After this Sunday’s game against the Panthers, the Seattle Seahawks are sitting at 2-1, and while they’re not entirely pretty as a team, they are fun. This is kinda Pete Carroll football.

It’s not about winning in the first quarter, the second, or third. It’s about winning a ball game in the fourth. It’s about finishing.

Last week, Seattle hung tight in Detroit against a good Lions team, and they snuck out a win in overtime. This week, they finished strong in the fourth quarter, and put down a Panthers team that wasn’t going down easily in the first half. In fact, in back to back weeks, Seattle has trailed at halftime, and has come back to win each game. That’s something.

Now, the Panthers aren’t likely going to be much of a team this year, and we will see how good the Lions actually are, but I am going to spin this pretty optimistically for Seattle right now. For Pete Carroll, it is really important for his teams to finish strong. In the bigger picture, he wants his guys believing that when the going gets tough, they can and will get going better than the other team.

Geno Smith didn’t have a good first half of ball. He threw a bad interception when he should have either gotten the ball out sooner, or he should have sensed the Panther linebacker hovering close enough by to make the play. Either way, that wasn’t a sharp moment for him, and it proved pretty costly considering he gave Andy Dalton easy field position. There were other moments where it felt like he wasn’t getting the ball out quick enough. He was off.

It did not help that he was playing behind an offensive line so banged up that, as the game wore on, they were down to only one starter. Any defensive line that features players like Derrick Brown and Brian Burns should be licking their chops at what Seattle had put in front of them trying to block.

From a Panther perspective, the way Seattle’s offensive linemen were dropping like flys, and the way Andy Dalton was throwing, they should have felt like this was turning into the perfect scenario to get their young team right on the road. Heading into the half, it felt like Seattle was on the ropes, and it was going to be one of those grueling days for the Twelves.

Then, just like how it happened last week in Detroit, Seattle came out of the half to start the third quarter with their defense buckling down. Geno engineers a drive that results in a field goal, a short time later, Geno guides another drive that leads to a Ken Walker touchdown.

Seattle stayed enough with the run for it to be a big time factor, and it made Geno’s job easier, and he played a better second half. Even when the Panthers would answer with another score of their own to get back in it, Geno gathered the poise to lead more scoring drives.

Make no mistake, this was Ken Walker’s day on the offense. In my opinion, this offense should run as much through Ken Walker as it can on a weekly basis with just the right amount of Zach Charbonnet to mix in. That’s not to take anything away from DK Metcalf, and Tyler Lockett, but I just think if the goal is to win a lot of games this year, the run game has got to be the big time factor.

Walker is just too dynamic of a runner and receiver to not want to have him get his touches. Charbonnet has the talent to be not that far behind him, and fans are starting to get some really good glimpses of that now. Walker averaged 5.4 yards per carry against a good Carolina defensive line, and Charbonnet averaged 5.1. Walker also had 3 catches for 59 yards.

You get these backs gaining this sort of production, and that should unlock this offense for Geno Smith to do whatever he wants to do with getting the ball out of his tight ends and receivers with play action. Again, for two weeks in a row, play action passing plays a big second half factor against good defenses.

The other big hero of this game for me is offensive line coach Andy Dickerson for getting max effort out of dudes would be buried on depth charts of other teams. Raise your hand you would have thought month ago that Stone Forysthe, someone by the name of Ben Brown, Evan Brown, rookie Anthony Bradford, and Jake Curhan would make for a line that would bully a big bad defensive line from Carolina for nearly 150 yards on the ground, and would help pass block enough for Geno Smith to throw nearly 300 yards through the air against them, as well.

I know that the Mariners are in the thick to get back to the playoffs, and a lot of folks around the 206 are buzzing about the Husky football team with Michael Penix Junior, but I think the way the Seattle Seahawks are winning over these past couple weeks is pretty interesting stuff. I’m not sure that the way Seattle’s reserve offensive linemen stepped in will be talked about enough on local airwaves, though.

I’m sure rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon will be talked a lot about. He took a big step forward in this game, and you can see his upside. I’m also positive that Walker will be talked a lot about, and DK, and maybe some will start to come around more to a Seahawk defensive line that continues to play the run really well, and is starting to pick up its pass rush a bit more, but I hope people are starting to take note that Seattle is showing a ton of resilience with their offensive line that, on paper, is significantly less than ideal in a league that has high quality pass rushers everywhere.

Andy Dickerson is kind of my hero right now.

As for this Seahawk defense, I believe it is coming around. They were better this game as they gutted through banged up at cornerback. Andy Dalton having a big day through the air should not have felt like that much of a shocker. You can make fun of Dalton all you want, but he a very season veteran quarterback who has passed for a lot of yards in this thirteen year career, and has done his share of winning games. He beat Seattle last year playing for the Saints.

With no Riq Woolen, and for much of the game, no Tre Brown, you could kinda feel like Seattle was going to bust a critical coverage at some point, and they did. What I think is important is for reserves to get feel for each other and this defense. They withstood the flames.

Onto New York next Monday to face the Giants. Seattle will have Jamal Adams back, and he will be a new wrinkle for this defense. They might likely have Woolen back, as well, and Spoon will another game under his belt to feel more confidence.

The Giants love to run the ball. The Seahawks, through three games now, has been one of the best run stopping defenses in the league. Jarran Reed is establishing a much needed toughness inside as a tone-setter and playmaker, and young guys like Boye Mafe are starting to take bigger steps forward.

I think this defense is poised to get a lot better. I think the offense just needs to get some of their starters back on the line, get their red zone play better cleaned up, and keep that run game going.

Pete Carroll coached teams tend to do well on Monday nights. If they can show up big and get that W against the Giants, they will be 3-1 heading into their early bye week with a chance to get further heeled, rested, and ready to take on the Bengals and Browns. That early bye is looking like it is coming in at exactly the right time.

Good to get this win. Good to gut through a game in which the circumstances are less than ideal. Good to shake off a bad first half and play a much stronger second half.

These are all building blocks.

Also nice to see Jake Bobo get his first NFL touchdown catch. That was a great grab and effort to stay inbounds. We need more Bobo.

Go Hawks.