There’s a certain quality about the Seattle Seahawks, one that can’t entirely be quantified. A mystique, if you will. There’s an aura around them that just hasn’t existed in the NFL in a few years, maybe not since the 2008 New England Patriots that didn’t even end up with a ring. The Hawks are the first of reigning Super Bowl champions to win a playoff game the season after in 10 years – the last being the 2005 New England Patriots.
The Seattle Seahawks Mystique
The Seahawks win games emphatically. They play fast, smart, hit hard, and don’t take crap from anyone. Nothing embodies this more than a play Kam Chancellor made on Saturday, coming down the middle of the field and laying the hammer on 245 pound Mike Tolbert, one of the biggest backs in the league. These plays are routine for the ‘Legion of Boom’.
The Seattle Seahawks don’t just make the most out of their opponents’ mistakes, they force them. They get into a lead and pour it on. Cam Newton had a wide open check-down that would have created a first down in the Seattle red-zone, but instead he had to try to make a play and threw a ball not just into double coverage, but right into the hands of Kam Chancellor. Cam to Kam, the irony just drips off, doesn’t it? Chancellor returned it for a 90-yard touchdown that put the final nail in the coffin of the 2014 Carolina Panthers season.
Dominant in the postseason, Chancellor has an interception in each of his last three playoff games. Recruited by Virginia Tech as a quarterback out of high school, he was named second team all-pro as a safety the past two years. Chancellor put on a show, not only intercepting the Newton pass, but hurdling clear over the Panthers’ offensive line on two consecutive field goal attempts as well as having eight solo tackles.
On any other team, Chancellor would be the best player on the defense. On the Seahawks? He’s not even the best at his position. That title belongs to Earl Thomas. At just 25, Thomas has seated himself on the throne of NFL safeties. He’s done so by flying around the field and making tackle, after tackle, after tackle. Thomas had 11 total tackles as well as a forced fumble against Carolina.
You could go on and on talking about the outstanding defense, which was the only squad to allow less than 300 yards a game this season. They were so good that it’s not even fair to compare them to other teams. The suffocating defense allowed just 15.9 points a game (1.6 less than the next best Chiefs), and were disciplined taking just 70 penalties (Atlanta, the second ranked team took 91).
Fast, hard, smart. Every member of the defense plays this way, whether it’s the well-known names like Richard Sherman or Bobby Wagner, or rotational guys like linebacker Malcolm Smith or tackle Jordan Hill. The ferocity of the defense was elevated late in games towards the end of the year as the Seahawks allowed zero fourth quarter points in their last six games.
Defensive Co-ordinator Dan Quinn has created a monster in the northwest, one that dares you to take even a chance at defeating them.
The Seahawks flipped their usual script earlier this year against Arizona, creating an 80-yard touchdown on offense on the road as opposed to letting their dominant defense take the reins. Another little name game – Wilson to Willson – is just how it went. The ‘Hawks used play-action with Marshawn Lynch to force both Cardinals safeties to step up and play the run, while Luke Willson and his deceptive speed slipped straight up the field on a seam route.
Russell Wilson has been outstanding in the playoffs in his three appearances. Against Carolina, Wilson was 8/8 on 3rd down for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns. Wilson is generally efficient with the ball, throwing very few interceptions by tucking the ball and running or throwing the ball away – in the playoffs he is even better. The last time Russell Wilson threw an interception in the post-season was in 2012 on a last second Hail Mary pass that was intercepted by Julio Jones playing ‘centre field’ in the endzone. Essentially, Wilson hasn’t thrown a real interception in the NFL playoffs in his career – it’s why the Seahawks have been successful. Extending drives lets his explosive defense stay fresh.
Pete Carroll’s team just seems to do exactly what it needs to, when it needs to – by getting their opponent to make a mistake and capitalize on it. It seems as though the Seahawks mystique causes some of the best players in the NFL to make uncharacteristic mistakes: Cam Newton throwing an interception in the red zone after moving the ball so well in the fourth quarter and Patrick Peterson going for the strip on Marshawn Lynch instead of making the solid tackle he’s so capable of, and letting “BeastQuake 2.0” happen.
The Seahawks can flip the switch on or off. This magical ability they gained in big games last year has returned. Seattle took two playoff teams to the doghouse, regardless of whether or not you think either team deserved to be there. They proved that Arizona’s defense wasn’t quite as stout at home under Bruce Arians as we thought, and that despite Carolina’s almost identical blueprint they were more talented just about everywhere on the field.
The home crowd will have a big impact on the game on Sunday. Seattle packs in 67,000 of the loudest fans in the NFL every week. The legendary ‘12s’ give Seattle one of the best home field advantages in sports, setting noise records and putting the defense at an even bigger benefit. At home this season the defense is ranked first allowing just 4.6 yards per play.
Fast, hard, smart. If Green Bay wants to beat Seattle on Sunday they’ll have to play the exact same way. Tramon Williams, Julius Peppers, and Clay Matthews have to play as if they’re from the northwest and not the frozen tundra of Lambeau. Richard Sherman leads the NFL in interceptions since 2011 with 25 – the next best corner is 10 short of Sherman with just 15. It remains to be seen whether Aaron Rodgers will avoid his side of the field like he did in week one of the season.
If the Seahawks can continue their postseason excellence, they will live in football lore. If they win another Super Bowl, they may have a dynasty in the making.
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