witherspoon showed why he was deserving of being picked fifth overall by turning in a Defensive Player of the Week performance that featured a pick-six. Now they need Tre Brown, Coby Bryant and Jamal Adams back.

The pass rush, beleaguered over the first three games, feasted on the Giants’ tattered offensive line, tying a team record with 11 sacks. Witherspoon, Bobby Wagner, Uchenna Nwosu and Jordyn Brooks tallied two each as Clint Hurtt dialed up pressure from every angle.

“The mixes and the changeups, the variety of ways that we came after them, we used everybody on the field just about,” Pete Carroll said, “hitting the calls at the right time so the guys could create some explosive plays out of it. You’ve got to give Clint a ton of credit. Pass rush isn’t just the guys up front; everybody contributes to it.”

The Hawks got pressure against Carolina, without the sacks to show for it. Then they had an avalanche of them against Daniel Jones, who just didn’t get any help from his piecemeal line.

“We knew it was coming,” said Nwosu, who had his first two sacks of the season. “The week we had (against Carolina) — 36 pressures — I think that was like a record for the week that week. We knew we had the talent. We knew it was coming. We knew if we did what we did last week, stop the run, we would do the same thing this week — and (we were) able to get home more.”

Led by Wagner’s stellar stops in the box and Jarran Reed’s surprising anchor on the nose, the Hawks rank sixth vs. the run at 87.5 ypg and tied for first at 3.2 ypc. They have done that against four teams that like to run the ball, three of which ran it well against Seattle in 2022.

The Bengals are up next and they rank 31^st at 74.6 ypg. After that, the Hawks will really be tested on the ground as they face six of the top 10 rushing teams from Week 7 to Week 15.

Unlike his last few years in Seattle, when so many tackles were made downfield, Wagner has been incredible against the run this season. He is on pace for 212 tackles and is making them really close to the line (1.9 yards on average, per PFF).

Witherspoon has shown he is not afraid to stick his nose in there either. He had two tackles for loss vs. the Giants, on top of the sacks and pick-six. Playing from the slot, he has shown he can make a huge impact on the game – the kind of effect the Hawks have long hoped Adams would have.

Adams was off to a nice start in his first game in over a year, until a concussion (yet another injury) knocked him out. Anything he offers will be a bonus – the Hawks have a lot of good secondary players now and are not desperate for him anymore.

If the secondary can mesh and help the front seven like it did vs. New York, the Hawks should be able to improve a third-down defense that ranks 31^st in the league at 52%. They need to if they are going to beat Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and other good QBs they are about to see.

The Hawks have had the same third-down troubles on offense, largely because of the line injuries.

Against the Giants, the Hawks were down four starters and had to move the fifth, Evan Brown, from center to guard. But thanks to Shane Waldron’s excellent scheming – using tight ends all over the field – and Andy Dickerson’s coaching, the unit featuring two rookies made it through.

Despite all of the line woes over the first month and a third-down percentage of 28.9 that ranks bottom two in the NFL, the Hawks somehow rank sixth in scoring. Just imagine what they might do when Charles Cross (toe) and Abe Lucas (knee surgery) come back. The left tackle hopefully will return this week, along with guards Damien Lewis and Phil Haynes.

Geno Smith could use some better protection. He has done a great job staying alive and not making mistakes, but the offense really has shut down on third downs, and the passing game simply has not generated many big plays.

The offense needs to be able to function on schedule, not in chaos mode nearly every play, if the Hawks are going to have any chance against the top defenses they are about to face – Cleveland is No. 1, Baltimore No. 2, San Francisco No. 3, Dallas No. 5 and Philadelphia No. 10.

The Hawks still have a lot of progress to make if they are going to turn this 3-1 start into a playoff berth.

Wagner knows it, telling Fox, “Even though we’re 3-1, we have a lot of room to grow on the defensive side. We have a lot of room to grow on the offensive side. We’re still getting guys healthy. I don’t think this team has reached its potential yet, which is good. You want to keep building until the end of the season, and you want to reach your potential at the right time.”