Seahawks Schedule: Opponent Check-In, Week 5

Seahawks opponents, how are they and how they been? Seaside Joe 1681

Week 1 - Rams (2-3)

Latest: 24-13 L vs Eagles

Headline: They Are Who We Thought They Were

I thought the Rams would be as bad as the Broncos, but they’re better than the Broncos. Bad news for Sean McVay is that just about every team is better than the Broncos.

The Rams have lost 3 of 4 since beating the Seahawks and at no point have they looked as good as they did in the second half against Seattle. Not even with Cooper Kupp’s return on Sunday.

Week 2 - Lions (4-1)

Latest: 42-24 W over Panthers

Headline: D-Fense

The D could stand for Detroit, Dan Campbell, or Defensive End Aidan Hutchinson. The Lions have played it better than they have in the last 10 years and they forced three turnovers against the Panthers, although that’s probably not that hard to do right now. The Lions came into the game ranked fourth in yards allowed, and Hutchinson recorded a one-handed interception off of Bryce Young.

It’s looking more and more like the Jaguars could have screwed up by picking Travon Walker over him.

The Lions have won 20-6 over the Falcons, 34-20 over the Packers, and 42-24 over the Panthers since losing to the Seahawks. They also beat the Chiefs in Week 1. As gutting as the Rams loss looks in hindsight (I know that L.A. has Seattle’s number but they have such a weak roster), the Seahawks can hang their hats on holding on against Detroit.

Week 3 - Panthers (0-5)

Latest: 42-24 L to Lions

Headline: Chicago’s Hope

There’s no real timeline where the Panthers both have Bryce Young and have next year’s number one pick. They could instead have…I don’t know…offensive lineman Peter Skoronski (a player drafted early this year) and be just as bad and then next year maybe they do get the number one pick and draft a quarterback. Is it really that bad to be terrible and have Bryce Young in your hip pocket? (Maybe literally.)

Anyways, this pick is going to the Chicago Bears and they will find a way to screw it up.

Let’s just be thankful that the Seahawks did beat the Panthers.

Week 4 - Giants (1-4)

Latest: 31-16 L to Dolphins

Headline: Damned Daniel

The argument that the Giants “had to” sign Daniel Jones was ridiculous in February and it looks even stupider now. What about…Gardner Minshew? Or Josh Dobbs? Or Andy Dalton? Or…it doesn’t really matter. Surely the Giants could have imagined that Daniel Jones wasn’t that much better than free agent fodder. The Giants may well end up with the number one pick and then they’ll see if they can trade Jones by including a second round pick with him to the team that agrees to take his contract.

Week 6 - Bengals (2-3)

Latest: 34-20 W over Cardinals

Headline: Joe Burrow Is Back

When the Seahawks come back from the bye week, they’ll face the version of Burrow’s Bengals that we expected all offseason. Should’ve gotten to them earlier!

Week 7 - Cardinals (1-4)

Latest: 34-20 L to Bengals

Headline: They Actually Scare Me!

The Cardinals could be the scariest 1-4 team of recent memory. This game was 24-20 until the midway point of the fourth quarter. Arizona doesn’t seem to “lose bad” to anyone and they’ve had a difficult schedule, with their one win coming against the Cowboys.

The Cardinals-Rams bowl next week is going to say a lot about the future of the NFC West and the 2024 draft order.

Week 8 - Browns (2-2)

Latest: BYE (28-3 L to Ravens in Week 4)

Headline: D-eveland

Defense, it’s about all they got and they got a lot of it. With all the focus on Deshaun Watson going into the season, the test is who Geno Smith will do against the Browns defense.

Week 9 - Ravens (3-2)

Latest: 17-10 L to Steelers

Headline: Implosive Offense

I thought surrounding Lamar Jackson with weapons was fool-proof? Jackson had two turnovers—at the worst times—and the Ravens have one of the least-frightening aerial attacks in the NFL. Baltimore has thrown the fewest passes in the league. They’ve run the second-most times but are only 15th in yards per carry (rankings before Sunday’s loss).

I think Jackson is good when you put him on film and say, “Look, he can do this and that and…THIS”!

But the $52 million per year man has been mostly-fine to start the year and Baltimore has now lost games to Gardner Minshew and Kenny Pickett. The Ravens are good enough to bounce back, win the division, and make a playoff run. What would scare me if I was a Ravens fan is if enough of these players are as good as we said they were at the start of the season.

Week 10 - Moons (2-3)

Latest: 40-20 L to Bears

Headline: Caleb Washington?

Someone asked me about the Bears-Moons point spread before Thursday Night Football and my response was: I know that the players and coaches want to win, but I’m not sure that the new owners would be unhappy with the number one pick and a clean slate. Washington has as bad of an offensive line as the Giants do and their defense is worse than New York’s. This is a team competing for the number one pick until further notice and yes, it would be shameful to lose to them. Unfortunately, we’ve seen Seattle lose embarrassing games to Washington before.

Week 11 - Rams (2-3)

Week 12 - 49ers (4-0) (Pending)

Week 13 - Cowboys (3-1) (Pending)

Week 14 - 49ers

As I write this, the 49ers and Cowboys are playing Sunday Night Football, so I couldn’t update these teams through Week 5 before sending the newsletter. The headline is that both teams are good and the best Seattle can do is try to put Weeks 12-14 out of their minds until Thanksgiving.

Week 15 - Eagles (5-0)

Latest: 24-13 W over Rams

Headline: Doesn’t Matter What You Call It, You Can’t Stop It

It feels like some broadcasters are being told they can’t say the word “tush” or something because there’s some weird struggle to either call it the tush push or the brotherly shove. Who cares? Every week we consistently watch the Eagles line up needing a yard for a first down, the defense knows exactly what’s coming, the expected play happens, and Philly gets a first down.

I don’t see the grounds for making it an illegal play either: If the Seahawks were the team that was executing the tush push to near 100% success, would you be petitioning the NFL to ban it? If teams just start banning plays because they can’t stop the play, where does it end? It would be one thing if every team was doing it, but the fact that only one team seems to be executing it with that much success…it’s no different than passing a rule to ban Tyreek Hill.

And I heard someone say that it should be banned because it’s dangerous. It’s a QB sneak! How old is that play? I think QB sneaks came before QBs.

I know I’ll get some “push back” for saying it, but I think the objectively right call is that you need a much better reason to ban the tush push than “It’s boring” and “It’s too easy for them” and “It’s dangerous because I say it’s dangerous”. Want to discourage the Eagles from running the play? Stop them.

All that set aside, the Eagles are 5-0 and probably going to be the first team since the Eagles in 2004 to actually win the NFC East two years in a row. A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert will have a case for first team All-Pro at this rate, but Jalen Carter (two sacks on Sunday, now he has more than Witherspoon) could also be on the Pro Bowl team.

Week 16 - Titans (2-3)

Latest: 23-16 L to Colts

Headline: Last Place Titans

Despite Indianapolis losing quarterback Anthony Richardson for the third time in his four games (and there are concerns this will be an extended absence due to a shoulder injury), the Titans still lost to the Colts and now Tennessee is tied with Houston for the worst record in the division. The Titans also have the worst scoring differential (-5) in the division.

Ryan Tannehill has thrown two touchdowns and five interceptions in five games. Will Will Levis or Malik Willis be the starter by the time the Titans play the Seahawks? If not one of them, it could even be some fourth quarterback option who isn’t on the roster right now. There’s a growing chance it won’t be Tannehill. And could Derrick Henry want a chance to be traded to a playoff team?

Week 17 - Steelers (3-2)

Latest: 17-10 W over Ravens

Headline: First Place Steelers

The Steelers entered the week with the worst passing offense in the NFL by almost any measure, and really that won’t change much after Week 5. However, what will change is the AFC North standings: Pittsburgh is in first place.

Kenny Pickett was 18-of-32 for 224 yards and a touchdown, but his score to George Pickens with the clocking winding down won the game for the Steelers. Pickens had 130 yards and he’s likely to be the focal point for Devon Witherspoon and the Seahawks.

Week 18 - Cardinals (1-4)

Headline: Will Kyler Murray return this year?