Seattle Seahawks: The Oddity and Excitement of 4-3

If you had told me that after seven weeks of the NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks were 4-3, I'd have been happy, assuming that the team had beaten the Cardinals, Cowboys, Rams, and Panthers, while losing to the Packers, Patriots, and 49ers.

Not to toot my own horn, but prior to the season, this record is where Luke Wehrheim and I predicted the Seahawks would be on our Wolf Grey Podcast. Granted, the three losses were supposed to come from the Panthers, Patriots, and Niners, but who's counting? Oh right, I am.

So why should we all be happy with 4-3? Theoretically, we're a Braylon Edwards drop away from beating the Cardinals. We're a Robert Turbin drop (and Edwards drop and Moore drop and Tate drop) away from beating the 49ers. Conversely, we're a Golden Tate catch away from losing to the Packers and a Cam Newton spaz throw away from losing to the Panthers. The point being that it's fallacious to say "By all accounts, we should be 5-2 or 6-1." Luck goes both ways (well, at least this year it does), and dwelling on what could've been is poisonous to fandom.

When we take a step back, one thing is clear: Every single game has been competitive. Each of our three losses were by one score or less. Considering that we've played three of the top teams in the league, three Super-Bowl favorites, that's pretty freaking impressive. This team is legit. The defense may bend, but it holds when it has to (like in the red zone). For a short rookie, Russell Wilson is showing marked improvement every game.

Well, fellow fans, I'd like to remind you that we've been through the worst of it. From the looks of things, the San Francisco game was the hardest left on our schedule. The remaining nine games provide a few challenges, but keep in mind a few things:

1. Every remaining divisional matchup is at home. That's good.

2. One of our away games is in Toronto, which means that the "home" team (the Bills) doesn't have their usual home field advantage. That's good.

3. Five more home games. That's really good.

The Dolphins have surprised many folks this year, but I suspect that by the time we face them down the line, their holes will be more apparent and easily exploitable. Also, they only beat the struggling Bengals, the atrocious Raiders, and the Lambs. So I'm not super-duper worried.

Perhaps the toughest remaining game is on the road at Chicago. We've won there in the regular season the past two years, but this Chicago team is definitely superior to either of those other teams. Here's to hoping for a Jay Cutler meltdown.

Ultimately, us fans have a lot to look forward to for the rest of the season. This team is good, and is winning close matchups. It's feasible (it won't happen) that this team would win eight out of the next nine games.

If I could give one word of advice to Pete Carroll going into the final nine, I'd tell him to ditch the white jerseys/grey pants combo while on the road. We're 0-3 while wearing them, whereas the blue jerseys/grey pants combo netted us a victory in Carolina. Not sayin, just sayin.