Schedule, Week 6: At Cleveland

Countdown to 49ers starts in Cleveland

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Logo -- At ClevelandThe Seahawks were supposed to be watching the Browns on Monday night — their homework for this week — but it was pretty hard to miss the team that dominated Baker Mayfield and company.

“That night was San Francisco’s night,” Pete Carroll said of the 49ers’ 31-3 win. “It didn’t matter what happened, really. The ball kept coming their way and they kept making the plays. They looked great.”

The Hawks play at Cleveland this week, but in a month they will be facing the 49ers in what figures to be a major Monday night showdown — impacting both the division and conference races.

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CHAWK LINES, Week 6: At Cleveland
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CHAWK LINES -- Hawks at BrownsPete Carroll thinks he finally knows how to put together his pass-rush puzzle.

Jadeveon Clowney: “Once we start clicking on all cylinders, I think we’re going to make a big push at the right time.”

Carroll expects L.J. Collier “to show you … in the next few weeks that he’s going to be able to figure into what’s happening.”

Tyler Lockett is poetry on and off the field.

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Week 5: L.A. Rams

Fortunately 4-1, Seahawks are ‘still growing’

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Logo -- Los Angeles“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.

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Week 5: L.A. Rams

Home playoff game on the line vs. Rams

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Logo -- Los AngelesHow big is Seattle’s game against the Rams? Probably the difference between a home playoff game and a road trip — and certainly a major factor in the race for home field in the NFC playoffs.

This is the second straight year the Seahawks have hosted the Rams in Seattle in Week 5 after playing at Arizona in Week 4. Last year, the 33-31 home loss to the Rams was the difference between 10 wins and 11. If the Hawks had flipped that game and beaten the 49ers in Week 15 (rather than lose in OT), they would have been at 12 wins and won the division thanks to a better conference record than the Rams. That would have made them the NFC’s third seed, hosting the Eagles in the wild-card round instead of going to Dallas.

And while we are doing what-ifs: If the Hawks had beaten the Saints in Week 3 this year, rather than handing the win to New Orleans, they would be going for 5-0 and early control of the NFC this week. Instead, they are just trying to stay in the mix in both the division and conference while flipping the script on a Rams team that has beaten them three straight times and won the division the past two years.

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Week 4: At Arizona

Nice win, but Hawks need to prove it vs. Rams

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at-arizona-logoThe Seahawks are something between what we saw in their sloppy loss to New Orleans in Week 3 and their fairly easy win against the developing Cardinals at Arizona on Sunday.

One game made them look worse than they are and the other made them look better.

We know they are somewhere in the NFC’s upper tier — with New Orleans, Dallas, L.A., San Francisco and Green Bay. Exactly where they rank should become clear Thursday when they host the Rams (3-1) in the first NFC West battle royale in what appears to be a three-way round robin with the 49ers (3-0).

In between the New Orleans fiasco and the L.A. grudge match, the Hawks (3-1) were lucky to get a game against a struggling team like Arizona (0-3-1) — just to give some of their guys a confidence builder. The players who took most advantage were embattled Chris Carson and new pass rushers Jadeveon Clowney and Ziggy Ansah.

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Week 4: At Arizona, X's & O's

More unfamiliar faces, but Carroll knows this AIR-izona offense

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at-arizona-logoThe Seahawks have been fighting in a dark alley so far this season — feeling their way against unfamiliar foes.

First it was new Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor, who brought schemes Pete Carroll and his staff were not ready for and nearly beat the Hawks with them. Then it was Mason Rudolph, who replaced injured Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh and almost rallied the Steelers. Last week, it was Teddy Bridgewater replacing injured Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara breaking tackles and leading the Saints to a surprisingly easy win.

Now Seattle faces another unfamiliar coach and QB as the Hawks head to dreaded Glendale to take on Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray’s AIR-izona Raid offense.

Carroll knows plenty about the Air Raid, though — since it is just an offshoot of the old run-n-shoot. The difference is the mobile young quarterback running it, and the Hawks need to join the other defenses that have made it hard on this year’s No. 1 draft pick.

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NFL draft, Week 4: At Arizona

Vannett deal highlights some draft struggles

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at-arizona-logoThe answers: The 2016 draft class. Third-rounders. Fourth-round receivers.

The question: Where have the Seahawks struggled in the draft recently?

The trade of Nick Vannett leaves five of the 10 picks from the star-crossed 2016 draft class and just three of the league-high seven third-rounders from the 2016 and 2017 drafts.

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State of the team, Week 3: New Orleans

Time for Hawks to show they are better than this

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Logo -- New Orleans“You have to learn in this game, if you’re going to be really consistently good, to get out of your own way … and we haven’t gotten there yet.” — Pete Carroll

The Seahawks probably would love to be playing this Thursday, rather than next, so they could quickly expunge the bad taste of that loss to New Orleans.

But it’s probably a good thing they go to Arizona first, before a huge Thursday home game against the Rams as they face division foes twice in the next 10 days.

The Cardinals are really the ideal elixir for a good Seattle team that needs to show it is better at tackling, rushing the passer, holding the ball and coaching than it showed against New Orleans.

“There’s so much for us to do,” Pete Carroll told 710 ESPN. “There’s so much.”

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Week 3: New Orleans

‘We didn’t do that right either’: Carroll & Co. beat themselves

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Logo -- New OrleansIf you had not known Drew Brees was sidelined by injury and then someone told you the Saints beat the Seahawks 33-27 on Sunday, you probably would have shrugged and said, “Not a surprise. The Saints (who should have been in the Super Bowl last season) are really good.”

In fact, way back when the schedule came out, we expected this to be a loss and for Seattle to be 2-1, just like they are.

The thing that made it disappointing is that Brees was not playing and the Hawks beat themselves in a dozen ways to make that loss a reality. If they’re still going to win our predicted 11 or 12 games, they have to clean up their game, from the top down.

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Week 3: New Orleans, X's & O's

As two-QB Saints march in, how about a double quads formation?

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Logo -- New OrleansAs the Saints come to town with Drew Brees sidelined, they still have Teddy Bridgewater and multi-tool quarterback Taysom Hill, and coach Sean Payton smartly is not letting on about how he is going to use them.

As Pete Carroll said, “I don’t know what Sean is going to do. Rarely does anybody know what he’s going to do when it comes to game time.”

In his two-plus seasons with the Saints, Hill has played all over the place: QB, tight end, receiver, running back, special teams. He’s a wild card the Seahawks will have to watch out for. But how much QB will he play?

“We have not seen enough of Hill to know how they would play him in this kind of situation,” Carroll said. “He’s been spotted in and out and they’ve done a lot of cool things.”

The visit by Hill and the Saints brings up a concept we have long wondered about: What could a two-QB offense do in the NFL? Not two rotating QBs, but two on the field together for most of the game.

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