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Seahawks Say 0-2 Start is "Nothing to Panic About"

"We’ve been through adversity before and overcome it, and this is no different." - Doug Baldwin

Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin had a lengthy, three-part answer ready as soon as the question left a reporter's mouth.

Why, after losing a second straight game to open the 2015 season, won't this team panic?

For starters, Baldwin explained, the Seahawks have lost to two tough opponents on the road. Regardless of St. Louis' overall body of work each season, the Rams play the Seahawks very tough, especially at home, as is evident in the fact that the Seahawks' Week 1 loss at the Edward Jones Dome was their third loss there in the past four seasons. And the Packers have been one of the best teams in the NFC in recent years, a team that has pushed Seattle to the brink at CenturyLink Field, and they and quarterback Aaron Rodgers have enjoyed tremendous success at home. So yes, the Seahawks are 0-2, there's no denying that, but they're also 0-2 having arguably played their toughest two games on the schedule.

Secondly, Baldwin continued, "the mistakes we're making are easily correctable. It's not like we need new personnel or it's something that needs to be revamped completely, we just need to be more on our assignments, we've got to be more accountable to each other, more responsible and take care of our assignments."

As good as the Packers are, the Seahawks had a one-point lead heading into the fourth-quarter despite all the penalties and errors that marred their performance. Clean those up, the Seahawks say, and the wins will come.  

And then Baldwin got to the third part of his answer, which might be the most important.

"This team is the most resilient team I've ever been a part of," he said. "We've been through adversity before and overcome it, and this is no different. I have no doubt we'll overcome this adversity."

While the Seahawks have not been 0-2 to start a season since 2011, their recent success has not come without a few bumps in the road. Most notably, last year's team started 3-3, then fell to 6-4 with a loss in Kansas City that had people seriously questioning if they were even a playoff team, let alone capable of winning their division. The Seahawks followed that loss by winning their final six games of the season to not just win the NFC West, but also claim the NFC's No. 1 seed, then they beat Carolina and Green Bay in the playoffs to return to the Super Bowl.   

Quarterback Russell Wilson was equally optimistic a few minutes later, saying, "Anytime there's adversity, there's opportunity."

"We probably played some of the toughest teams we could possibly play in the first two games," he said. "We're not down about it; we're disappointed, but we're looking forward to getting back to work this week, playing at home.  

"We've just got to play better, we've just got to play smooth, we've just got to play better early, and we will. I have no doubt in my mind… I think we're right there. We can feel it, too, that's the good part. It would be one thing if we didn't feel the energy on the sideline, or our rhythm, how were we're playing the second half. We're right there. We'll make those plays and we'll get a win."

Even Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who each week remains hyper focused on the task at hand, not on the big picture or on what happened in the past, concedes that last year's midseason swoon and subsequent recovery should come in handy right now.

"I think that's a really good point," Carroll said. "We don't talk in that manner, but were not right last year for some time too… We just need to clean up our game and get right, and hopefully we can do that and get started. Both of these games were difficult to take, because we could have won both of them."

The Seahawks know they'll hear plenty of questions about their 0-2 start, they'll see stats about how few 0-2 teams go on to make the playoffs, they'll face questions about locker-room cohesiveness, but having been through struggles and come out better for them in the past, the players in the Lambeau Field visitor's locker room remained confident, though disappointed, following Sunday's game.

"It's two games," linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "We have 14 more games left. We've always had a point in time when we've had things happen and people doubted us, and we overcame it. We're used to this, we're used to people doubting us, and we're used to proving people wrong."

Turning things around doesn't necessarily happen automatically, however. It took veterans and team leaders having a clear-the-air meeting last year after that loss in Kansas City to help right the ship, and many of those same players will keep an eye on the locker room to make sure things are going well now.

"When you've been through adversity, you can understand how to beat it," defensive end Michael Bennett said. "I think we're at that point where we've had a little bit of adversity, and adversity usually challenges your character. So we have to make sure this doesn't make our character go south and start pointing fingers… I haven't seen any evidence of finger-pointing. But when so many outsiders are saying things, you've got to make sure that you don't believe it."

The 2015 season obviously could have gotten off to a better start for the Seahawks, but with 14 games still in front of them, and with a group of veterans who have been through some struggles before and emerged stronger each time, the Seahawks don't plan on letting their first two games define their season.

 "It's nothing to panic about," Baldwin said. 

Photos from the 27-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football.

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