Seahawks fan expectations survey: 3-3 reset edition

Where do fan expectations stand after six Seahawks games? Seaside Joe 2049

At the start of training camp, the Seaside Joe community worked together on “our most interesting fan survey ever”, breaking down Seahawks fans into three groups based on their 2024 win-loss expectations and seeing how differed in certain respects like Geno Smith, Mike Macdonald, the offensive line, and the defense.

Six games into the season, with two very different “halves” of Seahawks football comparing the first three weeks to the latest three weeks, I think it’s the right time to re-visit expectation.

Join Seaside Joe as a free subscriber to submit your answers in this week’s new Seahawks fan survey. If you’re already a free subscriber, upgrade to Regular Joes for only $5 per month and not only will you get the bonus comments, you can share your opinions on the Seahawks in our comments section.

As always in these surveys, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO TRUST YOUR JUDGMENT!

Over the years I’ve heard “I’m not qualified to say” a lot during these surveys and I want you to know from me to you, you’re qualified. Following the Seahawks is YOUR personal experience and ONLY YOUR experience. So how is your experience of watching the Seahawks going this season? Trust yourself on your experiences because I want to know what you really think and I want to compare our experiences…

What grade do you expect Mike Macdonald to get for his first season as head coach?

I don’t want to muddy the results by reminding you what they were at the start of the season, although in Macdonald’s case is it a spoiler to say that he had overwhelming support? Not just in Seattle, but as one of the top candidates on the market and perhaps the top not-Jim Harbaugh head coach-in-waiting.

If you want to think of this question as “Macdonald the head coach” or “Macdonald the defensive coordinator”, that’s up to you, but perhaps the differentiation doesn’t matter all that much yet. The Seahawks have not played good defense this season—I’m open to opposing theories on how much strength-of-opponent mattered in the first three weeks—but Macdonald also didn’t take over a good defense.

Macdonald was hired because the Seahawks have not had a good defense for many years. Is the personnel simply not good enough for any coordinator? I’ll leave that up to your judgment…

What sort of season do you expect by Geno Smith?

This one is self-explanatory and quarterback is usually the one position that every fan has an opinion on. It’s the position we are able to follow the most closely, either when your team has the ball or when they’re on defense, so it will be interesting to monitor the fan experience with Geno through six games with new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.

Last night’s game did have me thinking about that article I wrote in June, positing that Sam Howell might be in a more favorable position to be able to sit back and watch the offense from the sidelines just in case Grubb’s pro debut didn’t go as expected right out of the gate. After games like Thursday, I still think Howell’s in a pretty good spot without having to do anything. And he really hasn’t done anything and I wouldn’t have much confidence that he could do anything just because, well, he hasn’t done anything yet.

What’s your ballpark ranking for the Seahawks defense?

I don’t want to muddy your opinions, but this is one where we do have some facts through six weeks: The Seahawks are 25th in points allowed, 26th in turnovers forced (one takeaway in their last six games, so trending to be last), 27th in yards per carry allowed, 27th in rushing yards allowed, and 12th in net yards per pass attempt allowed. It’s hard to judge the pass defense much since teams know they can just run the ball on Seattle so easily and the Seahawks still haven’t faced the best passing offenses that they will face in 2024.

What’s your ballpark ranking for the Seahawks passing offense?

I want to separate the offense between the passing game and the rushing game, especially because the dramatic split between the two has become essentially the number one topic of conversation for Seattle’s offense.

The Seahawks rank first in pass attempts and 32nd in rushing attempts, a split that will only get more dramatic after Thursday night.

What’s your ballpark ranking for the Seahawks rushing offense?

Despite Seattle’s 32nd-ranked number of rushing attempts, the Seahawks have scored nine touchdowns on the ground. Kenneth Walker is averaging 4.6 yards per carry, while Charbonnet is at 3.8. Both have been pretty productive in the passing game, but that would go into the passing game poll.

What are your expectations of the Seahawks offensive line?

I think I can guess where this one is going without adding any commentary.

How do your expectations today compare to your expectations in Week 0?

I have some opinions on this survey that might not fall in the majority, but I’ll save that for the article on the survey results.

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What final record do you expect?

The Big Kahuna question. It was hotly debated in August when we first ran the survey and that is the time of year when almost every team’s fanbase thinks their team is going to the playoffs. And as we sit here today, the Seahawks still have the same record as the team in first place in the division, for whatever that’s worth.

Frustration

One new question that wasn’t related to the previous survey—because it couldn’t have been—is just wondering where people are maybe focusing their frustrations coming off of a third-straight loss. Well, if you’re not frustrated with anyone, you definitely don’t have to answer. If you’re frustrated with someone or something not on the survey, like John Schneider for example, you can share in the comments.

I don’t intend to throw anyone under a bus for this poll, I sincerely expect these five areas/people to be the ones getting the most heat right now…which may look very silly and inconsequential in a month if the Seahawks get re-heated. But as of now, I think it’s as interesting as any finding possible right now which is if you had to choose one, where do most fans look first?

I’ll post the survey results in an upcoming newsletter, so don’t forget to subscribe! Share this with other Seahawks fans if you think they’d like to participate and have their votes counted.