Field Gulls
Last week, after the Seattle Seahawks beat the New Orleans Saints, many national media sites continued moving Seattle up in their weekly rankings. However, how will that change after the Seahawks held off their division rival, Arizona Cardinals 23-20 in Week 4?
Well, as can be expected after three straight wins, the Seahawks are continuing their upward trajectory into the top 10. This week the five media sites reviewed (Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, NFL.com, and Pro Football Talk all rank Seattle comfortably within the top 10.
The lowest of those rankings come from Pro Football Talk (PFT), Bleacher Report, and ESPN. Bleacher Report, who moved Seattle from 14th to 9th, noted that Seattle have “looked like serious playoff contenders” with the Week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers looking like a fluke. ESPN, who also moved the Seahawks from 14th to 9th, decided to look at areas each team could improve on. For the Seahawks, ESPN noted Seattle’s issues in running the ball. Despite the explosiveness they have shown, “the Seahawks have a league-high 33 attempts that either lost yardage or gained zero yards.” PFT similar to Bleacher Report and ESPN, moved Seattle up from 13 to 10 on their power rankings list.
Though coming in 9th and 10th on the three above lists are positive, both Yahoo and NFL.com have even more positive rankings. Yahoo, who rose the Seahawks up from 14th to 8th, discussed Seattle as a potential division winner in the tough NFC West.
The biggest move, and somewhat surprising move of the week was from NFL.com who moved Seattle up eight spots from 13th to 5th on their power rankings list. The article discusses the natural skepticism around letting DK Metcalf go, and how that skepticism has gone away with Jaxon Smith-Njigba being “everything the Seahawks could have hoped for in a big-play WR1.”
After Week 3, the average power ranking between the five sites (NFL.com, PFT, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and Yahoo) was 13.6. After Week 4, the average power ranking between these same five sites is 8.2, well within the top ten. With three impressive wins in a row, the overall consensus from the national media seems to be that they expect Seattle to be a playoff team. However, it will not be an easy road ahead for Seattle with a difficult schedule, and a tough NFC West. This next week will be a huge test for Seattle as they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
