Defense jump-starts Seahawks’ revival

RENTON, Wash. – Well, that was a half-season like none other for the Seahawks, eh?

For openers, a rousing rout of Green Bay. It signaled the Super Bowl champions had maintained their momentum from February’s title-winning rout of Denver.

Then reality hit the Seahawks – like the butt end of the Lombardi Trophy to their collective heads.

A literal meltdown on a 120-degree field in San Diego. An early blow past Denver, then holding on as Peyton Manning exquisitely rallied and Russell Wilson single-handedly (and two-leggedly) won the game in overtime. Wilson did the same thing in the next game, at Washington.

Percy Harvin traded as the team is leaving to play at St. Louis, the players going one way in the parking lot to the bus while their $11 million wide receiver and centerpiece of the offense walked the other way to his car, off to New York. The fallout of Harvin punching then-teammate Golden Tate at the Super Bowl. Of Harvin punching fellow receiver Doug Baldwin in August. Of the players saying they were all right with all that, that they were, in fact, all right with Harvin.

“Obviously, we wish he was here. He was such a great teammate,” left tackle Russell Okung said in St. Louis of Harvin, two days after his trade to the Jets that rocked the NFL.

Plus, the real reason Harvin is gone, him refusing to enter the fourth quarters of the loss to Dallas and win over Denver. That insubordination with the coaches is what ultimately forced the Seahawks to give up on him eight games, $18.4 million and three traded-away draft picks after getting him last year from Minnesota.

Let’s see, what else has happened these last two months?

A 3-3 start amid unsubstantiated national reports of a pro-versus-anti-Wilson divide in the locker room.

Another report saying that Wilson wasn’t, of all things, “black enough” for some teammates.

More reports that the Seahawks are fed up with Marshawn Lynch’s act – even though they are feeding him the ball and relying upon him more to win games with the play calls no longer centered around Harvin.

And, oh, yeah, injuries that had eight Seahawks who started the opener sitting out last weekend’s win over the Raiders. Seattle had so many hurting it couldn’t field 46 healthy players on that game day’s active list.

Whew!

After all that, 5-3 at the season’s halfway mark entering Sunday’s home game against the New York Giants (3-5) doesn’t sound so bad.

“We have a lot of talent, and we just have to put it together,” Wilson said after Sunday’s 30-24 victory over winless Oakland that was just the sixth game in the quarterback’s 45-game career his completion rate was below 50 percent.

“We’re still finding ways to win games. And we’re not playing our best.”

And they still can determine their own fate in the NFC West. The Seahawks are two games behind first-place Arizona, with two games still to play against the Cardinals.

Coach Pete Carroll’s word for the first eight games was fitting: “Survive.”

“I think we’re making progress. We’ve survived some really hard games and we’ve won some really hard games,” Carroll said Monday. “We’re battle tested and we’re ready to go.”

That indeed battle-tested offense is still sputtering behind a now-injury filled and miscast line. Max Unger has missed four of the eight games with a sprained foot, though Carroll thinks the center may return this weekend.

Tight end Zach Miller has missed five consecutive games. Seattle signing free-agent tight end Tony Moeaki, a former starter for Kansas City who caught 47 passes in 2010, on Tuesday is an indicator Miller may not be back for a while.

Left tackle Russell Okung sat out the Oakland game with a calf strain, though he may play Sunday against the Giants. Left guard James Carpenter was in a walking boot Monday, a day after spraining his ankle. He looks like he may miss the New York game, at least.

This mini-revival and two-game winning streak has started on defense.

Seattle has four sacks in the last two games. That’s as many as it had in the previous five games combined. Seattle has three interceptions the last two weeks. The defense had just one interception in the five games before that.

“A win is a win, but we have to be able to play four quarters completely,” defensive end Cliff Avril said of jumping out to a 24-3 lead on Oakland before winning by six. “We just have to be consistent and be able to put a full game together.”