Seahawks News: DK Metcalf, Week 6 concerns, Russell Wilson and Devon Witherspoon

The Seattle Seahawks could finally take a breath. After four crazy intense games to begin the 2023 season, the team got a bye week. This should allow the team to get some rest after having a ton of players get injured early in the season and yet somehow Seattle survived.

Like the old boxing saying of "punch and get out," the Seahawks have managed to shake off a hirrible showing in Week 1 to win their next three games. One of these was an ever-impressive victory over the Detroit Lions in Week 2 when Seattle was on the road. That might be the most Seahawks-y win in the last three years.

That's how Pete Carroll teams work, though, isn't it? Just when people start assuming the Seahawks are done, they pull themselves back in to the playoff conversation. It's all very Godfather-y. Here is some news for your Tuesday.

Seattle Seahawks should be worried about Week 6

Prior to the season, I had the road trip to the Cincinnati Bengals this week penciled in as a loss. (OK, it was a proverbial pencil - who uses pencils anymore for goodness sake?) The Bengals had a talented roster heading into 2023 and were coming off two seasons where they were extremely successful. Except for a bad call late in the 2021 Super Bowl, they might have won the championship a couple of years ago. And quarterback Joe Burrow is 3-1 against the Chiefs and that is more than most other teams in recent matchups against Kansas City can say.

But then to begin the year, the Bengals stumbled. Offensively they appeared shockingly futile even though Burrow was playing and the offensive line had been presumably improved from last year. Burrow did suffer a calf injury in training camp so maybe that was part of the issue, but that didn't seem to tell the entire story.

But in Week 5 against a surprisingly tough Arizona Cardinals team (Arizona lacks the overall talent of most teams but they play extremely hard), Burrow went 36 of 46 for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns. Cincinnati won 34-20 and that 34 points was 10 more than they had scored in any other game in 2023. The Bengals changed what they were doing offensively and used a more conservative passing game that could be extremely effective against a Seahawks defense that still struggles with covering short passes over the middle of the field.