3 reasons to have great hopes for the Seattle Seahawks for the rest of 2023

Seattle's defense does seem to be legit

Say what you will about the Seahawks defense against a backup quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in Week 8, but Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski has proven he knows how to scheme against opponents offensively. One reason for Cleveland's first touchdown drive against Seattle was that the plays were so well designed, especially the screen passes. Sometimes instead of blaming something on one's own team, we must give credit to what the other team is doing.

But since getting healthier in the secondary, Seattle's defense overall has been very good. This is definitely true about Seattle's second half performances. Whatever adjustments defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt is doing at halftime is mostly working and a huge difference between he and former DC Ken Norton, Jr. Norton couldn't seem to adjust at all.

In the past four second-halves of games, the Seahawks have allowed only 9 points and no touchdowns. While some of that can be attributed to Seattle playing backup quarterbacks, there is one important outlier. Seattle lost to Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals - the same Burrow that just went 28 of 32 and 3 touchdowns against the 49ers in Week 8 - but in the second half of the game, Seattle allowed just 3 points in the second half and less than 100 total yards.

Cleveland still had scored 32 points offensively the week before playing Seattle, and that was with P.J. Walker mostly at quarterback. Seattle gave up too many yards total to Cleveland, but in the second Seattle only allowed the Browns to convert on third down on two of six attempts. Seattle's defense will certainly be challenged over most of the rest of the season, but the group also appears much better than in previous years.