“I think the past two weeks we’ve really shown how close of a team we are when battling adversity. I know we are only going to get stronger and play better throughout the season.’’ – DK Metcalf

As we expected, the Seahawks are off to a 2-0 start following wins over seemingly lesser teams. As we also expected, the Hawks have serious flaws up front to work out if they are going to be any better than the nine wins we predicted for this season.

On the bright side, they have made the playoffs all six previous times they have started 2-0 over the last 25 years, per Gregg Bell. And there is plenty of time to fix an offensive line that has had some major struggles in both games and a defensive front that allowed 185 rushing yards to the Patriots in Week 2.

The Hawks had a 139-yard negative discrepancy in rushing at New England and still managed to pull off a 23-20 overtime win. That’s rare. They were 1-5 in both 2022 and 2023 when they were under 100 rush yards and their foes had 130 or more.

Mike Macdonald said the 185 yards by the Pats “makes you sick to your stomach,” and he took the blame for not putting the players in the right looks. The Hawks also missed 10 tackles, he said.

As for the Hawks’ anemic running game, the coach said, “We’ve gotta move people. Right now we’re not moving people. That’s a challenge for us moving forward.”

They have managed to overcome the underwhelming offensive line play in the first two games, thanks largely to the fact that their defense has not had to face a good offense yet. The Broncos had rookie Bo Nix at QB and the Patriots had to rely almost entirely on tight end Hunter Henry for their passing yards.

And let’s not forget Geno Smith, who played one of his best games (career-best 33 completions) and essentially carried the Hawks to victory in New England. Macdonald called it a “dynamite” performance and followed that up the next day by saying, “That was a heck of a performance, man. I think there’s a little chip on his shoulder. I like it because they just keep sleeping on this guy. He played at a super high level. He deserves all the credit that he’s getting right now. He’s playing his tail off.”

Smith, who rallied the Hawks to late wins five times in 2023, said, “I always dreamed about these moments growing up. It’s a dream come true just to be here. Whenever I’m in this situation and the game is on the line, I’m so happy and just excited for those opportunities. I look forward to them actually. I know it’s going to happen more and more times throughout the season. The best quarterbacks always find ways to win. I want to be regarded in that light, so I just want to continue to be there for my team, do what’s right, make the plays when they come.”

He certainly did that against the Pats, and that is why the Hawks are 2-0.

Since the 17-game schedule began in 2022, 22 teams have started 2-0 and 17 have made the playoffs. That translates to a 77% success rate.

As we said, we projected nine wins before the season. But the schedule might be shaping up to be a bit easier than it first looked, due to some key injuries on other teams.

This week, the Hawks play Miami, which will be starting the very pedestrian Skylar Thompson at QB after Tua Tagovailoa suffered yet another concussion. You would think the Dolphins would have invested more in a good backup QB, knowing Tags’ injury history. The Hawks should win this one.

After a tough Monday night matchup in Detroit, the Hawks host the very beatable Giants and then the 49ers, who might still be without Christian McCaffrey (IR) and have other injury issues right now that could enable the Hawks to lead the division by a couple of games entering this one. The Vikings upset the 49ers on Sunday as the pass rush hassled Brock Purdy into mistakes. Macdonald will be hoping his rushers can do the same (Uchenna Nwosu should be back well before that game).

The Hawks go to Atlanta in Week 7. The Falcons scored just 10 points in their opener, an 18-10 loss to Pittsburgh, but they rallied to knock off the Eagles in Philadelphia on Monday night. They have a really tough schedule (KC, the juggernaut Saints and the 2-0 Bucs before Seattle), so we’ll see how good they really are by the time the Hawks arrive.

Then come home games against Buffalo and the Rams. The Bills will be tough, but the Rams are once again riddled with injuries and just took a 41-10 whooping by Arizona.

If the Hawks’ ever-beleaguered O-line can improve and a few guys can get healthy (Nwosu, George Fant, Abe Lucas, et al.), they have a fair shot at 7-2 entering their bye week. Then even a .500 finish in the second half would be good for 11 wins and a likely playoff spot.