Very impressive. And no need to jump on the OP for opening the convo. The issue is brought up by all kinds of bloggers, podcasters, and commercial TV folks whenever the Seahawks do their thing. Each of our last 3 wins have been met with "yeah, but" responses from some. Yeah, but Drew Stanton... yeah, but 9ers struggling offense... yeah but, Mark Sanchez...
I don't fixate on the detractors. It does nothing for me. The positivity emanating from our players and coaches, and the way our Hawks fly around the field is enough to get me excited. I bring it up because it is a running theme, it is out there, and for the blatherers who don't really watch the Seahawks until we go up against a "premiere" team, or an NFC East team, that narrative will continue.
But there are also unbiased folks out there who get it. The ones who have known for a long time that Pete is not "a joke" like Warren Sapp said "a little birdie" told him years ago. The ones who know how skillful, willful, and in control Russell Wilson is. The ones who know we were getting by with backups in a lot of key positions on both sides of the ball, particularly on defense. After this 3rd dominant performance in a row – 2 of which have been on the road – those folks are now educating the willfully ignorant that the BOOM is back, Wilson is an electric, one-of-a-kind QB, and the Seahawks are sustaining excellent playoff-calibre football right now.
To many outsiders, we are the bad boys of the NFL. I understand things like Sherman's rants and Bennett's pull-no-punches quips will irritate non-Seahawks fans. But we know these guys, we appreciate the team-focused approach, the ability to use "new age" methods en route to playing "old school" smash-mouth football, and the championship mindset. We see the Hawks as the good guys, but there's nothing wrong with outsiders wanting to put the black hat on us. There's nothing wrong with our players' off-field talk and on-field dominance stirring up anger in opposing teams' fanbases.
The questions are okay. It happens every year. Did we just beat a good team? Or did we just take advantage of a team that has taken advantage of a soft schedule? How much of our poor play in 4 losses was due to an intangible "Super Bowl Hangover" and how much was injuries and taking time to get new players up to speed? All valid queries.
For me, the answer is: none of that matters. We know our guys. If they come out and play the way they are capable – if they continue hitting the field with that championship mindset – we know they can win any game, any time, anywhere. When they play together, for each other, they are absolutely, resolutely, historically impressive.