As the Seahawks prepare for a big division game against Arizona on Thursday night, they are “knocking on the door” of becoming a complete team.

They have scored 75 points over the past two weeks, second only to Detroit’s 90 – but more than Baltimore (71), Buffalo (61) and surprising Indianapolis (70). The Hawks are still middling in most of the subjective power rankings, but they have the No. 1 team in the league, based on DVOA.

Special teams have been huge in bolstering that point total. The Hawks have the best special teams in the league (by DVOA), having scored in consecutive games and also blocked a kick vs. the Saints to set up another quick TD.

The defense ranks fifth – thanks to stellar play by the top three defensive linemen and by corners Josh Jobe and Derion Kendrick.  

The offense ranks sixth, thanks to Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Darnold said the offense is “knocking on the door of becoming what we want to be.” Once that happens, the Hawks will be a complete team and true contender.

The NFC West is the best division in the league, with nine wins among the four teams. So the pressure is on the Hawks to beat Arizona on Thursday and keep up with the undefeated 49ers, who have been winning with Mac Jones at QB (but also just lost Nick Bosa for the season).

Let’s look at the contributions of each of the three squads that have made the Hawks one of the league’s best teams over the past couple of weeks.

Offense

Darnold is proving to be the franchise quarterback Mike Macdonald and John Schneider (and we) thought he would be.

He was nearly perfect in the first half as the Hawks opened a 38-6 lead on the Saints. He had a couple of great left-rollout plays, including one for a touchdown to JSN.

“He’s being efficient, decisive, accurate, tough,” Macdonald said. “Extending plays when he needs to, being aggressive when he needs to, taking care of the ball when he needs to. So let’s keep it rolling.”

JSN is off to a stellar start, second in the NFL with 323 yards. He is the most efficient receiver in the league, catching the ball all over the field and making every play mean something.

The one failing so far has been the running game – no big surprise. While Charles Cross and Grey Zabel are holding their own on the left side, the rest are struggling to match that level of play. Macdonald said, “It is not even close to being good enough.”

The offense ranks 29th in yards per carry (3.3) and 21st in yards per game (96).

“We’ve just got to block it better and run it better,” Macdonald said. “It’s really that simple.”

It won’t help that Robbie Ouzts was just put on injured reserve with an ankle injury suffered vs. New Orleans. He will be out through the bye and return for a Sunday night game against Washington in Week 9.

Defense

The Hawks have the No. 2 scoring defense in the league and are ranked fifth in DVOA, sixth in EPA. So, as we fully expected, they are indeed a top-five defense.

Byron Murphy II is off to a spectacular start – among the top interior rushers in the league with 2.5 sacks and nine pressures. Jarran Reed is among the top five interior rushers in ESPN’s pass rush win rate, and Leonard Williams has been his usual dominant self.

As NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah told 710 Seattle Sports about Williams, “This year, I can’t tell you there’s a DT playing better — and it’s every single week. It’s run game, it’s pass game, it’s front side, it’s back side, it’s who’s drawing the most attention, who’s helping his other guys out.”

Boye Mafe and Derick Hall are playing great, too. Mafe is ranked fifth among edge rushers in pass rush win rate, and Hall is 13^th. Hall is tied for seventh in the NFL with seven QB pressures. Mafe and Williams have five each.

The run defense has been stellar, giving up 90 yards per game (seventh fewest in the league). DeMarcus Lawrence is third in ESPN’s run stop win rate among edge rushers, and Hall is tied for eighth. Williams is sixth among interior players.

On the back end, Josh Jobe and Derion Kendrick have stepped it up with Devon Witherspoon out the past two games. Quarterbacks have a collective passer rating of 12.0 against Kendrick (No. 1 in the NFL) and 32.3 vs. Jobe (seventh in the NFL).

Kendrick has two interceptions and also has dropped a couple.

“I’m supposed to have four picks right now,” he said after the win over the Saints, “but I’ll take it.”

Macdonald cracked, “He has to go to the Leslie Frazier school of ball drills.”

Special teams

Coach Jay Harbaugh received a game ball after his units dominated the Saints.

Tory Horton went 95 yards (longest in franchise history) on a punt return to put the Hawks up 14-0. Horton actually ran 134 yards on the return, counting his zigs and zags, per NextGen Stats.

“I came to the sideline talking to (Jake) Bobo and I was like, man, I’m still gassed from that punt return,” Horton said. “And then I looked on the iPad and I was like, 95? And I was like, no wonder I’m so tired. I just ran the whole field.”

Later in the first half, D’Anthony Bell took Harbaugh’s coaching tip to get around the edge and block a punt that set up Ken Walker for a 3-yard TD two plays later.

“It was something that we had prepped for all week,” Bell said. “So shoutout coach Jay. He had seen it, and he was like, ‘Hey, when we get an opportunity here, let’s take advantage of it.’”

The previous week, Jason Myers placed a kickoff perfectly, and George Holani took advantage of a rookie mistake by Steelers return man Kaleb Johnson to recover the ball in the end zone for a big score.

The Hawks rank first in special-teams DVOA thanks to those plays.

Looking ahead

Three games is a small sample size – and the Saints are not a good team. But the next two games – against Arizona (2-1) and Tampa Bay (3-0) — will be a good proving stretch for Seattle.

The Hawks have done quite well on defense to weather the injuries to Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori, plus Julian Love vs. the Saints. Love and Spoon will be back against Arizona.

So far, the special teams and excellent play of Darnold and JSN have made up for the poor rushing attack. But the Hawks have to get more consistent in run blocking if they are going to become one of the NFC’s top teams.