Seahawks’ first honest test of the season is the 0-2 Atlanta Falcons

The Seattle Seahawks came crashing down from the emotional stratosphere from Week 1 to Week 2. It was as unbelievable a win against the Denver Broncos as it was humiliating suffocation against the San Francisco 49ers.

This means, of course, that this third game against the 0-2 Atlanta Falcons is the only real test of this team’s true worth in 2022.

Three things revealed themselves in the home opener, and a couple more manifested against Jimmy’s Garoppolos which make this the case.

Offensively, it centers around the O-line and QB.

It was clear from the get-go that Seattle schemed Denver extremely well, both offensively and defensively. Geno Smith has two touchdowns in that first half and zero in the subsequent six. The Broncos were entirely unprepared for Smith to actually execute a quick-strike, downfield attack - at least initially.

The Seahawks had six months to prepare for that game. They only had three drives in the second half because of terrible fumbles, Smith’s decreased willingness to step up in the pocket, and reality appeared to set back in.

A week later, and two rookie tackles did not hold up against a superior front seven, and neither did Gabe Jackson, who appears to have swan dived off a cliff into useless oblivion. Geno has an interesting ability to feel the pressure at random times and dump off for high completion percentage. At other times he takes avoidable sacks, which is probably more the result of bad mentoring than anything else.

But he never demonstrated the same Week 1 bravado to chuck downfield, save for one dialed-up trick play that was called back on a rookie penalty from Abraham Lucas. Pete Carroll lied again, which is fine (he does this frequently) when he said they believe Smith is ready to be unrestricted, because in the red zone they ran two wildcat plays and a running back TD pass attempt. They have what is probably an appropriate amount of faith in Smith’s ability to close the deal against tough defenses.

Defensively, the inside information was missed.

Carroll was very candid after the game that the pass rush objective against Denver was to get Russell Wilson to roll left. They knew he wasn’t as good going that way, and it seemed to work well - with the added benefit of Wilson’s new offense apparently sucks.

Against the 49ers, the Seahawks held no advantage. They had no advantage on the line, on the edge, in the backfield, anywhere. This was an annoying example of without Jamal Adams, and Darrell Taylor struggling early this season, the defensive talent just isn’t that good, to lift a quote from Quandre Diggs.

Coby Bryant could be good. It seems like Tariq Woolen and Boye Mafe will be good. Thank the Lord Uchenna Nwosu actually is good, but there’s not much else that’s new. The smattering of cornerbacks are trying to keep up, Quandre Diggs is himself, the tackles are themself, except Al Woods gets better with age. Darrell Taylor somehow has gotten worse with age, and frankly, what the San Francisco game revealed was that this team will hope to be evenly matched at best in most of their contests.

Which brings us to the Atlanta Falcons. 0-2, with plenty of really good pieces, a to-date unsuccessful quarterback, that hasn’t put it all together yet.

This is the opponent, for those who care to gauge where the roster is at in comparison to the rest of the NFL. They don’t have the scoop they did against Denver. They aren’t physically and experientially outmatched like they are against the Niners. They’re probably going to run a ton (they should).

Atlanta will be the best picture so far of the real Seahawks. Does back to earth mean the beginning of Week 1, or the futility of last Sunday?