Seattle Seahawks: 3 Standouts vs. Bengals in Week 1
By Samuel Teets
The Seattle Seahawks beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1, but it wasn’t an inspiring first look a Pete Carroll’s squad.
On a rainy day, the Seattle Seahawks were nearly upset by the Cincinnati Bengals. Seattle did rally to win, 21-20, in front of the home crowd, but the team looked shaky. The Seahawks have developed the bad habit of playing to the level of their competition, and it showed on Sunday.
The Bengals are supposed to be living in the basement of the AFC North, yet they took the Seahawks to the wire. Andy Dalton set single-game career highs in completions with 35 and passing yards with 418. John Ross, who had 210 total receiving yards in his first two seasons, caught seven passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
The Seahawks survived by draining the clock late in the game and then getting a favorable ruling on a play that originally looked like an incomplete pass by Dalton. Upon further review, the play was called a fumble. The ball was given to the Seahawks since Seattle’s defenders smarty fell on it despite the play initially not being ruled as a fumble.
While some people have the view that getting the win is all that matters, I’ll argue that how you win is just as important. The Seahawks did not win well on. Sunday. They made an average quarterback, a first-year head coach, and a team missing their star receiver look like they were getting ready for the postseason.
How do Dalton and Ross both have career games? How do you only beat the Bengals by one point? These are things the Seahawks cannot allow to happen if they want to be considered a serious playoff contender.
The Seahawks are going to face a lot of aspiring playoff teams this season, including the New Orleans Saints and division rival Los Angeles Rams. Seattle won’t be able to beat those teams by playing like they did against the Bengals.