The time is now for the Seahawks to turn it up

The Seahawks were buyers at the trade deadline, a contender adding a power hitter for the playoff push.

Only instead of batting clean-up, Duane Brown is going to play left tackle, and adding the three-time Pro Bowler doesn’t just improve Seattle’s lineup, it’s a vote of confidence from upstairs.

Clayton: 5 things to watch in Seahawks vs Washington

“It says a lot about what our front office thinks of our team right now,” cornerback Richard Sherman said, “and what they think of us moving forward.

“I think they think this is our window, this is our chance to take it by the reins.”

This is Seattle’s time. Right now. This season. This game against the Washington (Epithets), which should be an intersection of two teams heading in opposite directions.

The Epithets have lost three of four, they have an injury list that reads like a phonebook and a quarterback unsigned beyond this season.

The Seahawks have won four in a row in spite of Seattle’s failure to find any semblance of consistency so far. The Seahawks won in Los Angeles in spite of an offense that was performing like an albatross and this past week that offense was the only thing that saved Seattle in a shootout with Houston. Seattle’s defense is leaking big plays in a way we haven’t seen since Pete Carroll’s first season in town and it took the Seahawks seven games before they scored a first-quarter touchdown.

And after reciting all those issues, it’s important to remind you that Seattle is one home win against Washington from matching its third-longest winning streak under Carroll and that was before the Seahawks went and made a big-budget move to add Brown at the trade deadline.

“They are doing everything they can to put us in position to be successful,” Sherman said, “and make us a championship team.

“Any perceived weaknesses, they are doing their best to shore up.”

Seattle has done it by breaking out the credit card to acquire Sheldon Richardson back before the season began and now Brown.

Seahawks is going to end up paying for that down the road, not only with the future draft picks but in the salary-cap costs Seattle has kicked down the road by renegotiating the contracts of Doug Baldwin and Russell Wilson.
Now it’s up to this team to make those sacrifices pay off right now, starting with Sunday’s game against Washington.

The Seahawks win if … Washington doesn’t have a play of more than 50 yards. Doesn’t sound like much to ask of Seattle’s defense, which has consistently been among the best in the league at preventing big plays over the past few years. But the Seahawks have already allowed five plays of more than 50 yards this season, two of which came last week. You can’t keep saying the Seahawks are a good defense except for those plays. Now, it’s a question of whether they can be a good defense in spite of that tendency through five games.

The (Epithets) win if … Seattle has a negative turnover margin. It remains the single most predictive statistic in football, and it has been more important this season than ever. Seattle beat the Rams in Los Angeles because the Seahawks had five takeaways. Well, that and Cooper Kupp dropping a pass in the end zone in the final minute. The Seahawks intercepted three passes last week against Houston, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Seattle has forced six more turnovers than it has committed, the fifth-best mark in the league while Washington is minus-three, having lost a league-high nine fumbles.

The prediction: Seattle 34, Washington 17.

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