SEATTLE – The cliché that players will use – and boy do they use it – is that every week is about going 1-0.
This week, though, the Seahawks essentially went 2-0.
One victory came via a 26-0 thrashing of the Vikings at Lumen Field. The other came about three and a half hours earlier, when the Panthers upset the Rams in Charlotte, N.C.
Seattle players won’t admit they’re checking scoreboards in November, or that intradivisional results affect their outlook. But with the Seahawks and Rams sitting atop the NFC West at 9-3, there’s no reason to think that Seattle can’t secure the division crown.
Scratch that – the regular-season conference crown. True story.
Advanced apologies for the jinx on that one. It’s not lost on me that a local team’s slide has come on the heels of such predictions more than once. But as painful as that 21-19 loss to the Rams was three Sundays ago, when Seahawks quarterback San Darnold threw four interceptions, that Carolina-L.A. outcome served as a master key for doors to home-field-advantage and a first-round-bye in the NFL playoffs for the Seahawks.
Why?
For one, it gave Seattle back control of its NFC West destiny. Before Sunday, the Rams essentially had a two-game lead over the Seahawks with all the tiebreakers they held.
The Rams would still be seeded above the Seahawks if both finish with the same record (that’s true even if the Seahawks beat L.A. at Lumen on Dec. 18). But Seattle likely will be favored against the Rams, because, well, they’ve played the best football in the conference all season.
Look at the losses: The Seahawks had a chance to win in Week 1 before a fumble on San Francisco’s 9-yard line with 42 seconds left gifted the 49ers a 17-13 victory. They had the ball with 1:08 left in a tie game with Tampa Bay before an interception set up a Bucs field goal to give them a 38-35 win. And despite four interceptions from Darnold vs. the Rams, Seattle still had a 61-yard field-goal attempt fall short at the buzzer that would have put them up by 1.
And their wins? Almost all blowouts, which is why the Seahawks’ +133 point differential is the highest in the NFL. The wins haven’t all come against duds, either. One was a 20-12 road victory over AFC South co-leader Jacksonville (8-4). Another was an eight-point home win over a Houston team that sits at 7-5 after winning four in a row. Yes, their past two triumphs – a 30-24 win over the Titans (1-11) and Sunday’s 26-0 win over virtually quarterback-less Minnesota (4-8) – offered little in regard to their dominance. Any team should have won those games. But they still got the jobs done convincingly.
The concerns going forward? Whether Darnold and the offense can produce consistent results. Sunday marked the first time all season that Seahawks wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba was held in check, with the NFL’s leading receiver being limited to two catches for 23 yards. It’s unlikely the start of a trend, but it was also the second time in the past three games that Darnold’s numbers underwhelmed. The good news is that Seattle’s defense pitched a shutout for the first time in 10 years and are now third in the league in points allowed per game. The D is real.
As for getting a bye? Perhaps that’s looking too far ahead, but the only other 9-3 team in the NFC is the Bears, who have a point differential of +6. Yes, they currently have the tiebreaker over the Seahawks, but do you really expect a team that beat the Raiders and Giants by one, the Vikings by two and the Giants by four – all while getting blown out by Detroit by 31 – to keep winning? Especially when they still have two games with the Packers, one with the 49ers and one more with the Lions on their schedule?
Doubtful.
Of course, the Seahawks’ schedule isn’t all that friendly, either. They should be favored vs. Atlanta next week, but then come the Colts, Rams, Panthers and Niners, all of whom have winning records. Difficult to say any of them are playing better than Seattle, though.
It was hard to say what to expect from this club before the season began. It was even harder after that flop in Week 1 vs. SF. But over the past 11 games – notwithstanding some offensive hiccups – Seattle has looked like the top team in the NFC.
Now it has a chance to prove it. They’ve started as well as any team in the NFC. The real test is whether they can finish.