Entering Week 3, the Seattle Seahawks were widely considered the best team in the NFL. However, when you are on top of the mountain, there is only one way to go; down. After losing to the Washington Commanders last week, the Seahawks will very likely slip down the national media power rankings this week. However, how far will they slip? Let’s take a look at five national media sites (NFL.com, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report (B/R), Pro Football Talk (PFT), and ESPN) to see where they rank Seattle.
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NFL.com and B/R have dropped the Seahawks down to 4th. In their ranking, NFL.com noted that Seattle’s turnovers (two from Sam Darnold, and one from Jadarian Price) were the big differences against the Commanders. An interesting thing to note as well is that NFL.com ranks the San Francisco 49ers as the new number one team in the NFL. BR meanwhile brought up the Seahawks inability to run the ball effectively in Washington. Seattle ran for less than 50 yards and only 2.4 yards per carry in last week’s loss.
ESPN was the only national media site last week to not rank the Seahawks first in the NFL. However, this week ESPN did not penalize the team too much, only dropping Seattle from 2nd to 4th. In their ranking, ESPN also discussed Price’s underwhelming start. Price ranks 47th in the NFL in fantasy points among running backs – although some of that can also be credited to Seattle deploying a timeshare in the backfield. Regardless, Price’s fumbling issues will likely not help with the timeshare problem.
CBS dropped the Seahawks four spots, from first to fifth in the NFL. CBS noted that despite the interceptions from Darnold, he still “did some good things in his return” and that the Seahawks will be back after this surprising loss. CBS did not issue the biggest drop in power rankings. That honor belongs to PFT, who dropped the Seahawks from first all the way to sixth best in the league. PFT did not offer much analysis in their ranking other than “we’ll find out soon whether the loss at Washington was an aberration or a harbinger.”
Overall, as can be expected after an upset loss to a team with a backup quarterback, the Seahawks dropped in the national media power rankings. Entering week three, the average power ranking between the five polled sites was 1.2. Entering week four, that average has dropped to 4.6.
Despite the loss, the league is still high on the Seahawks. A loss this season was inevitable. Perhaps it is better to get it out of the way early against a non-NFC West team. The Seahawks next test will be in week four against the desperate Los Angeles Chargers. Let’s see if Seattle can get back on track, or if this time next week we are discussing why the team is slipping down the power rankings once again.
