RENTON — Little has gone according to plan for the Seattle Seahawks so far this season. The defending champs are 6-4, three games out of first place, they’ve battled far more injuries than they did a year ago, and they felt compelled to trade away one of the league’s most talented players five games into the season.
But don’t call the Seahawks desperate heading into Sunday’s showdown with first-place Arizona.
“No, it’s not back-to-the-wall, no desperation,” linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “We understand the task at hand, but we’re not going to make it harder than what it needs to be. It’s pretty simple, we’ve just got to go out there and win the game. It starts with this game. That’s what we’re looking forward to. You can’t look past this team, it’s a very good team, so it’s one game at a time, and we’ll be fine. There’s no desperation.
Desperation, cornerback Richard Sherman says, is “When I had negative $38 in my account and needed a ride home. That was college, but you know, don’t pay the players.”
Sherman being Sherman, he got in a zinger with the sarcastic “don’t pay the players” punchline, but he makes a good point on a couple of accounts. First off, we’re talking about a game, not real-life problems, and secondly, even from a football perspective, things aren’t nearly as bad for the Seahawks as some might have you believe.
No, the Seahawks aren’t playing as well as they did last year when they were 9-1 through 10 games. Nor are they finishing off close games, and injuries have only magnified the difference in depth between the 2013 Seahawks and this year’s squad. But the consensus in Seattle’s locker room this week is that everything is still there for the taking.
“Of course we didn’t want to be 6-4, but the beauty of it is we’ve got six games left,” linebacker K.J. Wright said. “I believe we can still win the division, but it all starts with this week. We’ve got to have this; this is must have for us.
There might be a bit of tension between the players and media these days, the result of numerous reports from the likes of ESPN and the NFL Network that have tried to pinpoint what’s wrong with the Seahawks this year after a few more losses and the stunning decision to trade Percy Harvin, not to mention the $100,000 fine given to Marshawn Lynch this week for violating the league’s media policy. But players insist the team’s attitude, its drive and its togetherness are the same as they were a year ago.
“We’re 6-4 and we’ve got everything in front of us,” receiver Doug Baldwin said. “There are no issues whatsoever.
“I think people forget how difficult it is to be a Super Bowl champion. We’re 6-4 right now, we have a winning record. We’ve played pretty decent football, but the ball doesn’t always bounce your way; that’s football, just like it is in life. We’re going to continue to push forward and continue to do what we’re doing, and we’ll find a way.”
The Seahawks have almost no margin for error at this point, not when they’re three games out of first place, and currently not even in playoff position, and not with a brutal closing stretch of games that features two against division-leading Arizona, two against San Francisco, a game at Philadelphia and a home game against St. Louis, a team that always gives Seattle fits.
Because the Seahawks have so many division games ahead of them, plus one against the Eagles, another NFC playoff hopeful, they are very much in control of their playoff destiny, and with a strong finish can push Arizona for the division crown.
“There’s so much at stake coming up here in the next month-and-a-half that everything’s still out there and everybody’s got to win,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “This is a great time to be watching NFL games if you’re really tuned in to it. Because of the matchups and that every game will be so crucial and everybody has a chance to own it. Everybody is feeling like that. The Rams feel it too, and the ‘Niners, we’re all feeling the same thing; there’s a lot out there.
“We know we have to do it one week at a time and with Arizona starting and that’s the only game in the world that matters, but it’s a really cool time of the year.”
It will be a cool time of year, or a very disappointing one for the Seahawks depending on how these next six games play out. The Seahawks need at least four, perhaps five wins to make the playoffs, and could need to win out if they’re going to catch Arizona.
While that doesn’t look easy on paper, the Seahawks are embracing the challenge of finishing strong because, quite frankly, their 6-4 start leaves them no other choice.
“It’s going to be a good opportunity for us to step up,” quarterback Russell Wilson said. “We’ll see; the story’s not told yet. We’re going to have to write our own story, and we’ll see what happens.”
Herald Columnist John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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