RENTON — On a day the Seahawks are turning back the clock with their uniforms when they face the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at Lumen Field, they hope to continue unearthing the past on the field.
They hope to do that with a revived defense that has allowed just 30 points over the last three games. That’s the best three-game stretch for the Seahawks since late in the 2020 season, the last time they won a division title.
It’s a defense that could eventually draw comparisons to earlier in the Pete Carroll era. That’s heady talk, to be sure, and no one with the Seahawks is ready to go that far, knowing three games does not a season make.
There are some asterisks that can be affixed to the defensive resurgence — playing against a backup QB against Arizona in Joshua Dobbs last Sunday and playing a struggling Giants offense that is one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL.
The feeling around the Seahawks is that there is more substance than flash behind what the defense has done the last few weeks, a revival that coincided with the emergence of rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon and return of safety Jamal Adams.
“I think it is sustainable,’’ middle linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “But there are a lot of things that we can still do better. Even in this last game, we let some of the runs get out on us. That’s stuff that we could fix. It wasn’t anything that they did per se, it was plays that we could’ve made to eliminate that.
“It’s also a reminder that we have to stay on our thing, do our things right or things like that can happen. There’s still so much I feel like we can improve on, and I feel like we’ve got the guys to do it.”
A reality of the NFL hit the Seahawks this week with the news that outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu will miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle.
They brought back Frank Clark, who practiced for the first time Thursday and is expected to be in the rush-end rotation against the Browns.
“It’s going to be hard to fill Chenna’s (Nwosu) shoes,’’ Wagner said. “I think we have guys that will play well, but Chenna was such a special player, and I don’t want to overlook his impact to our team.”
Clark’s return should help mitigate Nwosu’s loss, and the Seahawks will count on Boye Mafe continuing on a rapid progression in his second year (he has four sacks the last four games) and hope that four-year vet Darrell Taylor can contribute more than he did the first five games.
Taylor lost the edge last week on a 25-yard TD run by Dobbs. But after Nwosu was sidelined in the second quarter, Taylor came on to make 1.5 sacks and bat down a pass.
“Still improving, getting better,’’ defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt said Thursday of Taylor. “Better than he was last year but still taking steps in the right direction. Sunday was a good start for him. It was a slower start for him; he’d be the first one to admit that, too. He got off to a slow start last year and finished off strong. He’s going to turn the corner even faster. We have all the confidence in the world in DT.”
The rest of the defense appears to be hitting its peak form. Wagner is playing as well as ever, Jarran Reed has been as good as hoped clogging up the middle, Jordyn Brooks seems as comfortable as ever again playing alongside Wagner and Witherspoon and Adams have made the secondary the best it has been in years.
The Seahawks have allowed just 237 yards per game the last three games and remains third in the NFL in rushing yards per attempt allowed at 3.49.
That latter number will get a test Sunday against a Browns team that is second in the NFL in rushing at 147.5 and will likely stay committed to that with backup QB P.J. Walker playing in place of injured starter Deshaun Watson.
In a stat that indicates how well the Seahawks have defended the traditional running game, the two longest runs they have allowed the last three games have each been by QBs — 25 by Dobbs last week and 17 by Daniel Jones against the Giants on Oct. 2.
It isn’t just been the stats but the manner in which the defense has played, with a speed and ferociousness also not seen often since the end of the Legion of Boom era. That was typified by Witherspoon’s hit on Arizona’s Rondale Moore last Sunday.
Asked what he’s liked most about how the defense has played lately, Hurtt said: “How hard and how physical guys are playing. If you turn the volume off of the TV and just watch us play, what’s the speed, the tenacity, how physical we’re playing is the first thing I want to see.’’
The Seahawks have won four of their last five after a stunningly decisive season-opening home loss to the Rams.
That, coupled with a surprising two-game losing streak by the 49ers (5-2), has the Seahawks (4-2) suddenly just a half-game out of the lead in the NFC West.
A Seahawks win and a 49ers loss at home to the Bengals and it might really feel like the old days at Lumen Field.
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