Seahawks Chasing 'Small Margins' Amid Super Bowl-Title Defense Plans

The Seattle Seahawks haven't been the swashbuckling team we saw in last year's playoffs, with Mike Macdonald's team sitting at 5-4.

But they also haven't been getting blown out either.

Three of Seattle's four losses have been by one score.

And the game they did get beaten soundly by the Chicago Bears 34-17; it was a one-possession game late in the third quarter.

So the margins are small every week, and if you go too far one way, you'll lose, which is why the Seahawks, according to Macdonald, are playing in the margins as a coaching staff to try and get an advantage.

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Because, as Macdonald puts it, not much separates a team from winning or losing in the NFL.

"The margins in our world are very small," Macdonald said. "It was 17 to three, so 14-point win, that's a play away from being a one-possession game (vs. Cardinals). You look at the Bears game last week, it's a three-point game going into the third. Denver the same way.

"It's all small margin. I think it's very important right now to step our foot on the gas, chasing edges where we can accumulate those advantages. So when it does come down to a ball bouncing a certain way, we've maximized the chances for it to go our way. That's where I want our focus to be."

We rarely see genuine blowouts in the NFL, and when they do, they often come late, as in the Seahawks' game against Chicago.

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But given that Seattle's season is delicately poised at 5-4, it does face the now Fernando Mendoza-led Las Vegas Raiders after Kirk Cousins was traded to the Minnesota Vikings.

That game can't be taken for granted. Why? Small margins.

The defending Super Bowl-champion Seahawks know that due to the San Francisco 49ers' fast start, the margin for error is small if they have any hope of hunting them down. 

Plus, with the pair set to face off after Seattle's bye, it puts even more pressure on the Seahawks to stack this win against the Raiders.

Small margins folks. Sometimes you win because of them. Sometimes you lose.

And for Macdonald, he's doing his best to make sure his team is on the right side of it more often than not.