Larry Stone: Plenty of reasons why Seahawks season is not lost, yet

Pete Carroll sounded Sunday night like he wanted to reset the Seahawks’ season. Or at least wipe out the distasteful portion that already has been played 12.5 percent of the schedule, like it or not.

“We are going to get back to work and get the season started,” Carroll said at one point in his postgame news conference in Green Bay, after Seattle’s 27-17 loss to the Packers.

“It feels like we’re not as clean as we need to be. We’re going to start over again,” he said a few moments later. “Here we go. Go home, let’s get started, and get this thing rolling.”

There are no do-overs, of course, and the Seahawks are stuck with their 0-2 record and all the ramifications that come with it. That includes the angst, the playoff math that already is stacked against them, and the discomfort of knowing that their status as one of the league’s elite teams is not reflected, at the moment, in either the standings or statistics.

But at a time when many NFL followers believe the sky is falling in Seattle, and when everyone (myself included) is pointing out the team’s faults, it’s a crucial time for the Seahawks to keep their heads. And their perspective.

It has been ugly and frustrating, no question. But that doesn’t mean it has to be catastrophic. And if the Seahawks can indeed start their season, as Carroll alluded which is to say, start playing the kind of sustained, intense, inspired football we’ve seen over much of the past two seasons then this stretch will be overcome.

The Seahawks have known these two games would be difficult ever since the schedule was released. Now they are coming home to face two winless teams, the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, that they should be able to handle. If they lose one of those games, feel free to panic. But for now, here are a few salves for the wounded soul.

Both games have had enough stretches of quality play from the Seahawks to reassure that it’s still in there. Russell Wilson showed flashes Sunday of his ability to disrupt opponents with both his legs and his arm. You’ve got to figure that he’ll find a way to get Jimmy Graham more involved in the offense soon. You’ve got to figure that a defense regarded in recent years as one of the finest in NFL history will not become vulnerable overnight, even with the continued absence of Kam Chancellor.

Yes, skeptics will point to another costly late interception by Wilson. They’ll point to a Chancellor-less defense that has allowed two straight quarterbacks, Nick Foles and Aaron Rodgers, to post a quarterback rating over 100 (115.8 and 116.9, respectively to be exact). Exactly zero quarterbacks did that last year against Seattle. And the skeptics may note that Marshawn Lynch’s 2.7 yards per carry Sunday could be a sign of the decline many have feared.

But Lynch has earned the benefit of the doubt. So has the Seahawks’ defense, which ranks 29th in the NFL in points allowed after two games (ahead of only Chicago and Oakland, unsavory bedfollows) after leading the entire NFL for three straight seasons.

If the Seahawks had gotten a favorable call on a fumble they were certain they had recovered after Wilson’s fateful interception, it could have been a different game. If Dion Bailey hadn’t slipped in St. Louis, that might have been a different outcome, as well.

Wouldas and couldas don’t win ballgames. The Seahawks figured out a way to prevail in the close ones the past two years. But two games does not a season make.

It makes trends, it foments worries, it causes teams to dig deep, regroup, reassess. And that happens to be something the Seahawks have accomplished before, most vividly after last year’s 3-3 start, with the Percy Harvin-related infighting and team friction that had to be and was repaired.

This is still a veteran-laden team, and they will have a chance to show that this 0-2 start is an aberration, not the start of a downfall. The rest is up to them.

Cornerback Richard Sherman was asked last week if it was too early to think about the playoff ramifications of the upcoming Packers game.

“I think it’s always too early to think about playoff ramifications, because you have to play the game, you have to deal with that, and so many things change,” he replied

“There are teams who start off undefeated and end up not in the playoffs. There are teams that start off .500 and end up with the No. 1 seed ... You can’t put too much into the early season.”

He referenced last year’s Packers, who started 0-1. “Everybody was screaming Bloody Mary, they’re doomed,” Sherman said. “They end up with the No. 2 seed, (in the) NFC Championship, and had a great chance to win that ballgame.”

The loss was a doozy a 36-16 rout at the hands of the Seahawks. And if, after that lackluster performance, their fans were screaming bloody murder or Bloody Mary, for those drowning their sorrows they changed their tune when the Packers won 11 of their final 13 after a 1-2 start.

As much consternation as the Seahawks have already caused their fans more than a few are already screaming, or perhaps even drinking Bloody Marys there’s no reason they can’t do that, too.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Larry Stone is a columnist for the Seattle Times

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