Commentary: The Seahawks are a great team - playing average football



We start by asking the question – at 3-and-3 so far this year, are the Seahawks a good or great team playing average football...or are they an average team playing average football?

I believe the Hawks are still a great team, but one, thanks in part to injuries, that’s played average football. I also believe the Hawks are at a major crossroads – one that will define their season, based on how they respond.

For all the “Next Man Up” rhetoric that we hear, it’s interesting to visualize what the Seahawks are currently missing. We know the players who are gone: Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, Breno Giacomini, Walter Thurmond, Clinton McDonald. Golden Tate. And now Percy Harvin.

Now let’s take a look at the injured Hawks right now: Zach Miller, Max Unger, Luke Willson, Byron Maxwell, Bobby Wagner, Jeremy Lane, Cassius Marsh, Derrick Coleman. Kam Chancellor is clearly playing hurt, and we've reported that Russell Okung is too.

That’s a total of 18 players, 17 of which played anywhere from a partial role to a significant role on last year’s championship team.

So while it’s not time to panic, this Seahawks team IS different. And one that’s currently staring a major amount of adversity in the face.

But this is also a team that still seems willing to fight until the end - as demonstrated by an impressive second-half comeback by the Seahawks offense led by Russell Wilson, and even a punch-out forced fumble by Malcolm Smith at the end of the game. By no means is anyone giving up, and this season is so early that they have more than half a season to define what they`re made of.

Kam Chancellor said it best after today’s game: This team was built on adversity.

But the way they react – the way they handle it – this time around will be unique to this year’s edition – and not any other.

The best analogy I can make to this Seahawks season is starting a golf round with three birdies on the first four holes (The Seahawks were 3-and-1).
But you take bogeys on the next two holes (two losses), and your utility wood (Harvin) snaps in half. How you respond will define the rest of your round.

That’s where the Seahawks are now. And while we trust the main characters – from Pete Carroll and John Schneider to Russell Wilson and Earl Thomas – to right the ship, it’s a little unnerving.

So let’s hope that next week, this good team can start playing good football, rather than the average stuff we’ve seen the last two weeks.