SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks’ much-closer-than-expected victory over the winless Oakland Raiders could be described in a number of unflattering ways: underwhelming, sloppy, or perhaps just plain ugly.
Or in the always-sunny world of Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, a 30-24 result over a now 0-8 team is a “great win” with a “ton of bright spots.”
Carroll’s optimism stems from the fact that the Seahawks survived a game in which they were missing so many key players to injury. And also from the fact that his defense, for the second week in a row, looked a lot more like the championship-caliber unit we saw a year ago. But it also came from his ability to understand what is easy to overlook when it comes to a team that was so dominant at times last season: winning in the NFL is often difficult and ugly; even when facing the worst teams in the league.
“That’s how this is,” Carroll said. “I know y’all like it easier and smoother and cleaner and all that, but it’s a battle, so suck it up.”
Everyone expected this to be the Seahawks’ game to get back on track. After two straight losses followed by a low-scoring, down-to-the-wire victory in Carolina, the Seahawks were expected to blow out the hapless Raiders. Between this game and next week’s matchup with the New York Giants, who are 3-4 heading into Monday’s game, this was the stretch of the schedule where the Seahawks were supposed to not only win, but get back to looking like a dominant team in the process.
Dominance, however, may not be in the cards for the 2014 Seahawks, which doesn’t mean they can’t still be a very good, and maybe even a championship team. Injuries have hit this year’s team significantly harder than they did last year’s squad, Seattle is getting every team’s best shot as the defending champs, and this roster just isn’t as deep as last year’s. Besides, even last year’s team had more close games that you might recall if your lasting memory of the season was a Super Bowl drubbing of the Denver Broncos.
“They’re all like that,” Carroll said. “Every week is a new challenge and a new set of circumstances as a new opponent comes in. … We just have to keep battling and find a way. You guys forget, we had eight games last year that could have gone either way. Everybody forgets that. Three of them we lose, five of them we won; we could have been 8-8 just like that last year, and people forget that. I’ve harped on that more than I should with our team so they realize how tough it is.”
None of this is said to excuse the Seahawks’ struggles in this game or through the first half of this season. Had quarterback Russell Wilson’s bad outing or all of those special teams miscues cost Seattle the game, it would have been an unforgivable result at home, given the opponent. The Seahawks still have a lot to clean up if they’re going to be a playoff team or do anything once they get there, but simply getting healthier will solve some of those issues. And the offense in particular has plenty of room for growth.
“A win is a win, however, we want to see some improvement,” said receiver Doug Baldwin. “It felt kind of shaky today, but a win is a win.”
The Seahawks can play a lot better than they did in Sunday’s win, and they’ll have to if they’re going to survive a finishing stretch of the season that features two games against Arizona, two against the San Francisco and trips to Kansas City and Philadelphia. Quite frankly the Seahawks wouldn’t win any of those games playing like they did against the Raiders. But as is the case in the NFL, and as has especially been the case for this year’s Seahawks, style points are a lot less important than the end result. Which on Sunday, warts and all, was a victory for the Seahawks.
Early on it looked like the Seahawks were headed for the dominant win everyone was expecting. Turnovers were piling up, the defense was playing great, and the Raiders looked like they were done.
“We played so well in the first half and it really felt like the style we love seeing,” Carroll said. “Our guys were all over the football, the ball was coming out, just ball-hawking, and taking care of the football on our side and just a lot of really good stuff. It was great to see that, and then we ran into some problems.”
Problems like an offense that couldn’t make the Raiders pay for those mistakes. And a special teams unit that had huge miscues for the second time in three games, things that caused the game to go down to the wire. Again.
The Seahawks haven’t played their best this season, perhaps with the exception of the opener against Green Bay. But for a team led by the most optimistic coach in football, that’s just another reason to look on the bright side.
“We’ve got a lot of talent, and we’ve just got to put it together,” Wilson said. “We’re still finding ways to win games and we’re not playing our best; we’re far from playing our best. So when we put it together, it’s going to be hard to stop us. That’s the exciting part.”
Until that happens, until they start playing their best, the exciting part will be the fourth quarter of every game the Seahawks play. So buckle up, or as Carroll says, “suck it up.”
Herald Columnist John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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