Despite the Win, It's Time to ​Start Worrying About the Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks were supposed to be great. Hell, ESPN's company-wide Power Rankings even put them at a consensus No. 1 last week. This was all to say that even after a disappointing-by-their-standards 2015-16 season—that saw them cede the NFC West to the Arizona Cardinals and get lit up by Cam Newton in the playoffs—the Seahawks were supposed to bounce right back to greatness for… some reason, I guess?

But with one brutal, grinding effort, the Miami Dolphins made all of the Seahawks' weaknesses painfully clear.

Of course, the Dolphins weren't a tomato can. Despite last year's bye-week axing of head coach Joe Philbin, the Dolphins still boast defensive studs like Ndamukong Suh and Mario Williams, plus talented offensive players like Jarvis Landry, Arian Foster, and Ryan Tannehill. If new skipper Adam Gase did well, there was no reason to think the Dolphins couldn't at least approach .500. Who knows? Maybe this performance is a shot across the bow of the NFL, preceding a run to the playoffs.

Even so, the Seahawks could, and should, have done better than this.

The Seahawks' offensive line, a bizarre Tom Cable experiment in playing unathletic bargain-rate players out-of-position, struggled mightily against the Dolphins' powerful defensive line. The NFL's most consistently run first offense over the last few seasons had a brutal first game of the post-Marshawn Lynch era; Christine Michael and Thomas Rawls averaged just 3.6 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, Russell Wilson put the ball in the air a career-high 43 times, averaging a meager 6.0 yards per attempt. He had an injury scare when Suh (accidentally) stepped on Wilson's ankle early in the game, prompting everyone in CenturyLink to remember their 'Hawks will spend the entire season one play away from needing Trevone Boykin to pull the kind of heroics Wilson pulled to seal the victory.

Yes, the victory: Wilson engineered a 14-play, 3:37 touchdown drive that put the Seahawks up by two with little time left—then add in a weird clock snafu, combined with Ryan Tannehill's fumble to seal the deal.

For a supposed juggernaut, the Seahawks were punchless on offense. They've long been successful with a gritty band of underachievers at receiver, and a mix of stars and underdogs on the offensive line. But this season, their receivers, linemen, and tailbacks are all scrap-heap scrappers; the only difference-maker is Wilson.

With Jimmy Graham—who never looked particularly special in the Seahawks' offense last year—held to one catch while playing on a "snap count," it's unlikely he's going to be the answer any time soon, either.

Can Wilson and the Seahawks' defense grind out wins like this more often than not? Sure, but for a team that won a Super Bowl title with its depth, they have zero margin for error. To get back into the playoffs, let alone back on top of the division (or the Super Bowl), the Seahawks will have to play much better than they played in Week 1.