Stacy Rost: Warts and all, Seahawks keep playing like one of NFL’s best

When you’re a true but imperfect contender, as the Seattle Seahawks have shown themselves to be this year, you’ll undertake a fascinating and constant tight rope walk. It looks like this: You must simultaneously iron out your kinks, hide your warts and fine-tune your approach — but never at the expense of turning away from your strengths.

Observations from Seahawks’ runaway win over Falcons

That’s harder than it sounds, and has proven to be a downfall for a number of teams.

Fourteen weeks into the season, it’s obvious the Seahawks are not one of the league’s best or most efficient running teams. And that’s really a shame, since the run game was such a point of emphasis for both general manager John Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald, so much so that they moved on from pass-happy offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb in favor of Klint Kubiak’s wide zone scheme.

They took a guard in the first round, and Schneider so praised this year’s running back class that analysts wondered whether the Seahawks would, for a third consecutive year, take a running back early (they did take one late, Damien Martinez just didn’t end up sticking with the team).

Thus far, the run game has served a unique purpose. It’s not lifting the offense to new heights so much as it’s keeping defenses more honest than they were against Seattle last year. The Seahawks run the ball more often than any other team — they’re the only club that’s sub-50% on pass plays, below even the Bills, who are the league’s most prolific run team right now. That’s meant loaded boxes by opposing defenses… and opportunities for an especially explosive pass game.

Here’s another interesting quirk, though: even without loaded boxes, Seattle’s offensive strengths and weaknesses are the same. The run game issues have mostly remained even with lighter boxes (something ESPN’s Mina Kimes discussed here earlier this month), and try as they might, opposing defenses still haven’t consistently shut down Seattle’s pass game. The unit that came closest was Brian Flores’ Minnesota Vikings, and if every other opposing defense wants to try blitzing at a nearly 50% clip, then go for it.

It felt like there was a real opportunity for that run game to explode against Atlanta. The Falcons entered Week 14 ranked 25th in rushing yards allowed, and Seattle’s pass game, which had been stymied in Week 13, was stalling early in a game that was 6-all at the half. It didn’t get going, though. At least not in a way that could convince a skeptic the Seahawks’ offense is great there.

That’s all a wordy way to get to this point: none of it has mattered. Week in and week out, an imperfect Seahawks team has looked like one of the single best teams in the league.

The Seahawks are so good, so well-balanced, that their biggest warts haven’t cost them. You can only critique the offense for sending the lion’s share of its targets to Jaxon Smith-Njigba when it doesn’t work. But he had two more touchdowns against Falcons. (And for what it’s worth, Cooper Kupp was much more involved Sunday, sharing part of that load.)

You can say “Ken Walker hasn’t had a 100-yard rushing performance since Week 2,” but that certainly doesn’t feel like an issue when the offense as a whole has still surpassed 100 rushing yards in five consecutive games.

You can critique Sam Darnold for not being one of the league’s single best quarterbacks, but you can’t say he’s not been better than he was last year.

You can critique Darnold for turning the ball over, but the defense is racking up takeaways of their own.

Speaking of that defense, you could say something like “you can’t always count on your defense to keep you in games,” and that would be relevant… for a team whose defense hasn’t been one of the best in the league wire-to-wire. Seattle overwhelmed a struggling Falcons offense Sunday, forcing three turnovers and keeping a lid on Bijan Robinson. They’ve allowed nine points over two games. And they saw the returns of two key veterans, Julian Love and Jarran Reed.

If there was a question about the Seahawks unrelated to the run game or turnovers, it was when trade acquisition Rashid Shaheed would get involved. Sunday brought an answer, with 67 yards on four receptions and a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

We’re heading into Week 15. The Seahawks know who they aren’t. But more importantly, they know who they are. And right now, that’s trouble for the rest of the league.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Recap: Seahawks blow away hapless Falcons 37-9
• Instant Reaction: Seahawks dominate again in win at Atlanta
• Watch: Shaheed sparks Seahawks with 100-yard kick return TD
• How many wins will it take for an NFC West crown?
• Huard: This is the best defensive front in Seattle Seahawks history

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