Seahawks soaring up ESPN’s NFL Power Rankings

Heading into the 2022 season, ESPN pegged the Seattle Seahawks as the 24th-best team in the league. After beating the Denver Broncos in Week 1, ESPN moved the Hawks up one whole spot, to #23 overall.

Fast forward a few weeks and ESPN had the Seahawks at #20 overall heading into their Week 6 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. This is what Brady Henderson had to say about the team at that point:

The Seahawks are in the throes of another terrible defensive start. They’re dead last in yards allowed per play and 31st in points allowed per game, including a combined 84 over the past two weeks. The Seahawks have needed every bit of brilliant play that Geno Smith has given them to escape with two narrow victories over the first five games. The only reason for hope that they can turn things around is that they’ve done so after similarly poor starts in each of the past two seasons. But there aren’t any obvious signs another turnaround is coming.

While that was clearly a fair assessment at the time, much has happened since then.

After their hard-fought 19-9 victory over the Cardinals, Seattle climbed two whole spots, from #20 to #18.

And then they beat “a real team,” the Los Angeles Chargers, and did so quite convincingly. Seattle entered that game as 6-1/2 point road underdogs and won by two touchdowns - and it would have been three had LAC not scored in “garbage time.”

Seattle is now #13 in ESPN’s Power Rankings - which is one spot behind the Rams one spot ahead of the 49ers, and seven spots ahead of the Cardinals.

Brady Henderson had this to say:

The Seahawks’ run game has been among the best in the NFL and their defense has gone from awful to excellent, but Geno Smith has been their MVP. He has the fourth-best Total QBR at 66.8, which is indicative of how he’s been so much more than merely the game manager who many expected him to be. That’s more than 23 points higher than Smith’s Total QBR over his first nine seasons, and it’s more than 31 points higher than the guy he replaced in Seattle. Russell Wilson ranks 28th at 35.2.

For what it’s worth, the Chargers were ranked #8 last week and fell 7 spots after getting thumped by the Seahawks.

This week’s opponent, the New York Giants, are #4 in ESPN’s Power Rankings.

How far will they fall after Seattle hands them an L?

Only time will tell.

Go Hawks!

Bonus Coverage

The Denver Broncos are currently #27 in the ESPN Power Rankings.

Here’s their blurb:

There are two players in the league right now — Austin Ekeler and Nick Chubb — who have scored as many touchdowns (eight) as the entire Broncos team has. That dismal scoring performance means the Broncos are 2-5 — despite a defense that has surrendered just eight touchdowns all season. Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy leads the team in touchdowns — with just two — and the running backs have scored just two rushing touchdowns in seven games.

Ouch! (for them).

And also YAY! (cuz we have a vested interest in them landing a Top-5 pick).