The Seahawks are back in action earlier than usual this week, hosting the Rams in a game with massive playoff implications, as both teams currently have matching 11-3 records that are the best in the NFC. But even with a short week, there's still time to open up the mailbag and answer some questions from you, the fans.

As always, thanks to everyone who asked questions this week, and apologies if I wasn't able to get to yours this time around. And remember, the mailbag is always open for submissions at Seahawks.com/mailbag.

MrEd315 asks, "Which Seahawks player has been the biggest surprise this year?"

A: There are a couple of ways you could look at this. If we're talking about a player making big contributions who I didn't expect to have for that role coming into the season, then the answer is linebacker Drake Thomas. The former undrafted free agent out of North Carolina State played a total of 41 defensive snaps over his first two seasons with the Seahawks, but he took over a starting role early this season, and despite not starting until Week 4, he's tied for the team lead in tackles for loss with 10, second in tackles with 66, fifth in sacks with 3.5 and tied for sixth in passes defensed with six.

But if we're talking about a player who everyone was expecting to contribute who has still surprised, I would go with rookie safety Nick Emmanwori. The Seahawks had a first-round grade on Emmanwori and traded up in the second round to get him, so there was no doubt that he would have a big role in the defense this season. But I don't think I'm alone in saying I didn't know he would be this good, this soon, especially after missing almost all of the first four games due to an ankle injury suffered on the defense's first possession of the season.

Emmanwori isn't just a playmaker, as his 11 passes defensed, 2.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss and one interception all highlight, he's a playmaker at multiple positions, giving Mike Macdonald and the defensive coaching staff an absurdly versatile and athletic chess piece they can move around the defense. Need someone to rush the passer or play the run off the edge? Emmanwori can do that. Need a box defender versatile enough to stop the run or cover a tight end down the seam? Sign him up. Need a nickel defensive back athletic enough to cover an All-Pro receiver like Justin Jefferson on third down? I think you can see where this is going.

If not for the time he missed, Emmanwori would probably be the front runner for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, and even after missing three full games and most of a fourth, he is absolutely a legit candidate for that award, as well as Pro-Bowl honors. In fact, if the Emmanwori Rookie of the Year campaign hasn't started already, let's get it going. The kid is special.

"Nick can be the best of all of us," safety Julian Love said recently. "Obviously, we're not 6-3, can run and jump and can bend, all that stuff. From the jump, I think Mike did a great job of just introducing him to small concepts at once. He's not trying to make him learn all these things. He's like, 'Hey, learn this, rep it, now you can learn this, learn this and this.' So now, even if he's not perfect on the field, he just flies around and can make plays just because he is a special player."

@whamified asks, "How will the offense prepare differently after slow starts in the past few weeks?"

A: The Seahawks have scored six points in the first half of each of the past two games, and the offense was limited to six in the game before that (the team had 13 points at halftime thanks to a defensive score), so nobody is denying that the offense needs to find ways to start better, particularly when it comes to facing an opponent as good as the Rams.

But as Mike Macdonald explained on Monday, getting better to start games, and just staying sharp in general, is about the process the team puts in every week. The Seahawks can't drastically overhaul what they're doing this far into the season and expect positive results, nor should they panic and overreact, not when, over the course of the season, they've had one of the highest-scoring and most explosive offenses in the league.

"This is one of those results versus process things," Macdonald said. "We're not getting the results we want, okay, can't just say let's start better. Let's go back to see how we're doing our openers, how much we're carrying, what we feel like the guys can execute at a high level, how do we diagnose what their game plan is as soon as we possibly can, there's a lot of things going on there. That's on the table right now, we're working through it, just like any other thing that's happened that is falling short to the standard that we want to achieve and we're working through it. But I think there's some things on the process end that will yield better results."

Better field position would help—the Seahawks have been backed up on several drives early in the last few games—and the Seahawks also need to find ways to finish drives in the end zone more often, not just in first halves but in general.

@hawkmania4 asks, "Are you excited about the new rivalry uniforms?"

A: I am excited about them. I've seen them already, but there's something to be said about seeing them actually in a game and under the lights. The throwbacks will always be my first love, but I like the wolf grey a lot (I was a fan of the wolf grey look before that was retired to make room for throwbacks), and the iridescent green helmet looked great when players wore them in practice last week, and I suspect they'll look even better under the lights Thursday night.

@tbailey1976 asks, "How can the Seahawks fix their run game with only three games left before the playoffs?"

A: The season-long numbers don't paint a very pretty picture for Seattle's run game, and last week was a struggle, with the Seahawks gaining just 49 yards on 22 carries, but there have been positive signs prior to last week, and the Colts also deserve some credit, as is evident by their run defense numbers (Indianapolis leads the league in opponent yards-per-carry average at 3.7, and is sixth in rushing yards allowed).

Prior to Sunday, however, the Seahawks had at least 114 rushing yards in five consecutive games, and averaged better than 5.0 yards per carry in two of them. So there have been some positive signs, but as Macdonald noted, it is getting late in the season and the Seahawks need to be better on the ground than they were last week.

"We didn't run it the way we wanted to," Macdonald said. "It's kind of a little bit of everything right now, it's a little bit late in the year to be saying that. So, I think we've got to pick it up. Really on all fronts."

@segdeha.com on BlueSky asks, "Does Robbie Ouzts being a healthy scratch mean the coaching staff has lost faith in his ability to impact games in a meaningful way?"

A: I don't think that's the case at all, but rather than this was just a numbers decision based on a particular game and a particular gameplan. With everyone on the 53-man roster healthy last week, there were going to be more healthy scratches than usual, and unfortunately for Ouzts, he was one of those. One difference, numbers wise, was that the Seahawks had an extra defensive lineman active with Rylie Mills making his return, something the Seahawks probably wanted knowing they were going to face a Colts team committed to the run led by the NFL's leading rusher Jonathan Taylor, and as Macdonald noted this week, that extra depth can help keep everyone else up front fresh down the stretch run.

So no, there wasn't a spot for Ouzts in that particular game, but I don't think that's at all a reflection of what the coaching staff thinks of him going forward.