I'll dive into the reasons behind my disappearing act in one of the Thoughts.
For now, I'll just say that it feels good to be writing this article, but it feels even better to be doing it with the Seattle Seahawks a full two games up in the NFC West after a mere three weeks.
As nice as an 0-3 Rams team would have been, a 1-2 Niners squad is so much better.
That said . . . F -- k the Rams! (spoiler: there's a good chance that I'm going to say, "F -- k the Rams!" a few more times.)
The Cardinals still seem like the kid brother in our division.
Plus, they play Santa Clara (in Santa Clara) in Week 5 and we want them to hang another L on the Niners before our Week 6 matchup at Lumen Field.
It will officially be the first Seahawks game that I haven't watched live in at least a decade, probably more.
Why?
Because my daughter invited me to North Carolina to go car shopping with her and one of the only things I love more than the Seahawks is my kids.
Still . . . shitty timing LOL.
(Note: I'm a guest columnist now so I'm going to be a little more carefree when it comes to cursing and using chat-speak.)
Let's turn our attention to the Detroit Lions, my second-favorite team, and this week's opponent.
Remember the low key (Loki?) controversy when Aaron Rodgers proclaimed, mid-game, that he "owned" the Chicago Bears?
For his career, which started in 2005 (but didn't actually start until 2008), Rodgers is 24-5 against the Windy City Losers; a winning percentage of 82.75%.
During that same period of time (2005 to present), the Seahawks are 8-1 vs. the Lions; a winning percentage of 88.8%.
Just sayin'.
In fact, if we go back to the turn of the century, Seattle is 9-1 vs. Detroit.
Of course, none of that will matter come this time next week if the 2024 Seahawks don't handle their business on Monday Night Football and push the streak to seven straight wins vs. the Motown Kitties.
Anyone know who the backup quarterback is in Detroit?
Save that answer; it's going to be part of the punchline to an NSFW joke in one of the final six thoughts.
Clue:
On Monday, one of the Field Gulls rookies wrote an article about the Seahawks' 3-0 start and what that portends for their playoff chances.
In the article, it's pointed out that the Seahawks' last 3-0 start was in 2020, and that the 2020 team started the season 5-0.
How many other times have the Seahawks started a season with a 3-0 record?
The answer is both surprising, and also not.
This is the Seahawks 49th season, and they have started eight of those seasons with a 3-0 record.
Then came a stretch of three 3-0 starts over a four-year span: 2003, 2004, and 2006.
2013 was the Seahawks' sixth 3-0 start - of course, the end of that season was even better than the beginning :)
Then 2020 and now 2024.
In and of itself, that's sort of interesting, but what happened after the 3-0 start in each of those eight seasons is much more intriguing.
The first six times that Seattle started 3-0, they lost Game 4.
Looking at that another way, here's the Seahawks record after their first loss those eight seasons: 3-1, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1.
I see a nice progression there.
And I can definitely see this year's team continuing that upward trend.
I don't want to jinx things by looking too far ahead, but . . .
An 8-0 start is probably a stretch, but 6-0, even 7-0 seems doable given how things are shaping up thus far.
Let's shift our focus to the rival 49ers for this thought.
Sure, they opened as double-digit favorites against the New England Patriots this week.
And, yes, that's (currently) the largest spread across Week 4's slate of games.
So what.
The games are played on the field, not at the sportsbooks.
Ready for the NSFW joke that I mentioned in Thought No. 6?
Let's start with the reason(s) that I'm not a regular contributor on Field Gulls this season . . .
. . . and why I've only written five articles (including this one) since the 2023 season ended with the Kansas City Chiefs holding the Lombardi Trophy for the third time in the last five seasons.
The initial dial-back was because I was dealing with a stressful and seemingly unending job search that had "officially" begun a month into the 2023 season, but which had actually started near the end of the 2022 season when almost the entire team I was on at (a certain Redmond tech company) was unceremoniously dismissed.
Fast forward to mid-July when I returned to a career that I had enjoyed from 2005-2010 (real estate sales) while also starting the process to acquire a mortgage license.
At the time, I figured I could do both and also write for Field Gulls.
Then, in early-August, I was offered a job at (a certain Redmond tech company) on a team that primarily runs on an East Coast schedule (6am to 2pm Pacific).
That schedule folds in well with my resurrected real estate career and fledgling mortgage career.
What it does NOT fold in well with is writing for Field Gulls.
So I stepped back, and what seems like 100 new writers stepped up to take my place.
(I'm kidding, Mookie, please don't force me to publish this as a FanPost.)
For those that didn't get the joke, Detroit's backup quarterback is Hendon Hooker.
And the blank line is a link to his jersey on NFLShop.com.
Through the first three weeks of the season, the Seahawks have the No. 1 defense vs. the pass, allowing a mere 132.3 yards per game.
Just as impressively, they're No. 2 in yards allowed overall, despite being middle of the pack vs. the run (No. 15 at 116.3 per game).
And they're now No. 5 in points allowed at 14.3 per contest - which was obviously helped by holding the Miami Dolphins to just a field goal on Sunday.
To quote Darth Vader: "Impressive. Most impressive."
And another Vader quote: "The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet."
My point?
The Seahawks defense has built their impressive start by facing three "lesser" teams - New England has the fewest yards in the league, Miami has the fewest points, and the Broncos are in the bottom half of the league in both categories.
The sledding gets tougher from here though.
Detroit's offense is 4th in yards (but only 16th in points) and Santa Clara's offense is 3rd in yards (10th in points).
Then, in Week 8, the Seahawks get to face Josh Allen's Bills, who currently lead the league in scoring despite being a somewhat pedestrian 13th in yards per game.
Bottom line: The defense is off to a nice start, but they have to keep it up if they want to become Jedi.
I have been less than impressed with the Seahawks offense through the first three games.
Honestly, I expected a much more explosive attack than we've seen.
So imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Seahawks are in the top ten in yards per game (8th) and points per game (tied for 9th).
And imagine my outright SHOCK when I saw that the Seahawks' passing attack is No. 3 overall behind only the Niners (+11 yards per game) and the Cowboys (+23 yards per game).
I'm still not "impressed" by what I've seen thus far, but I'm willing to admit that my expectations may have been a little too high.
And . . .
I can't wait to see what the offense looks like when they stop shooting themselves in the damn foot and/or find viable "solutions" (plural) on the interior line.
I mean, seriously . . .
From a statistical standpoint, our top two wideouts (DK and JSN) are killing it: they're tied for 13th overall (with De'Von Achane and Dallas Goedert) with 17 receptions apiece, and are both in the top-25 in yards - JSN is 23rd with 175; DK is sixth (!!) with 262.
On the ground, the Seahawks are only one touchdown behind a trio of teams, and it's worth noting that the teams ahead of them are averaging between 17% and 40% more carries per game.
Oh, and according to PFF (I know, I know) . . .
Geno Smith has an overall score/grade of 83.9 which ranks fifth overall behind only Aaron Rodgers (84.5), Kyler Murray (85.0), Brock Purdy (88.1), and Derek Carr (89.6).
Using more "traditional" stats, Geno is:
Add it all up and, yeah, maybe my expectations have been a little high.
For those that are wondering when I'll write the next 12 Thoughts article (or any other article in general), late-October / early-November seems like a safe bet since the Seahawks host the FTRs on November 3rd.
I can't promise anything, of course, but I would pretty surprised if I passed on an opportunity to say F -- k the Rams! a dozen or so times over the course of 12 Thoughts.
Also, as a reminder, my name on this site, Frank T. Raines, is a pseudonym, and I chose it because the initials are FTR which, of course, stands for F -- k The Rams!
Had I actually used my real name, this next thought would be much easier for some of you to take advantage of . . .
(Spoiler: Shameless plug incoming.)
IF you're local, IF you're in the market to buy or sell a home, IF you're able to figure out how to contact me (hint, hint), and IF you mention "Field Gulls" and/or "FTR", I will reduce my commission by 37%.
Why 37 percent?
Because my all-time favorite Seahawk is Shaun Alexander.