Surprised to see a playoff run

At the start of the NFL season, most were thinking that this was going to be a rebuilding year for the Seattle Seahawks.

Myself included.

Losing starters such as Michael Bennett, Richard Sherman and others, nothing might have surprised me when it came to where the team might finish this season.

However, sitting at 8-5, with a chance to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday, that’s a little surprising.

AFTER STARTING the season with two straight losses, at Denver and at Chicago, it appeared those experts might have been right and it was going to be a long season for the Seahawks.

Then, they started winning some games.

Granted, they were at home vs. Dallas and at Arizona, but, a win is a win.

Since losing at home on Oct. 5 to the Los Angeles Rams, the Seahawks have lost twice, to the Rams again and the Los Angeles Chargers.

That’s it, nobody else.

Not Minnesota, or Green Bay, a few teams that are still chasing playoff dreams of their own.

With two of their final three games at home — Seattle hosts Kansas City next Sunday and Arizona on Dec. 30 to finish the season — the Seahawks have a chance to finish this season with 10 wins, something that seemed impossible early in the season.

While Pete Carroll won’t get votes for Coach of the Year, and there’s a lot better candidates than him this year anyway, the job he did with this group may have been some of his best work for the team.

Maybe better than teams that won the Super Bowl, got back the next year before losing to New England, or found itself just an overtime stop at Atlanta from facing San Francisco in the NFC title game in 2013.

GRANTED THAT whatever luck Seattle needs to get, happens on the road as they’ve long since lost the NFC West division title, with only one possible way to get a home game in the playoffs.

That doesn’t seem to matter.

Seattle has played some of its best football this season, running the football against almost everyone. Teams know what they’re going to do, and somehow, they have a tough time stopping it.

In previous years, with the running game disappearing with the then-retirement of Marshawn Lynch, Seattle had to rely on Russell Wilson to bail them out in most games with a pass or making a play scrambling away from the defense.

Now, it appears Seattle is back to its old ways, running the ball and doing just enough on defense to win games.

What it means for the future, either this year or down the road, remains to be seen with how things finish.

Whether that be in early January, later that month, or even in February.

I know, I’m just as surprised as you are.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.