SEATTLE — It was passable.
Don’t bother grading the Seattle Seahawks’ ugly 30-24 victory Sunday over winless Oakland.
There is no extra credit for Marshawn Lynch moving a mountain of humanity into the end zone.
And there are no demerits for Seattle surrendering its first touchdown on a blocked punt in 14 years.
The NFL grades its teams on a pass-fail system every week. Like Raiders patriarch Al Davis said, “Just win baby.”
There weren’t many lessons to take from Sunday’s quagmire. Missing 10 key players, the banged-up Seahawks fielded mostly their junior varsity squad.
The Raiders ARE a junior varsity squad.
High-caliber football it was not.
“I know you all like it to be easier and smoother than it was today,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “But it’s a battle every week. Suck it up.”
At the season’s midway point, we don’t know who the Seahawks really are. The midterm grade? Incomplete.
The Seahawks have enough problems right now that even bad teams can hang close. Yet they’re good enough to have beaten Denver.
Russell Wilson remains one of the NFL’s most dynamic quarterbacks, especially when he scrambles. Yet he was the first to say he played poorly on Sunday, when he completed 17 of 35 passes for 179 yards.
“I don’t think I played well at all,” he said. “Usually I know why. It’s my footwork or something else I can pinpoint. Today, I felt into it, but nothing was working.”
Lynch still has beastly moments, but he hasn’t had a 100-yard rushing game since Week 1 against Green Bay.
On defense, the Seahawks are allowing seven more points per game than last season, when they were the NFL stingiest defense at 14.4 points per game. They too haven’t been the same since losing leading tackler Bobby Wagner.
“We’re finding ways to win games when we’re not playing our best,” Wilson said. “We’re far from our best. But when we put it together, we’ll be hard to stop.”
Relief appears to be on the way. The offense hasn’t been the same since losing Pro Bowl center Max Unger to a foot injury one month ago. Carroll said Unger will likely play next week against the New York Giants.
The Seahawks encountered similar injury woes last year. For a stretch last season, Wilson and the offense were as “blah” as Sunday’s showing that matched the cool drizzly weather.
Once healthy, last year’s Seahawks found their identity through power running and defense. They were unbeatable at the most important time of the season.
Now 5-3, the Seahawks’ season will be decided over a six-week stretch from Nov. 16 to Dec. 12. They play San Francisco and Arizona twice, with road trips to Kansas City and Philadelphia sprinkled in.
That stretch will determine if the Seahawks are NFC West champs, a Wild Card team or don’t make the playoffs at all.
For a team that still considers itself a Super Bowl contender, that will determine the final grade for this season.
