Seattle Seahawks Bye Week Outlook

Despite a disappointing loss to the San Diego Chargers in Week 2, the Seattle Seahawks are in a good position heading into their Week 4 bye. Our main NFC competition, the San Francisco 49ers, are sitting at 1-2 and have a locker room on the brink of collapse according to John Clayton. Clayton reported that head coach John Harbaugh’s antics are beginning to wear on the 49er players.

The other team to worry about is the 3-0 Arizona Cardinals, who beat the aforementioned 49ers with relative ease, 23-14. It could have been 30-14 if not for Larry Fitzgerald fumbling on San Francisco’s 4-yard line. But as long as Seattle can take care of business Week five at Washington on Monday night, we should make up the 1-game deficit with Arizona playing at the Denver Broncos.

The Hawks’ have a relatively easy schedule over the next seven weeks. They play the @Washington Redskins (1-2), Dallas Cowboys (2-1), @St. Louis Rams (1-2), @Carolina Panthers (1-2), Oakland Raiders (0-3), New York Giants (1-2), and the @Kansas City Chiefs (1-2).

Of those seven, the only game the Hawks won’t be big favorites in is playing the Panthers in Carolina, one of the only teams in the NFL who can match up physically with Seattle. The schedule after that becomes significantly more difficult, so the Hawks will need to play well in weeks 5-11.

Other notes: Rookie wide out Kevin Norwood should be set to make his pro debut following the bye. To this point in the season fellow rookie Paul Richardson has not been a part of the game plan with one catch for seven yards. Although, the solid play from Ricardo Lockette and Bryan Walters might have something to do with that. We’ll see what Pete Carroll and Darrell Bevell can do with Norwood.

Bruce Irvin will be back after missing Sunday’s game against Denver. He suffered a minor rib injury at practice on Wednesday and was a late scratch from the game.

As if facing Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning wasn’t enough, the Hawks D will have to contend with another top quarterback in Washington’s Kirk Cousins, who is making his case not only for replacing RGIII, but as one of the best pocket passers in the NFL. He threw for 427 yards and 3 TD’s this past weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Rest up, Seahawks. The work is just beginning.