SBNation Reacts Results: Overtime victory over Lions restores the roar of fan confidence

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Each week we ask questions of the most plugged-in Seattle Seahawks fans and fans across the country.

The Week 1 loss to the Los Angeles Rams served as a wake up call that the rivals from Southern California would not be a pushover this season, in spite of a rebuild that saw the defense effectively dismantled.

In addition, the loss to Los Angeles left the confidence of many fans in the ICU and in need of critical care, care that was thoughtfully delivered in a timely manner by Geno Smith and Tyler Lockett in Week 2 as they connected for a pair of touchdowns in the 37-31 overtime victory. That was enough to rebuild fan confidence to near offseason levels of optimism, and with a pair of winnable games on the schedule ahead of the much needed early bye week, the Seahawks have the opportunity to set themselves up for success over the remainder of the season.

One part of the puzzle coming together that allowed both the on field performance of the defense in Week 2, as well as in allowing fan confidence to begin to imagine what might be over the next four plus years was the performance of fifth overall pick Devon Witherspoon. He certainly did not play perfect football, but his performance was phenomenal given the limited amount of practice time he had following a brief holdout and hamstring injury that combined to effectively derail his rookie training camp. With that in mind, fans weren’t quite ready to just hand him the best available grade, so the rookie will need to continue to perform on the field if he wants to please fans.

In spite of the leap in fan confidence, the belief in Witherspoon and the injuries that have hit the Carolina Panthers, the majority of fans still believe that the Hawks will be victorious over the Panthers by just a single score.

Now, it’s entirely possible that it is the injury to starting quarterback Bryce Young, which is forcing backup Andy Dalton into service, that has Seattle fans more worried than anything else, but the reality is the offense of the Panthers represents a potential get right game for the Seahawks defense.

And now it’s on to the game.

Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.