THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Unlikely heroes step up for banged-up Seahawks

They can’t keep doing this.

Can they?

The standings insist that those crippled Seahawks — who have given up more passing yards than anyone in the league after the first three weeks — are undefeated and all alone atop the NFC West.

Yet, I mean…

Seriously…

There have been moments and stretches of play when you think this team not only will lose here in a few minutes — but that it might happen on WAY too many weekends this fall.

That totally bizarre, bonkers, bananas 38-31 survival act against Dallas on Sunday seemed — well, sometimes — like proof of doom to come.

In the fourth quarter, and in the future.

OK, yeah, you’ve got Russell Wilson, who has thrown the obscene number of 14 touchdown passes in three games.

So, as long as Russ is upright, you always have a chance.

But Seattle’s offensive line is beat up, beat down and already resembles a circus juggling act with guys changing positions.

KEEPING Russ in one piece is getting to be a scarier proposition each week, and now rookie guard Damien Lewis has suffered what looked like a serious ankle problem.

Take pressure off with the running game?

Oh, whoops, that was Chris Carson departing with a leg injury.

Give Russ some help by stopping the other team’s offense?

Great plan, except that the physical damage suffered by the offense looks like child’s play compared to issues on the other side of the ball.

Think about it…

Bruce Irvin and Marquise Blair already were gone for the year.

Safety Lano Hill missed the Dallas game, having hurt his hip on that last play against New England — the driving, low collision that helped upend Cam Newton on the 1-yard line.

Corner Quinton Dunbar sat out injured on Sunday, while backup Tre Flowers got continually torched by Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.

Rookie Jordyn Brooks was summoned for duty at weakside linebacker in place of Irvin, and HE promptly got hurt.

But the real killer was a groin injury suffered by Jamal Adams, who is nominally a safety but seems to be everywhere — and has joined Bobby Wagner as a true soul of the Seattle defense.

When Adams limped off, even diehard fans probably couldn’t have named everyone still on the field.

AND YET…

For the second straight week, the Seahawks won a game you likely suspected they were going to lose.

Really.

Recall that ridiculous piece of showboating by DK Metcalf, who caught a gorgeous cross-country TD pass from Wilson — except that it wasn’t a touchdown, because Metcalf slowed up and began to wave the ball in triumph.

Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, who otherwise had a pretty rough day, embarrassed Metcalf and changed the game’s trajectory by punching the ball out of DK’s hand.

It rolled through the end zone for a touchback.

Somehow, though, it was SO Seattle that Wilson’s fifth and final touchdown pass of the day was a lob to Metcalf, whose speed got him open to score the winning points.

Given what all had happened already — this was the first NFL game ever in which the halftime score was 23-15 — it probably was a cinch that Metcalf would be the one to catch that last pass.

WAS IT all crazy enough?

And gutty enough from the Hawks?

Consider the last two plays of the game, as Dallas drove for the tie.

After the ‘Boys had zipped up the field, the clock finally became critical and Prescott — who had plenty of time to throw all day — suddenly was sacked out of nowhere by Alton Robinson.

You know, THAT Alton Robinson, the fifth-round draft choice who had not played a down until Sunday?

A play later, Prescott was hassled by Benson Mayowa and heaved a jump ball into the end zone.

It was intercepted by Ryan Neal, who was so far down the depth chart that he wasn’t even on it — instead, brought over from the practice squad this week to fill out the roster.

Robinson.

Neal.

On the sideline, both Wilson and the limping Adams were waving their arms and celebrating like schoolkids.

So, let’s go back to the beginning of all this…

They can’t possibly keep it up with so many players in sick bay, can they?

Maybe not, but…

You wouldn’t want to try telling them.

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball, once per month during the offseason.