Full Seattle Seahawks Awards at the Quarter Mark of the 2014 NFL Season

The Seattle Seahawks have gotten off to a winning start through the first quarter of the season, winning with great defense and using the same slow burn to break down their opponents offensively. There's also been some early tumult on the defensive side of the ball, with a possible weakness found in defending tight ends.

To be sure, the team still looks like a squad capable of making it to and winning the Super Bowl, but they are definitely getting every team's best shot. A Week 4 bye may be nice right now, but the team will now have to play 13 straight weeks of football without a break. 

A clear picture of their identity on each side of the ball is yet to be developed, but we do have an idea of some early standouts on the roster. Let's take a look at some NFL awards that are typically eligible league-wide and make it team specific. Enjoy.

Comeback Player of the Year

Seahawks fans saw a glimpse of what Percy Harvin is capable of doing during Super Bowl XLVIII when he returned the second-half opening kickoff for a touchdown. In one play, Harvin was able to showcase his rare speed and agility combination as well as his hands.

Playing in just one regular-season game during the 2013 season, the Seahawks didn't get the versatility they sought to add to their receiving corps last season. Obviously the injury didn't matter as Seattle still went on to win a championship, however, with the losses of Golden Tate and Sidney Rice, the position was a little thin.

The entire Seattle offense was rendered useless in San Diego during Week 2, but Harvin was still able to make his mark on a 51-yard run for a touchdown early in the game. Though Harvin clearly stepped out of bounds on the play, it counts and stands as an example of what Harvin offers the team.

While the big plays have been somewhat lacking, Harvin has been a valuable asset to the offense. He's made seven catches in each of the two other games Seattle has played and chipped in with four carries for 41 yards in those games as well. 

Harvin's been utilized mostly as a chain-moving threat with run-after-the-catch ability. All but one of Harvin's receptions have come from nine yards beyond the line of scrimmage or less, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). 

Harvin is Seattle’s leading receiver with 15 catches for 106 yards, and while his speed may cause people to think of him as a deep-threat target, his ability to turn nothing into something is what makes him such a valuable weapon.

One under-recognized purpose Harvin has served in helping the Seattle offense move the ball is his use in pre-snap positioning and putting him in motion. The assortment of areas of the field in which the Seahawks line Harvin up, before putting him in motion, makes it difficult for opponents to decipher whether the play will be a run or pass.

Swinging Harvin around the backfield for a fake handoff holds opposing defenses for a second or two before figuring out if he, Marshawn Lynch or Russell Wilson has the ball. It's a dynamic the team hoped to be able to utilize in 2013, but it is an absolute necessity with a thinner receivers group in 2014.

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Stephen Brashear/Associated Press

When you're a reigning Super Bowl champion with one of the youngest rosters in the league, it's going to be tougher than usual for incoming rookies to make the final roster, let alone make an impact. On the defensive side of the ball, defensive end Cassius Marsh has taken the most snaps of his fellow defensive rookies on roster and performed admirably.

The 2014 fourth-round pick was brought in to help a depleted defensive line with the departures of Red Bryant, Clinton McDonald and Chris Clemons in free agency. Though he's yet to produce any kind of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, he's been a solid piece in the defensive line rotation on run defense.

Marsh has just four tackles through three games and will need to figure out how to generate the quarterback pressure he was drafted to create. The draft class as a whole has gotten off to a pretty quiet start, actually. All of his tackles came in the Week 3 game against the Denver Broncos due to an injury to LB Bruce Irvin.

We'll have to take a wait-and-see approach to how his playing time develops as the season wears on. With TE Zach Miller expected to be out due to injury, Marsh, who played a few snaps at the position for UCLA, may play on the offensive side of the ball this week.

Head coach Pete Carroll had little to say on the subject, according to ESPNs Terry Blount: “Oh yeah, now he has banged on my door a few times,” Carroll said of Marsh. “He’s not as quiet as Garry [Gilliam].” 

Offensive Rookie of the Year

USA TODAY Sports

The Seahawks selected Justin Britt to replace the departed Breno Giacomini, who left to sign with the New York Jets during the offseason. Per Pro Football Focus, J.R. Sweezy has been the Seahawks' worst offensive player, let alone lineman. 

Justin Britt has been the team's second-worst offensive lineman, putting together a PFF score of minus-2.3 through three games. I'm going to get rid of all the negativity first by stating Britt's play has left plenty of room for improvement.

He has taken two penalties, allowed one sack and six hurries. Five of the hurries and the sack all came in Week 3 against the Denver Broncos, with DeMarcus Ware and Co. eating the offensive line alive. Despite all that, leading up to that game Britt had held his own.

Britt played a strong game against the Green Bay Packers in the season opener, keeping Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers at bay throughout the game. The offense barely saw the field against the San Diego Chargers and, hopefully for his and Russell Wilson's sake, the manhandling he took against Denver was an aberration.

Though his play has been a bit to the detriment of the team at times, he’s hung in there well and kept the Seahawks offensive line stable with his play. The expectation is that he should improve as the season progresses. 

Defensive Player of the Year

USA TODAY Sports

Michael Bennett has been terrorizing quarterbacks since arriving in Seattle. He racked up nine sacks in his final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, took down 8.5 sacks last year and has three sacks in three games in 2014. He has his patented sack celebration replete with all the trimmings of Val Venis' WWE entrances.  

It has more to do than Bennett's ability to get to the quarterback and his roiling celebrations thereafter. Bennett has been the embodiment of the Seahawks defense without all the media attention of Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas.

He's helped to give the unit an identity after the departure of three of its former members and has given it swagger—all while knowing how to keeps things light and have fun on the field. After a Peyton Manning interception during the Seahawks' Week 3 overtime tilt with the Broncos, Bennett had a quick question for the sure-fire Hall of Famer on NFL Network's NFL AM (via Tony Drovetto of Seahawks.com):

"

I was talking about Papa John's commercials. I was like, 'How can I own a Papa John's? How can I own something and they show it at the same time that I'm playing?' I was just asking him. He wouldn't tell me though. He's trying to save all the money for himself.

"

Through three games Bennett has managed to pick up three sacks, six quarterbacks hits and nine hurries. He has a plus-6.4 score on Pro Football Focus, good for fourth overall in the league. His ability to offer consistent pressure on quarterbacks and remain a solid run defender has been a boon for the Seahawks since his acquisition.

Offensive Player of the Year

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

I debated over this pick for a while but ultimately sided against the guy who's "'bout that action, boss." Russell Wilson hasn't been too shabby either, but he hasn't been on the kind of roll that became expected with his play in the preseason.

Wilson's thrown two touchdowns in each game this season, with just one interception total. His ability to run has been an advantage the team has come to rely upon. Wilson used his legs to carry his team to victory in Week 3 and has always been devastating in the latter stages of games.

Wilson is averaging only eight more yards per game passing the ball than in 2013 with an average of 217 yards per game. He's consistently been a top performer for his team, but we may never know his true ability if he's not given the opportunity to throw the ball.

The Seahawks haven't really needed to change the offensive philosophy this season, but things will change in the near future given Marshawn Lynch's age. Wilson's ability to excel despite still poor, yet improved, offensive line play is what makes him the perfect quarterback for this team.

He continues to spread the ball around to his mostly nondescript group of receivers, but with Harvin now in action, Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin are back to being solid complementary receivers. With Wilson at the helm there's almost no need to worry about poor decision-making, and he will always keep his team in games with the way it's currently constructed.

Most Valuable Player

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

The only player that has been better than Russell Wilson has been Marshawn Lynch. He's averaged 4.5 yards per carry on 52 touches for a total of 234 yards, which is good for 12th in the league despite already having a bye week and not getting a fair shake of things in San Diego—I know I keep harping on that game, but it was a real rarity for this team.

Lynch has proved to be a valuable tool for the offense in the red zone after pulling in a receiving touchdown in each of the team's last two games. He has five touchdowns in total and is the catalyst of the Seattle offense.

Lynch is now second in the league in forcing missed tackles with 17, per Pro Football Focus. Only the Dallas Cowboys' DeMarco Murray, who's gotten off to an incredible start, has more broken tackles. He's rarely tackled for a loss with his hard-nosed yet extremely agile style of running.

This ability is something that consistently keeps the Seattle offense in good down-and-distance sets and helps set up the passing plays behind the team's poor pass-protecting offensive line. The same way Percy Harvin has helped with creating space for Lynch, the same can be said vice versa.

It's Lynch's ability to keep drives alive that allows the defense to stay fresh and maintain the dominance that made it one of the greatest in league history after the 2013 season. Whether he remains the team's MVP is something that will be extremely difficult to maintain, but his play through the first quarter of the season has been more of the same in a great career for the ninth-year veteran.

*All stats gathered from ESPN.com unless otherwise sourced.