Seahawks can find out just how good they are against Ravens
RENTON — It’s not as if the Seahawks haven’t beaten anybody on their way to a 5-2 record and a first-place standing in the NFC West as the season approaches the halfway point.
They are one of just two teams to beat the Lions (6-2) and the only one to do it in Detroit, which is one of just two teams in the NFC with a better record than the Seahawks.
Last week the Seahawks rallied to beat the Browns, who have allowed the fewest yards in the league. They did it by putting up the second-most yards anyone has on the Browns this season, 362, which is 102 more than their season average.
The way the Seahawks have portrayed this week, their toughest test yet may be coming Sunday when they travel to Baltimore to play the Ravens.
Like the Lions, the Ravens are 6-2. The only team with a better record is the 7-1 Philadelphia Eagles.
The Ravens have a point differential of plus-81, second in the NFL behind only Buffalo’s plus-86 (Seahawks are at plus-30).
You might need the Hubble Telescope to try to find a legitimate weakness on a Ravens team as balanced as any in the NFL.
The offense, led by perennial MVP candidate quarterback Lamar Jackson, is 11th in total offense and third in rushing while ranking seventh in points scored per game at 25.7.
The defense is even better, allowing the second-fewest yards and the fewest yards per play (4.2, a half-yard less than any other NFL team) and the fewest points per game (15.1) while also getting the most sacks (31).
The special teams are annually among the best in the NFL led by likely future Hall of Fame kicker Justin Tucker.
“I think this is going to be a very grimy game,” receiver Tyler Lockett said. “I think the Ravens are really physical, their secondary is really good, their front seven is really good. It’s one of those times where you get a chance to see, ‘where are we at as a team?’”
Or as coach Pete Carroll put it on Friday afternoon: “This is a really challenging matchup. Even getting through the week, now we’ve done it all and done the plans in all phases, it’s still a really big challenge because these guys are so good at everything. It’s going to really call on us to be at our best, and that’s a great thing. Hopefully we’ll be able to pull this thing off and get a great win out there.”
Indeed, Carroll was taking the longer view of this game, knowing that while a win would obviously be the best-case scenario, it would be good for the Seahawks to get a sense of where they stand against elite NFL teams as their schedule intensifies in the second half of the year, with two games against the 49ers as well as the Eagles and Cowboys.
“I think this is amazing for us at this time of the year to have these challenges,’’ Carroll said. “Whether we’re playing here or there, it doesn’t matter. These are the kinds of games that we have to have in our schedule to build yourself up so that you get stronger, you get smarter, you learn from them. This feels like a championship game again.’’
The game also has plenty of tangible meaning.
With the 49ers (who are 5-3) and Lions on their byes this week, the math is simple: If the Seahawks win they move a game ahead of San Francisco in the NFC West and into the No. 2 playoff spot in the NFC thanks to holding the tiebreaker on Detroit.
A loss, and the Seahawks would technically fall into second in the NFC West (the 49ers for the moment hold a tiebreaker because of a better record in division games) and as low as sixth in the NFC playoff standings.
Jackson and an offense as diverse as any in the NFL will be an especially good litmus test for a Seahawks defense that has been among the best in the league the last month. They are allowing just 12.5 points per contest over the last four games and just nine points — and no touchdowns — in the second half.
That has allowed the Seahawks to climb to 16th in total defense at 331 yards allowed per game and 11th in points allowed per game at 19.7.
It comes after a week when the Seahawks made about as strong of a statement about where they think this season could be headed, trading a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-rounder to the Giants for defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
