THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Seahawks becoming this year's darlings of the NFL

Is it time to declare the Seahawks as Super Bowl contenders?

Sure.

Why not?

Pummeling the hapless Commanders in that Sunday night show woke up the nation to the idea that the Hawks will happily hit you in the mouth.

They repeated that act relentlessly in a 38-14 rout of struggling Washington, eventually sending QB Jayden Daniels to the locker room with an injury to his left arm after a fourth-quarter sack.

Just a quick refresher here: Daniels, coach Dan Quinn and the Commanders were the NFL darlings a year ago.

Now they’ve hit the skids, conceding that surprise title to Seattle; and specifically to quarterback Sam Darnold, who lit up the place to the tune of four touchdowns on 21 of 24 throws for 330 yards.

The national TV audience got treated to some fun, at least on the Seattle side of things.

Darnold completed his first 17 throws, and wound up hitting Jaxon Smith-Njigba and rookie Tory Horton for a combined 12 completions for 177 yards — including a pair of TD passes to Horton.

Darnold joked that someone told him about his streak of 16 straight completions at halftime, and it jinxed him into missing one.

WITHOUT denying Darnold his applause, you have to say that his receivers generally had breezed into different area codes than any defenders in maroon shirts.

On Sam’s 26-yard TD pass to tight end Elijah Arroyo in the second quarter, Smith-Njigba was also wide open, waving his arms in the end zone — making you wonder if the Commanders were covering anyone at all.

Coach Mike Macdonald’s defense had just as much fun on its trip to D.C.

Well, all but middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who injured his knee and missed the entire second half.

Jones is the defensive play-caller and arguably the Hawks’ most critical piece on that side of the ball — plus, he’s suffered knee issues in the past.

Time for a deep breath.

Macdonald did say after the game that the injury did not appear to be too serious, and that Jones “won’t miss the rest of the season.”

Hmmm.

Small mercies.

Despite Macdonald’s rather unusual diagnosis, the Hawks’ staff didn’t appear to feel that Jones would miss too much action.

However, as with all football injuries…watch this space.

If the Seahawks dodged anything serious with Jones, you could call the trip to Washington an all-around success.

Seattle is tied for the best record in the NFC at 6-2.

FYI, no team in the entire NFL has less than two losses, which screams out parity.

DOES IT feel like the Seahawks would be overmatched against anyone?

Nah.

But.

There ARE a few teams that have the special bang-bang that sets them apart from the crowd.

Buffalo, maybe.

Or the Eagles, who DID win it all less than a year ago.

And there’s trouble at home in the division, with the Rams and 49ers.

On the other hand, Seattle has improved (over 10-7 last season) on both sides of the ball.

GM John Schneider has gotten almost universal approval for moving on to Darnold from Geno Smith.

Likewise, for halting the tenures of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett in favor of Smith-Njgba and Horton.

The Seahawks have improved in points scored, averaging 6.8 more this season than last. They have improved on defense, as well, allowing 2.8 points fewer this season than last. 

Their plus-81 point differential is the third most in the NFL, and none of it seems like a fluke.

“Believe it or not, there’s going to be room for growth,” said Macdonald. “We’re going to watch the tape and keep growing together.”

One area where Seattle will need to toughen up is the run game — especially as we get to colder weather and games that decide championships.

Today marks the NFL trade deadline, so if there happens to be a right guard (or combo guard-tackle) floating around out there, Schneider will be on the case.

There aren’t many more holes to fill on this team, the third-youngest in the NFL.

As Macdonald insists, there’s room to grow.

Picture the coach with a watering can.

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”