Field Gulls
Last week, the Seattle Seahawks rose again in the national power rankings after their shutout victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Will another dominant victory over the Atlanta Falcons continue this trend?
Like last week, the win over the Falcons has moved the Seahawks up on average, however, once you’re already in the top five, there is not much room to move up. Regardless, let’s see where all all five national media sites polled (NFL.com, Pro Football Talk, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and CBS Sports) have moved the Seahawks up in their rankings.
For the first time in a few weeks, one of the national media sites actually moved the Seahawks down despite a dominant victory over the Falcons. That site was Bleacher Report (BR), who moved Seattle down one spot from 4th to 5th. Despite this drop, BR had nothing but positive things to say about the Seahawks. The one spot drop was rather a result of the Green Bay Packers moving up one spot from to 4 after their thrilling victory over the Chicago Bears.
Both CBS Sports and PFT kept Seattle as the 4th best team in the league. In their rankings, CBS made note that the Seahawks are doing what they are supposed to do against inferior teams, and that they cannot get caught looking ahead to the re-match against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football, as they still need to face the Indianapolis Colts beforehand in Week 15. PFT, in their ranking, made the ominous statement that the Seahawks are “starting to feel like a team of destiny.”
This week, as part of their power rankings, ESPN made note of each team’s most shocking statistical ranking. While moving Seattle up one spot from 4th to 3rd, ESPN noted that the Seahawks are second in the NFL in giveaways, and despite that are still sixth in scoring offense (26.5 PPG.)
Lastly, NFL.com has kept the Seahawks ranked as the 2nd best team in the NFL, once again, only behind the Rams. In this ranking NFL.com stated that the Seahawks are dangerous because all three phases of the game are explosive, this especially coming after Rashid Shaheed’s 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
After week thirteen, the average the average power ranking between the five sites (NFL.com, PFT, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and CBS Sports) was 3.6. After Week 14, the average power ranking between those same sites is still, 3.6. Overall, the national media has not changed their attitude much on Seattle. They are projected to be a Super Bowl contending team, who needs to work out some wrinkles before the playoffs begin (as all teams in the NFL need to do.) The elephant in the room remains the looming Week 16 rematch against the Rams. However, as CBS Sports said, Seattle cannot get caught looking ahead to this game as the Indianapolis Colts (and perhaps Philip Rivers?) are coming to town.
