Groz: Why Seahawks fans shouldn’t panic at 1-2 start

The Seahawks are off to a slow start in September with losses on the road to the Packers and Titans, but a 1-2 record is hardly reason enough for fans to panic. The early-season losses aren’t out of form, according to John Clayton and Dave Grosby, and Seattle’s remaining schedule is perhaps the biggest reason to have optimism.

Clayton: Like it or not, hurry-up is Seahawks’ best offense

Seattle will play the 1-2 Colts at home Sunday night following a 33-27 loss in Tennessee in Week 3. Indianapolis is without starting quarterback Andrew Luck and the Seahawks have won 10 of their last 11 games at CenturyLink.

“They’re not getting much of a challenge this week (against the Colts) I don’t believe,” Dave Grosby said, joining Clayton on 710 ESPN Seattle to talk about Seattle’s upcoming opponents. “I’m not really a Rams believer, but I guess we’ll get a good read on that in a couple weeks. And then they get the Giants after the bye week, and the Giants still haven’t won a game yet. So, I think they’re just fine.”

After the Colts, Seattle will travel to LA to face the Rams before heading into a bye. Following that, Seattle plays the Giants on the road and then plays back-to-back home games against the Texans and Washington. The season rounds out with games against the Cardinals and the 0-3 49ers, the Eagles, Jaguars and a late-season road game against the Cowboys. Dallas will pose a challenge, but Seattle will be playing in late December when playoff seeding will have been set. Clayton points out that the two best quarterbacks the Seahawks will face – Carson Palmer and Eli Manning – are also older.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of challenges. Grosby, for one, is curious about how Seattle’s running game will unfold.

After starting training camp with one of their deepest groups, the Seahawks have given the vast majority of snaps to rookie back Chris Carson. Carson has performed well, including recorded his first rushing touchdown against the Titans, but there are lingering question marks in the rotation. The Seahawks signed Eddie Lacy this offseason to a one-year, $4.2-million deal; however, the veteran back has just five carries for three yards on the season, was a healthy scratch in Week 2, and did not receive any snaps against the Titans. Third-year pro Thomas Rawls had one snap Sunday.

For his part, head coach Pete Carroll doesn’t seem too rattled. He said Monday there weren’t enough carries to share and opportunities didn’t present themselves.

“Thomas (Rawls) and Eddie (Lacy) didn’t get a shot to go much, they didn’t do much to contribute,” Carroll said. “But it wasn’t by their doing. We just really didn’t get enough plays.”

Another critique of Seattle’s offense through three games has been its habit to turn away from the no-huddle offense, even when it’s productive. Grosby doesn’t mind that, and remains unenamored with the idea of leaning on a primarily no-huddle offense.

“Part of being conventional in the first half, in my opinion, is what makes the no-huddle work in the second half. It becomes a surprise,” Grosby said. “If you do it from the beginning and it doesn’t work, you’re dead. I think up-tempo helps them a little bit, but it’s also not something that they’ve practiced for and not something they’re really built to do; they like to make substitutions as well. We may see more of it, but I don’t think you necessarily change how you did it. Look, if you have the result that you had last Sunday every week, you’re going to win 11 or 12 games this year. You score 27 points, that’s enough.”