4 bold predictions: Seattle Seahawks defense stands up versus Browns in Week 8

The Seattle Seahawks are 4-2 and face the Cleveland Browns in Week 8. The Browns have the same record as Seattle. Cleveland will be missing their starting quarterback, but they have an excellent defense. This could be a very low-scoring game.

One concern in this game could also be the same as a potential positive for Seattle. The Seahawks defense has looked much better in recent games. While Week 8 will mark the third time this year they will have faced a backup quarterback, they also faced the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow and did a good job against him.

Still, is the improvement of Seattle's defense for real? And is their run defense definitely better than it was in 2022? We might find out the answers to those questions against the Browns. Here are some predictions.

Seattle Seahawks pass for fewer than 150 yards

Since the beginning of the 2022 when Geno Smith became QB1 for the Seahawks, Seattle has thrown for fewer than 150 yards twice. One of those times, however, Seattle won. Sometimes teams simply don't need to throw that much simply because the team has scored in different ways, but that's not the case with Seattle.

In 2022, Seattle defeated the New York Jets 23-6 yet Smith passed for 148 yards because Smith was sacked 4 times for almost 40 yards. Seattle did run well against New York, though, as Kenneth Walker had 133 yards. Seattle scored twice through the air, though, even though they didn't collect a ton of passing yards.

In Week 1 of 2023, Seattle did extremely on offense overall. Geno Smith passed for 112 yards before taking into account he was sacked twice for 18 yards. Seattle also gained just 85 yards rushing.

My point in saying all that is that even if Seattle passes for 150 yards in Week 8 against the Cleveland Browns, things might be OK. Cleveland has a well-rounded defense, but they are best against the pass where they've allowed a quarterback rating of just 79.1, sixth in the league, and 6.6 yards per attempt, which ranks ninth. Seattle's offensive line hasn't been great at blocking for Smith the last few weeks so I wouldn't think he would have lots of time against Cleveland to throw for many yards either.