I gotta be honest. I’m not disappointed much by this annoying Seahawk loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on the road.

I expected them to win. I wanted them to win. I thought, at the end, they were going to win, but, interestingly enough, I wasn’t super bummed that they didn’t win, and I am a WAY bigger Seahawks fan than I am out of any other team in the Pacific Northwest.

Call me crazy, but I see a lot of silver linings in this loss, and I will take whatever positives I can get. I see several.

Firstly, when this schedule first came out months ago, I figured Seattle would be sitting at 3-2 at this point, and they are. I thought they would lose to the Lions and Bengals on the road. Well, they just lost to the Bengals, and they beat the Lions. Cool. Can’t get everything right.

Secondly, even though this is the second game in a row where the offense has struggled, the Seahawk defense has played solidly. This is highly encouraging for me. It is one thing to shutdown a struggling Giants offense a couple weeks ago, but it is another thing altogether to limit a healthier Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase to 17 points on their home turf. Buy into them now or don’t, I don’t care, but the Seahawk defense is trending upwards in an interesting and exciting way.

Lastly, I remain bullish on the Seahawk offense, and I think they are going to get it together. They have too much talent not to do so, and their blemishes are correctable. They need to play cleaner. They need to not get caught up in stupid penalties. They need to make better decisions at quarterback. All of this is doable. I suspect they all know this well enough.

Geno Smith did not have his best game. I don’t think he was helped by some of the play calling, but this may have been his worst game as a Seahawk considering that he forced a throw towards Jaxon Smith Njigba in the red zone that become an interception (thus, taking points off the board), threw another funky INT (although maybe DK Metcalf wasn’t on the same page as him), and he ran himself into a couple sacks a la vintage 2017 Russell Wilson. Say whatever you want to about Geno Smith, but he is fully capable of playing much better ball than this, and I expect he will, starting next week against the Cardinals.

In the bigger picture of this football team, it is vitally important that younger players continue to step up and make plays, and in this game, a good number of them did. Running backs Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet continue to impress as runners and receivers. JSN finally got on track more with 4 catches for 48 yards. Boye Mafe got another big time sack, and is looking like the big breakout player this year on defense. Devon Witherspoon continues making splash plays as a corner, and Tre Brown, as well. Charles Cross made a nice run block that sprung K9 for a big gain. Jake Bobo made two big catches and was the lead blocker on K9’s touchdown run.

These guys are the future of this team. They have the opportunity in front of them to grow into the vital new foundation that Pete Carroll and John Schneider are trying to create post Russell Wilson. In many ways, it is more important for me to see these young players step up than see Seattle sneak out this win at the end.

I think the Bengals are going to end up being a pretty good team again this year. I think they have Burrow playing closer to full health again, and they are about to start mounting a bunch of wins over the next couple months. Seattle could have played better in this, and they should have, but I have put this game behind me the minute the final whistle blew, and everyone shook hands and patted asses.

The only things standing in my way of feeling rosy about the state of the Seahawks right now are the fans who now want to see DK Metcalf traded, and the fan who want Geno Smith benched. When DK lost his cool again, and shoved a Bengal DB for another unsportsmanlike penalty, I received texts and messages from friends who are done with him. After the game, I saw remarks on social media that the team should bench Geno.

Here are my very quick thoughts on both.

Trade DK Metcalf? Are you shitting me?

DK lost is crap again and shoved a DB for a fifteen yard penalty. This clown act of his is getting old, and frustrating, and I get it. I want it to stop as badly as you do.

BUT! – In my best Dennis Miller impersonation, allow me to state the following.

Look, Cha Cha, the Seattle Seahawks aren’t trading away DK Metcalf. Let’s be real about this, okay Chichi?

He’s young, he’s a premiere talent, and he’s still an ascending talent. He’s on pace to become the next Calvin Johnson in this league, putting up very similar numbers through each of these seasons. He is the type of player you keep rostered, even if he does boneheaded things at times.

The only way Seattle is trading DK Metcalf is if they are getting a premiere talent in return. If Tampa wants to fork over Vita Vea in a player for player trade, I could see Seattle entertaining the idea, but Tampa is not going to give up on a unicorn game wrecking defensive tackle in his prime. If Chicago wants to surrender the top overall pick in the draft for DK and Seattle’s first round pick that it probably going to be in the twenties or late teens, then okay, let’s talk. If they are stupid enough not to draft Caleb Williams, then by all means, allow us.. but that ain’t happening.

So let’s be real.

Benching Geno Smith now is what asshats do. Don’t be an asshat!

I see you on Seahawks X Twitter whatever the French it’s now called (Elon Musk is a douche). You really want to see what Drew Lock brings now, don’t yeah? You think you know everything there is to see with Geno Smith and what the ceiling is with this offense, right?

Look, Geno Smith may not be Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, I get it, but I think his floor is probably way higher than what Drew Lock’s is, and that is why he’s going to stay the starter this year. On his best days, I think Geno is a top ten quarterback presently in this league, and on his bad days, he’s clearly not.

He didn’t have a great day in Cincinnati. I don’t think he was helped by Shane Waldron’s play calling that didn’t use nearly enough play action and roll outs that had be working well in previous games, but whatever. He wasn’t sharp enough to pull out this win.

Also, I thought he was only so so against the Giants a few weeks ago with better play calling, but I thought he was pretty good against Carolina and Detroit. We all know what happened against the Rams in the opener, and don’t need to revisit that.

This is how I think the rest of this season is probably going to go down. I think there’s going to be a number of games where he will play pretty well, and most fans will be happy with him. I also think there’s going to be a few where he plays okay-ish, and questions will mount, and I also think he will have some clunkers like this one.

Welcome to the life of a second tier starting quarterback in the NFL. I see you Matt Stafford, Dak Prescott, Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, Jalen Hurts, and Brock Purdy.

Having said that, I think he remains a much better option for Seattle than Drew Lock if the goal is to win games and build a young winning roster. He’s a much better passer. When Lock was in for a quarter against the Giants, he made a few nice plays with his arm and legs, but on a roll out pass to his right, he badly missed a wide open JSN for what would have been a big gain.

With Lock starting, I think this is what you would get a lot of. You would see his plus athleticism that would entice you, you would see some pretty downfield throws, but you would also probably get bad misses and bad decisions as the games wear on. I don’t think Lock processes as well as Geno Smith, and I don’t think Pete Carroll is into tanking the season for a quarterback next year. That’s not how he cultivates his culture.

If Pete Carroll thought it was worth it to be playing Lock over Smith, this would have happened last year. It didn’t, and I doubt much has changed.

Unless Geno Smith collapses over the next month and turns into rookie NY Jets Geno Smith, or get injured, he’s going to remain the starter. The latter might happen, but I doubt we see a big time regression.

Having said all this, allow me to share some thoughts on the Huskies big win on Saturday over the very good Oregon Ducks. Actually, I have one overriding thought. Here it is.

I want Michael Penix Junior to be a Seattle Seahawk next year so badly that I could have a baby right now just thinking about it.

There, I said what has been on my mind for a while. This has nothing to do with Geno Smith and his struggles against the Bengals. This has everything to do with who and what I think Penix is, and can be at the next level.

I think Penix has the arm talent and accuracy to be a very good quarterback in the west coast offensive that Seattle runs. On top of that, I think he has shown enough to believe that he understands defenses well, knows how to look off defenders, and make quick decisions, and stay within the structure of the plays.

Of all the draft eligible quarterbacks in college football right now, I think he’s the best fit for Seattle, and I am not just saying that because he plays college ball here, and fans would be extra jacked up if Seattle drafted him. I think there are other quarterbacks who are probably better athletes on top of their arm talent like Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Prime Time’s kid, Bo Nix, and Spencer Rattler, but I think Penix is perfect for Seattle.

He’s mature, he’s got a high character, he’s gritty (as demonstrated when he played through injury during the second half against the Ducks) and he can make every single NFL throw. In fact, he makes throws that will win you games.

You put him on this roster, with these receivers and tight ends and backs, and I don’t think it would take him very long to pick things up. I think he could take over fairly quickly, if they wanted him to do that.

I also think that there is a decent chance that he could be at Seattle’s pick even if they are picking in the later portion of round one. As mentioned before, there is likely going to be younger more athletic quarterbacks in this 2024 draft class.

Williams and Maye will be headliners, but I suspect that Michigan’s JJ McCarthy and Quinn Ewers of Texas will also get a lot of buzz assuming all of them declare. If Shedeur Sanders declares, he almost certainly would become a top ten pick.

Even if Penix wins the Heisman and his medicals check out fine with teams, he might be the fourth or fifth quarterback taken. He will turn 24 in May, and NFL front offices might feel more enticed by drafting someone a few years younger and without injury history.

For a team like Seattle, however, that has done a good job filling out its roster with a lot of bright young talent over the last few years, and has a good core of vets, spending a later first round pick on Penix makes a lot of sense. He would be a good system fit and culture fit. I think Pete Carroll would love him.

I also think Seattle needs to take more seriously the idea of drafting and developing a quarterback right now. In a few short years, young talented players are going to be due big second contracts. If the goal is to draft, develop, and maintain a strong roster, having a talented young quarterback on a rookie contract is going to be huge advantage.

Even if they want to hang onto Geno Smith a bit longer, and not rush Penix along, I think this would be a smart decision to draft him. I honestly do. In many ways, I think they are very similar styled quarterbacks, too. Enough so that transition to Penix could be pretty seamless.

I have been holding back on these thoughts for a while, but that game against Oregon on Saturday solidified it. Penix is my guy. I just hope he doesn’t end up a Ram or a 49er.

I also like that Bo Nix dude, too. Different player, but I like him. Good athlete, nice arm, seems like another really solid and mature kid.

But give me Michael Penix Junior.

Go Hawks.