Seattle Seahawks Gain Early NFC West Lead

The Seattle Seahawks have a bit of a cushion in the division race at 3-0, but they aren't satisfied yet.

Sep 22, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) high fives a team member before the game against Miami Dolphins at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images / Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

The Seattle Seahawks are off to a great start in the Mike Macdonald era, now sitting at 3-0 as one of the last remaining undefeated teams.

In the bigger picture, though, the situation looks even better for Seattle. While the Seahawks are sitting pretty at 3-0, all three of their division rivals are down at 1-2. In the ultra-competitive NFC West, a two-game lead can make a big difference, even one this early.

Of course, it is only Week 3, and there's still 14 weeks of football left to play. While the early lead is nice, the Seahawks know their job isn't anywhere near done.

"I'm glad we won today," Macdonald said after Sunday's win over the Miami Dolphins. "Yeah, we got a long way to go. This is a long season. We got a big game coming up. Our first goal is to win each game and the next goal is to get in the dance and then the next goal is win the division. We're a long way from there. We can help our chances again next week if we go to Detroit and get a win."

The Seahawks haven't exactly had the most challenging schedule so far, as they've played the Denver Broncos (1-2), the New England Patriots (1-2) and the Dolphins (1-2) without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Their schedule gets significantly tougher in Week 4, though, as they travel to face a clear-cut Super Bowl contender in the Detroit Lions.

"We still got more games to play, 14 more," quarterback Geno Smith said Sunday. "You know, we got to lock in going on the road to Detroit, another tough environment. But we've been there before, so we got to lock in and make sure that we put these games behind us, because we already played them, and get ready for the next one."