The Seahawks have gotten off to a better-than-expected start, winning three, losing three, and landing in a three-way tie atop the NFC West. How does coach Pete Carroll assess the current state of his team?
“I think we are just laying low, I think we are in the reeds,” Carroll said. “There were no expectations for us at all. We haven’t done anything yet, we are just getting rolling. I think we are in a different situation and setting than people figured we would be, so they are looking. You can’t ignore some of the stuff that is happening, the storylines are too good. Geno’s story is incredibly obvious, he’s come out flying and nobody expected that to happen except for Geno and us. That’s OK, we don’t care. Then the storylines of the guys coming up, the tackles are playing as they have and in the unique fashion where you rarely see guys do that, two guys. Tariq [Woolen] and Coby [Bryant] have been as exciting as you can be. As a matter of a fact, the fact that Tariq is recognized as the Defensive Player of the Week this week, that’s an incredible recognition. I don’t know if anybody has produced more than he has, so he deserves it, which is great. We just have to keep on climbing through it. I think that’s the storyline, the expectations. You could put our name on top of our division any time you want to, we need to keep it there.”
No one expected it to be there, not after the departure of Russell Wilson and a vague sense that the Seahawks were rebuilding.
“Until we win a lot of games, we are not going to get any credit,” Carroll said. “If that’s going to come, we have to win a lot of games here. They are looking, people that have an opinion that have one of those megaphones, they’ll have to deal with us eventually, if we can keep doing something. We have a long way to go.”
Indeed they do. But they’ve done more than anyone expected, so far. And they’ve done it at a time when Wilson has struggled.
It was funny to see and hear Carroll tiptoe around saying anything about Wilson, given that the Broncos faced Seattle’s next opponent on Monday night. Carroll said of the Broncos-Chargers contest, “It was a great opportunity to watch, hear the stories, storylines, and all that kind of stuff. There were a lot of inside scoops going on with the [Chargers] kicker [Dustin Hopkins] being banged up, him coming through, and just stuff that we will hopefully use as the week unfolds.”
No mention of Wilson. Then again, Carroll doesn’t need to say anything. He’s been fully vindicated through six weeks, and everyone who pays attention to the sport knows it.