Seattle Seahawks Roundtable: Are the Seahawks a playoff team?

The Seattle Seahawks are 3-3. The offense has picked up with their new found commitment to the running game. Are they a playoff team?

Every third Wednesday of the month Emerald City Swagger will have a Seattle Seahawks Experts Roundtable. Our panelists will give a detailed answer to one question. Opinions will always vary and may sometimes surprise our readers.

Sunday the Seahawks beat Oakland 27-3 at Webley Stadium in London. The win evened up Seattle’s record at 3-3. Additionally, the Hawks have won three of four and their lone loss in this stretch was to the Rams, 33-31.

We asked our experts if they thought the Seattle Seahawks are a playoff team?

Joel Carpenter

Will the Seahawks make the playoffs? If I had been asked that question coming into the season the answer would have been an emphatic no. Between 7-9 and 9-7, was the prediction I would have given without hesitation, no playoffs and a continuing of the reboot Coach Carroll and co had discussed prior to the draft.

Now, however? Things have changed, and as of now, I do believe they will somehow sneak into the playoffs as a 5 or 6 seed. The absolute reversal of perennial competitive NFC teams makes that a strong possibility. Any team in the NFC not currently residing in Los Angeles is suspect and in many cases a mirage.

Ultimately, every team has holes, every season. It’s simply a product of free agency and parity, also known as the current NFL. That said, is anyone bullish on Chicago, Green Bay, or Minnesota? Seattle currently has a strong running game, a franchise-caliber quarterback, and a young and opportunistic defense, teams have certainly won with less.

Games that I would have written off as definite losses coming into the season look more and more like victories based on the first third of the season, as well as three more games against inferior division opponents. Seattle may indeed still finish at 9-7, but honestly, I think even that may well be good enough for a wild card birth.