Stacy Rost: Seahawks may be rare top seed actually being disrespected

Are the Seattle Seahawks being disrespected?

I know, it’s typical and almost always wrong.

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When a wire-to-wire college football contender or a top seed in a pro league says something like “no one thought we’d be here,” you tend to roll your eyes. Sure, Kirby Smart or Georgia or Bama or the Yankees or the Dodgers… no one thought you’d be here.

But in the case of this year’s Seattle Seahawks, a 14-win No. 1 seed in the NFC, that might be right.

It’s not the stunning season the New England Patriots had, going from four wins a year ago to a No. 2 seed in the AFC this season. That’s something that truly shocked people. Nor was it the Chicago Bears winning the NFC North when everyone favored the Green Bay Packers following a blockbuster deal for Micah Parsons.

This is a bit different. This is an incredibly well-rounded Seahawks team that has, for the most part, won soundly and consistently all season long. Their plus-191 point differential is the best in football this year. They’ve won games by an average of two scores. They have the best scoring defense (No. 1 by DVOA), one of the best special team units, and an offense that finished third in scoring.

There were questions about the consistency of the run game, but then the Seahawks have started making gains there, too; four of their five best days on the ground have been since Week 10, and they finished with a big Week 18 against the San Francisco 49ers.

While the Los Angeles Rams have also been a dominant team, they did lose to the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons and split their series with Seattle. Are they a shocking Super Bowl favorite? Absolutely not. But seeing them routinely favored over Seattle is at least notable.

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But is that just a take we have as locals?

Maybe not. If you’re a Seahawks fan who feels slighted, NFL Network’s Mike Yam agrees with you, as he told us Friday on Bump and Stacy:

It’s complete (nonsense) if I’m being honest with you. The national conversation all season long has been waiting for the other shoe to fall with this team.

Sam Darnold has not gotten nearly enough credit. And look, I think some of the criticism at times has been fair for Sam in his career… if you haven’t paid attention. If you take a step back and look holistically at some of his spots and where he was, I mean look at New York. The Jets as an organization, it’s abundantly clear where they are right now… he was not put in a position to succeed.

Now, you could look at what happened at the end of his time in Minnesota and those collapses late. But was that all on Sam Darnold? I don’t know. I don’t know that it’s fair to point the finger at just one person. And I do think some of his performances, and this happens to every player int he NFL, sometimes guys don’t get the benefit of the doubt. And Sam hasn’t. And I think what we’ve seen late this season from Sam Darnold should’ve squashed some of that conversation.

But it is disrespect. I think if Seattle was in a different market, had a different logo on the front of their jersey, they would not be discussed this way by the national media, and it’s disappointing. This defense has been dominant. There was a time this year when I thought JSN was going to be the Offensive Player of the Year… with the building blocks (Mike) Macdonald has put together this year, he’d be my Coach of the Year. I do think Seattle should be getting way more respect.

Catch Stacy Rost from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Why PFF’s Trevor Sikkema says Seahawks can win it all
• What makes Seahawks OC Kubiak a strong head coach candidate
• Seahawks confident in Sam Darnold after he flopped in 2024 playoffs
• Brock: How Seahawks made a ‘program-changing evolution’
• The Seattle Seahawks’ potential divisional round opponents

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