The Seahawks suffered their first loss of the season, falling to the Lions on Monday night, but even with that result, they're still 3-1 and in first place in the NFC West, which is a pretty good place to be four games into the season. Up next is a home game against the Giants on Sunday, followed by another short week leading up to a Thursday night NFC West showdown against the 49ers. But before we look ahead to this week's game, it's time once again 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, "What are your impressions of the Seahawks after the first month of the season?"

A: We lead off with Mr. Ed and a big-picture question for the second straight mailbag. A month into the season, I'd say there's a ton to like from what we've seen thus far from the Seahawks in their first four games under new head coach Mike Macdonald. Yes, Monday's loss was disappointing, especially for a defense that gave up 42 points after not allowing more than 20 in any of the first three games. But while Macdonald and players can't use injuries as an excuse, there's no way that it wasn't a significant factor that they had to play without Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe, Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II up front, as well as safety Julian Love for the entire second half. The Lions are a really good team and it's entirely possibly they win that game if both teams were healthy, but I'd love to see a rematch with the Seahawks defense at something a little closer to full strength. Perhaps in a January playoff game?

While the Seahawks have stuff to clean up still on both sides of the ball, what they have shown is the ability to do a lot of really good things on defense, particularly when they have most of their starters available, and the ability to move the ball well on offense, led by quarterback Geno Smith, who is off to a fantastic start. That combination of standout quarterback play and a fast, aggressive defense is one that can and should help any team win a lot of games.

@WasEinHumburg asks, "First regular season loss for Mike Macdonald as a head coach—how did the team respond, and how did he take it, from your point of view?"

A: I like this question a lot, because as I made my way down from the press box to the postgame press conference on Monday, I found myself wondering how Macdonald would be following his first regular season loss. And I thought Macdonald handled it very well, combining accountability and a pretty blunt assessment of what didn't go well with a bit of big-picture optimism about his team's mentality and how players fought to the end.

Macdonald said on a couple of occasions that the team isn't where it needs to be yet, but also noted, "I will tell you this, our guys fought the heck out of that game. They went down to the last second and that's what I'm most proud of right now and we're going to hold onto that and that's a foundation that we've built here that we're going to push forward with. We're four weeks into the season and, look, the message all week has been that we're on the foundation of our football team and where we want to be and it's obvious, we're not the team that we want to be yet, and we shouldn't be the team that we're going to be. We have time to grow as a football team, we have a short week, we have to have a sense of urgency about it, and we need to take the next step. But just wasn't good enough, especially on the defensive side of the ball today. So, we've got to make it right and move forward."

There was no panic in his message, nor was he directing blame away from himself and onto his players, but Macdonald was honest in pointing out some of the current issues. It was a good message, neither too dire nor one that might feel like he was sugarcoating a rough outing, and one that ought to resonate with his players.

As for how the players will respond, only time, and more games, will tell, but based on what we heard from Macdonald and players, I've got a hunch that the team will do a good job of putting the loss in proper context, learning from it and getting back on track quickly.

@WeaponNext asks, "Which was cooler, the Chris Carson backflip or the Kenneth Walker III flip Monday?"

A: Man, this is a tough one to decide.

First off, if you're not familiar with Carson's 2018 flip in Carolina, or with Walker's whatever-the-heck-that-was play on Monday, watch both before we continue.

It's a tough choice, because on one hand, Carson went airborne, got flipped over, stuck the superhero landing and kept going briefly before being tackled, but on the other hand, Walker gained a solid seven yards after being thrown down, giving him more YAF (yards after flip, for those of you not familiar with the term I just totally made up). Maybe its recency bias, but I think I'll give the slight edge to Walker just for sheer uniqueness. We've seen players flip and stick the landing before in football, but I've never seen anything quite like what Walker pulled off.

Regardless of your choice, this is a great reminder that Seahawks fans have gotten to watch some really fun running backs over the years.

@Rogervanoo asks, "Which injured players will return for the Giants game?"

A: If you haven't been paying attention to Mike Macdonald's press conferences so far, Seattle's head coach doesn't really like talking about injuries any more than he has to. And that approach makes plenty of sense. Why give up any more information about players' availability for an opponent to know than is required on the injury report? That's a sound strategy from a football standpoint, but it doesn't help media or fans know things like you're asking, Roger. So for now, I'm just going to tell you to take a wait-and-see approach like the rest of us, and check back Friday when game designations are declared on the injury report.

The good news is that Macdonald said the belief is that none of the injuries that kept players out on Monday are long term, so hopefully even if some players aren't back Sunday, they will be soon. And a Thursday game could factor into the decision making this week as well. It's not that the Seahawks will overlook the Giants and start planning for the 49ers on Thursday, but if a player is right on the verge of being back and, by playing, could risk being out for a Thursday game on short rest, then the prudent thing to do might be letting that player heal a little more and hope he's ready for Thursday.

@HolliWinters28 asks, "Why couldn't the 2-point play be reviewed?"

A: As Macdonald explained after the game, then again Tuesday morning on Seattle Sports 710AM, he considered throwing a challenge flag before he was told that the play had triggered an automatic review. Whether that happened and officials didn't see enough to overcall the call of an incompletion or not isn't entirely clear, but it's easy to understand why, having been told that, Macdonald wouldn't throw his challenge flag. It sure looked on a few angles like DK Metcalf indeed got a knee down, but it's hard to fault Macdonald for not trying to challenge the call if he was told it was being reviewed already.

@Smokey2008S asks, "Are we worried about the secondary?"

A: Not even a little.

Yes, it's never good to see an opposing quarterback complete 18 of 18 attempts, but even after that game I still view Seattle's secondary as one of the best in the league and as one of the team's best position groups. The Seahawks ran into a tough combination of injuries on defense, a really good opposing offense, a hot quarterback and a good play caller that all added up to a tough day at the office. But I'm confident Seattle's defense, and secondary, will bounce back well from that outing.

Now, I will add to all of this that, if Julian Love's quad contusion causes him to miss any time, that's obviously a blow for the defense. Rayshawn Jenkins and K'Von Wallace have both played well and Coby Bryant has impressed coaches on his way to earning more playing time, so the Seahawks have good depth there, but any time you lose a Pro-Bowl talent who is also a leader on the back end of the defense, that's going to have an impact on things.

@ColdWunz asks, "Why wasn't Abraham Lucas placed on injured reserve to start the season?"

A: Lucas opened camp on the physically unable to perform list because, as the result of offseason knee surgery, he wasn't ready to pass a physical to start camp. Once a player starts camp on PUP, it essentially works the same as injured reserve once you get to the regular season. In either case, a player has to miss at least four games before being eligible to return, but injured reserve is for players who were on the active roster, then got hurt during the season or in training camp. In Lucas' case, he was never added to the active roster, so he simply stays on PUP until he's ready to return.

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