The 2018 Seahawks are the 2015 Seahawks (so far)

The 2015 Seattle Seahawks started 0-2 and rebounded to make the playoffs:

• The opened the season with two road games
• They lost the first road game — to the Rams — by 3 points, even though they won the turnover battle
• They lost the second road game more decisively, a 10-point loss to the Packers
• K.J. Wright was banged up in Week 2, missing some of that loss in Green Bay
• They had a Pro Bowl safety holdout for the entire preseason and the first two games of the year
• They had a new defensive coordinator
• They felt comfortable at left tackle and at no other offensive line position
• The most glaring hole on defense was at RCB, where Cary Williams was starting opposite a very good-to-great cornerback
• Russell Wilson was criticized for mediocre performances and gaining just 6.44 Y/A in those two losses, with a passer rating of 91.1, and throwing a costly interception in the fourth quarter in Week 2
• The run game struggled to get going behind 3.45 YPC and 0 touchdowns by Marshawn Lynch
• They gave up 203 rushing yards
• They gave up 510 passing yards
• Following a last-moment loss in the Super Bowl, the dominant talk surrounding the Seahawks following 0-2 was “end of an era.” And how Seattle’s time was over.
• Following the acquisition of Jimmy Graham and him getting just 10 targets in the first two games (and only two vs the Packers) with 62 yards, the offensive coordinator was widely panned for being an idiot and all the offseason moves and talk were criticized for not making any sense given their playcalling through two games
• Then the Seahawks return home and beat the Chicago Bears 26-0
• The running game came alive with Thomas Rawls, the “other guy,” had 104 rushing yards
• The opposing QB had 48 net passing yards
• Wilson had 230 passing yards and no interceptions

The 2018 Seahawks started 0-2:

• The opened the season with two road games
• They lost the first road game — to the Broncos — by 3 points, even though they had won the turnover battle before a final play desperation throw by Wilson that was intercepted
• They lost the second road game more decisively, a 7-point loss to the Bears
• K.J. Wright was banged up in Week 2 and missed the game. As did Bobby Wagner.
• They had a Pro Bowl safety holdout for the entire preseason and though he reported in time to play, he missed some key snaps in Week 1
• They have a new defensive coordinator
• They felt comfortable at left tackle and at no other offensive line position except for maybe center and even Justin Britt has drawn criticisms for his play so far
• The most glaring hole on defense is at RCB
• Russell Wilson was criticized for mediocre performances, posting a passer rating of 89.2 and throwing a costly interception in the fourth quarter in Week 2
• The run game struggled to get going behind 3.6 YPC by the offense and 0 touchdowns on the ground by anyone
• They gave up 232 rushing yards
• They gave up 529 passing yards
• Following their first season without a postseason berth since 2011, the dominant talk surrounding the Seahawks following 0-2 was “end of an era.” And how Seattle’s time was over
• Following the acquisition of Rashaad Penny and him getting just 73 total yards through two games, the offensive coordinator was widely panned for being an idiot and all the offseason moves and talk about running the ball more has been criticized for not making any sense given their playcalling through two games
• Then the Seahawks returned home and beat the Cowboys
• The running game came alive with Chris Carson, “the other guy,” who had 103 yards (albeit in 31 carries)
• The opposing QB had 137 net passing yards, much of which came when trailing big in the fourth quarter
• Wilson had 192 passing yards and no interceptions

The Seahawks went to the playoffs in 2015. They rebounded to 2-2, fell to 2-4, then came back to get to 4-4 before another loss dropped them to 4-5. If you think I can present to you an argument today that Seattle is bound to come back and make the playoffs, I won’t. Especially not by comparing them to the 2015 team because that team was even worse than 0-2; I’d say that 4-5 is a worse position to be in than 0-2, right? There’s a lot less time left in the season to recover.

Right now, there’s a lot of time left in the season.

There’s time for Doug Baldwin and K.J. Wright to get healthy. There’s time for the Seahawks to understand how to best utilize the offensive weapons that they have; the 2015 team had barely a whisper of an offense in the first eight games and then Wilson became the NFL’s best quarterback by season’s end. (At least for that year and yes, he should have been the MVP over Cam Newton.) Imagine that: Wilson had an MVP-level campaign in the same season in which he had 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions through nine games. But it happened.

Over the next 13 games, a shit ton can still happen.

The Seahawks travel to take on the 0-3 Arizona Cardinals next Sunday. They’ll likely be facing rookie Josh Rosen, making his first NFL start. Then they host the LA Rams, and hey, at least they host. Then they face the currently 1-2 Oakland Raiders before getting a bye week. What if Seattle is 3-3 at that point?

There’s so much we don’t know before the season. Nobody was predicting the 3-0 start of the Miami Dolphins or the 2-0 start by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Who knew that Patrick Mahomes would be the best quarterback of all-time? We can only predict so much before the season has begun, but we also can’t predict everything even when we’re in the middle of it. Teams constantly change. The Chiefs started 5-0 last season and then at one point fell to 6-6. The Houston Texans once started 2-0 and finished 2-14. We know more than we knew two weeks ago, but there’s still so much that we don’t know.

The 2015 Seattle Seahawks were widely criticized and they rebounded.

The 2018 Seattle Seahawks have been widely criticized. This Week 3 went a lot like the Week 3 of three years ago. Will they also manage to make the playoffs? Will they also fall to 4-5? Or worse? I don’t know. Nobody knows.

I’m willing to wait and find out and hold out hope that the next 13 games will go better than the first two. And as proven many times before, that’s entirely possible.