The Seattle Seahawks are riding high on a four-game winning streak, with three of those victories coming against their NFC West rivals. This season-saving surge has Seattle leading the division with four weeks to go, something that seemed scarcely believable in early November.
Several of this week’s national power rankings from notable media outlets have got the Seahawks in the top 10. Does that mean anything other than how outsiders view this team? No. Is it noteworthy that the Seahawks are being taken seriously as a playoff-caliber squad? Sure! Let’s do a roundup.
ESPN: No. 13 (Last week: No. 13)
Week 14 result: Beat the Cardinals 30-18
Week 14 ranking: 13
Most shocking ranking: Quarterback Geno Smith is second in passing attempts
Smith has thrown 466 passes, and the Seahawks are fifth in designed pass rate. Few expected their offense to be that pass heavy with a defensive-minded coach in Mike Macdonald who wants to run the ball, but that has been the reality in Ryan Grubb’s first season as coordinator. A number of factors contributed, including repeated struggles to stay on schedule, some large deficits that put Seattle in dropback mode and perhaps Grubb’s pass-first inclination. The Seahawks also haven’t been effective at running the ball for much of the season, though their run game might be emerging after breaking out for a season-high 176 yards Sunday. — Brady Henderson
The Athletic: No. 9 (Last week: No. 12)
Last week: 12
Sunday: Beat Arizona Cardinals 30-18
Breakout player: Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba
This is the player Seattle thought it was getting when it took Smith-Njigba with the 20th pick last year. He leads the Seahawks with 75 catches for 911 yards, which is 12 more catches and 283 yards more than he had all of last season. He had five catches for 82 yards Sunday, and he’s third in receiving yards per game (104.6) since Week 9.
Yahoo: No. 12 (Last week: No. 13)
The Seahawks are 4-0 since their bye and they are thriving under rookie head coach Mike Macdonald. A win Sunday over the Cardinals made them the new favorite to capture the NFC West. And running back Zach Charbonnet having a career day (193 total yards) is a nice development going forward.
NFL.com: No. 13 (Last week: No. 14)
That’s now four straight wins for the swashbuckling Seahawks, who secured a highly important season sweep of Arizona. They intercepted Kyler Murray twice in a three-play offensive span for Arizona, and both picks led to Seahawks touchdowns. On offense, the big story Sunday was Zach Charbonnet stepping in for the injured Kenneth Walker III and turning in a career-best 193 yards from scrimmage, including a 51-yard touchdown run that was a career highlight. The Seahawks still have to run through most of the NFC North over the next three weeks, setting up what could be a Week 18 showdown at the Rams for the NFC West crown. Geno Smith’s 12 INTs were getting a little concerning as he played some fast-and-loose ball for a bit, but he’s shown better restraint the past two games, not turning the ball over in either one.
CBS Sports: No. 10 (Last week: No. 11)
This team is surging with four straight victories to take command of the NFC West. The defense has really come alive as they ready to face the Packers.
Sports Illustrated: No. 9 (Last week: No. 11)
Last week’s ranking: No. 11
Last week’s result: beat Arizona, 30–18
This week: vs. Green Bay
Credit to the Seahawks’ offensive staff. Their pre-snap motion in the running game had the Cardinals’ linebackers on skates and made the difference on a few big-time runs from Zach Charbonnet. The jet sweep handoff to Charbonnet on the 1-yard touchdown was one of my favorite cheeky maneuvers of the season.
Heading into this game, Seattle was one of the least effective pre-snap motion teams in the NFL.
For the Win - USA TODAY: No. 9 (Last week: No. 12)
Last week’s rank: 12
After a midseason malaise, the Seahawks have now won four straight games in resounding fashion, including two of three against the once-second-place Cardinals. As a result, Seattle is in line for the first home playoff game of the short Geno Smith era. With an eclectic mix of playmaking and timely defense, something tells me the Seahawks have a real shot of at least getting to the divisional round. — RZ
The Ringer: No. 9 (Last week: No. 10)
Since the wild swings of its 3-3 start to the season, Seattle has gotten healthy, found some schematic answers on both sides of the ball, and gone 5-2 in the past two months. Sunday’s rematch against the Cardinals was a major test for whether this staff had the game-planning chops to make adjustments against a recent opponent—especially on the road—and the Seahawks won with an approach that was entirely different from the one we saw in their win against Arizona two weeks ago. Defensive backs were sitting on Arizona’s receivers and anticipating route concepts and the timing of the offense, and the Seahawks conceded some yardage on the ground to keep the Cardinals from finding explosives in the passing game.
This offense is playing better up front, and young skill position guys like Zach Charbonnet and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are leading the way; I’m all in on Macdonald and his team in the NFC West.
With home games against the Green Bay Packers (9-4) and Minnesota Vikings (11-2) right around the corner, the Seahawks could potentially be in the top five of some of these power rankings if they extend the winning streak to six. More importantly, keeping the winning streak going is how Seattle can clinch a playoff berth.
