Don’t let anybody tell you it’s too early to get worked up about the Seahawks’ 3-0 start.
Especially when Sunday’s 24-3 win over Miami gave Seattle a two-game division lead after three games.
Yes, they’ve been mistake-prone, sloppy at times, and haven’t yet faced a quality opponent.
And they definitely will be in big trouble if they can’t learn to consistently block.
Even the Seahawks, afterward, admitted this was an ugly game. But one with a beautiful result.
It seemed evidence that sometimes opposing facts can be simultaneously true – the philosophical equivalent to offsetting penalties.
Consider that appropriate for a game in which 27 penalties were whistled, 22 accepted, for nearly 200 yards. It created a disjointed game without flow or tempo.
“It was sloppy, operation-wise,” Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said.
Yes, football-wise, too.
But he loved his team’s energy, toughness, and especially praised the way the Hawks played “complementary football.”
This is one of Macdonald’s principle coaching points: You win as a team. The offense and defense have to come up big if the other side is stumbling.
The perfect example came in the fourth quarter at Lumen Field, when the Hawks had languished, and appeared vulnerable, after roaring to a 17-3 lead in the first period.
Quarterback Geno Smith had a tipped pass intercepted late in the third quarter, when the Dolphins still had time to rally for an upset.
With third-team quarterback Tim Boyle playing due to injuries, the Dolphins moved quickly to the Seattle 3 with a first down and the chance to close the deficit to one score.
But the Hawk defense toughened and repelled the Dolphins on four straight plays.
Okay, offense, your turn.
On the Seattle possession, back Zach Charbonnet rushed eight times for 42 yards, including a 10-yard score, to power an 11-play 98-yard drive to “close the gate,” as Charbonnet put it.
With the Rams overtaking the 49ers late in their game Sunday, the Seahawks separated from their three NFC West opponents, all now 1-2.
Asked about that divisional cushion, Macdonald said he didn’t consider such things, focusing only on the next game on the schedule, at Detroit a week from Monday.
Smith starred for the Seahawks again, with a remarkably effective 289 passing yards despite being under steady pressure from Dolphin rushers, and being slowed by a rash of offensive penalties.
Smith will get the statistical blame for a pair of interceptions, one of which was tipped by a defender in his face, and the other was tossed as the Dolphins were closing in on him.
“Two turnovers, I’ve gotta do a better job of that,” Smith said. “As an offense we left a lot out there.”
At times, though, the Seahawks looked unstoppable, most convincingly on a 71-yard scoring pass to D.K. Metcalf on the last play of the first period. On this one, Smith had rare, leak-proof protection, and the speedy Metcalf scored easily.
It prompts the question: How potent could this offense be with even slightly improved line play?
For 30 minutes of sloppy play thereafter, the offense went 0-for-7 on third-down conversion attempts, and looked rather inept.
“I’m glad we won today,” Macdonald said. “We’ve got a long way to go – it’s a long season.”
And he’s absolutely correct when he pointed out that his team needs to come up with numerous corrections.
Whether he pays attention to the division standings or not, this early separation from the rivals will help relieve some of the stress during this period of growth and improvement.
And, in so many ways, his club is far ahead of any rational expectation a month ago.
The defense is playing at a higher level of consistency that it has for a couple years. They rally to the ball and arrive with impact.
And Smith is completing roughly 75% of his passes despite porous protection.
They’ve won three games they should have, against unimpressive opponents.
But the Monday Night Football game at Detroit should be a better barometer of where the Seahawks stand as they advance through this first season of the Mike Macdonald era.