Last week, after the Seattle Seahawks blew out the Washington Commanders and acquired wide receiver, Rashid Shaheed, the national media was overall optimistic, with a few sites viewing the Seahawks as true Super Bowl Contenders. Now, with a blowout win over the Arizona Cardinals, will more national media outlets view Seattle a legitimate threats to win the title?
As can be expected after back to back blowout wins, the national consensus is becoming that the Seahawks are legitimate contenders. All
five national media sites polled (NFL.com, Pro Football Talk, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and CBS Sports) moved Seattle up (or in the case of NFL.com, kept them ranked at first.)
Let’s start with the lowest rankings and make our way up. It is quite a testament to this team’s dominance that the lowest rankings they have is around the 4-6 range. PFT, who has the Seahawks ranked the lowest at 6th, moved the team up two spots. PFT still kept the Los Angeles Rams at 1st while noting that the Week 11 match-up between the two teams will be a “gigantic showdown.”
ESPN moved the Seahawks up four spots, from 9th to 5th on this weeks rankings, also behind the Rams who came in at 2nd. In their ranking of Seattle, ESPN talks about Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s dominance this season, noting multiple eye-opening stats, including that Smith-Njigba maintains his lead on the rest of the NFL in receiving yards (1,041) with more than a 200-yard gap between him and second place (Ja’Marr Chase with 831). Bleacher Report has also moved Seattle up, this time up two spots from 6th to 4th. In this ranking Bleacher Report brought up the strong combination of an opportunistic defense and strong “three-headed running back rotation.” Just to keep track, Bleacher Report also has the Rams ranked as 1st in the league.
What is notable this week is that NFL.com is no longer the only national media site that has ranked the Seahawks as the best team in the league. CBS Sports has also moved the Seahawks into 1st place, moving them up two spots from last week. CBS noted that the Seahawks defensive front is “nasty” and “dominant” and will need to show their force against the Rams this week. Speaking of the Rams, CBS Sports has them coming in right after Seattle, at 2nd in their rankings.
NFL.com who was the first national media site to rank Seattle so highly is maintaining their stance that they are the best team in the league. Taking a big picture look at the league, the season has not had one team truly take the mantle as the true “best team in the league.” Just look how the top teams in the league all have at least two losses. However, NFL.com, in their ranking of Seattle mentions that keeping them at first can be a sign of true stability for once, noting that the victory over Arizona felt like the win over the Houston Texans in that it was “far from a clean performance for four quarters” but still was a 22-point victory. NFL.com, like CBS Sports, also had the Rams coming in at 2nd in their rankings.
After week nine, the average power ranking between the five sites (NFL.com, PFT, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and CBS Sports) was 5.4. After Week 10, the average power ranking between those same sites is 3.4, in true contender position. Just because we were keeping note of the Rams’ rankings as well, after week ten, the Rams average power ranking between these sites is 1.6. These averages for the Seahawks (3.4) and the Rams (1.6) just further highlight how gigantic of a match-up this Week 11 game is. Time will tell if Seattle can come out victorious and truly take hold as the best team in the NFL.
