Seahawks finally earning respect, apologies from national media after beating Commanders

Maybe now, after an almost flawless performance on a national primetime stage, the NFL will begin believing in the Seattle Seahawks. Or at least stop disrespecting them.

After a week in which The Athletic decried the Seahawks as the worst two-loss team in football, head coach Mike Macdonald's put on quite the show Sunday in D.C. Fueled by quarterback Sam Darnold's perfect first half of football and 17 consecutive completions to start the game, the Seahawks dazzled the nation - and especially NBC analyst Cris Collilnsworth - in a comprehensive 38-14 shellacking of a Washington Commanders team that 10 months playe din the NFC Championship Game.

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ESPN analyst Benjan Solak - one of the loudest critics of the Seahawks' offseason moves - even admitted during the blowout that he was wrong about this team. Back in May, Solak said of them, "They downgraded at quarterback and shipped off an impactful receiver ... I don't see the vision."

Seahawks are super duper for real. Easily my biggest miss of the offseason.

Think we will see an even better version of this team in second half of season as young players settle in (Emmanwori, Horton) and health returns (Love)

Please please trade for a guard https://t.co/7sbUeTyL8I
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 3, 2025

But on Sunday he took to social media to say, "Seahawks are super duper for real. Easily my biggest miss of the offseason. "

And shortly before Darnold was serenaded by chants of "MVP!" by the 12s at Northwest Stadium, Collinsworth flatly labeled the Seahawks as a Super Bowl-caliber team.

National Media finally Seeing the Light After Seahawks' Blowout Victory

"What don't you like about Seattle at this point?" he said in the waning moments of the 24-point blowout win that improved the Seahawks to 6-2 including 4-0 on the road. "I'm sitting here trying to break it down ... they can run the football, they can play-action pass off of it, they've got a hot quarterback, their secondary is going to get healthier and their front seven is as good as there is in football.

MORE: Watch All 4 Sam Darnold TD passes in a perfect, historic half of football vs. Commanders

"I look at this team and ... it's easy to fall into old habits and say 'Oh, we love Buffalo and there's Kansas City and Philadelphia won the championship' ... but this is a team and compare it to those. Seattle is as good as anybody."

The Seahawks have now won 11 consecutive road games.

National Media finally Seeing the Light After Seahawks' Blowout Victory

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