The Seattle Seahawks have represented the NFC in the past two Super Bowls and won Super Bowl XLVIII. Coming into the 2015 season most of us expected the Hawks to be in the mix to be the NFC representative in Super Bowl 50. But then the season started and their defense didn’t look nearly as formidable as it has in recent seasons, the offense didn’t look strong enough to make up for the team’s defensive woes, and Seattle got off to a rough start in 2015.
Quarterback Russell Wilson and company started the season 0-2 and wound up beginning the season 2-4, and things looked bleak. Just three weeks ago they were 4-5 and it looked like another trip to the playoffs may be out of the question. But the Seahawks are 5-1 in their last six games (they have now won three in a row), and at 7-5, they would be the second wild card team if the postseason began today. It looks like Pete Carroll’s team has turned it around and the Seattle Seahawks will make the playoffs in 2015.
Seattle Seahawks 2015 Postseason Hopes Are Flying High
In their last two games Seattle has come away with quality wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings. The Steelers did put up 30 against the Seahawks, but Seattle’s offense stepped up and hung 39 on Pittsburgh. On Sunday the Seahawks made a Vikings team that had looked good this season appear very pedestrian. Minnesota was in Seattle territory for a grand total of four plays on Sunday and they never got farther than the Seahawks 39-yard line. Seattle dominated a good Vikings team and improved to 7-5 on the season.
During their three game win streak the Seahawks have scored 106 points, thanks in large part to quarterback Russell Wilson playing extremely well. When Seattle was struggling this season many wondered if much of the blame should be laid at the feet of Wilson. I never thought that was the case, but it seems to be a moot point now. In the Seahawks’ last three games the dual threat quarterback has thrown 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions, and he has only 18 incompletions in that stretch. With running back Marshawn Lynch out, Thomas Rawls has stepped up, and wide receiver Doug Baldwin has been playing well. Rawls has averaged 130.3 yards per contest in the Seahawks’ last three games and he has scored a touchdown in each. Baldwin has averaged just under 100 yards per game in Seattle’s last three matchups and he has found the endzone five times during that span.
It’s not only the offense that has started to show signs of improvement. In recent weeks Seattle’s defense has looked much closer to the defense we have seen in recent years. They completely eliminated Vikings running back Adrian Peterson on Sunday, holding him to 18 yards on 8 carries. Seattle’s defense also shut down Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, as the second year quarterback was 17-28 for 118 yards with one interception. After getting off to a slow start this season, the Seahawks defense has five interceptions in the last two games.
Aside from the Seahawks simply seeming to be playing better football right now and their upcoming schedule, there are two other reasons they will make the playoffs this season, even though they probably won’t catch the Arizona Cardinals for the division crown. First, they are a team that knows what it takes to make the postseason and they won’t fold under the pressure down the stretch. Second, the NFC only has four other quality teams besides the Seahawks (the Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings). The Seahawks may actually be better than a couple of those teams and they are certainly better than all of the other teams in the NFC. Expect to see the Seattle Seahawks in the 2015 playoffs.
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