SEATTLE — If the 2015 Seattle Seahawks were the equivalent of a high school senior, they’d be a lock for being voted one of the class awards:
Biggest tease.
Seattle’s 39-32 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night at CenturyLink Field was just the latest example of the Seahawks giving their fans hope, only to leave those hopes dashed at the final moment.
Whether it’s been in individual games or the season as a whole, these Seahawks have whetted the appetite only to leave a sour aftertaste. Sunday was just more of the same course Seattle has been serving all season long.
One couldn’t have created a script more representative of Seattle’s season than the way the game against the Cardinals played out. First there was the set-up, where the Seahawks made sure they put themselves in an adverse situation by plunging into a 19-0 hole. Then there was the dramatic comeback, with the defense creating two fumbles on sacks that were returned for touchdowns (the first was eventually brought back to the 3-yard line, but Seattle scored one play later) as the Seahawks went ahead 29-25. Finally there was the letdown, with Arizona twice walking right past that same defense that turned the game in Seattle’s favor.
It wasn’t just the game as a whole, there were several individual moments in the game in which the Seahawks had their full tease going:
¦ Seattle seemed to have the momentum early in the third quarter. The Seahawks, despite a dismal first half, conjured up a touchdown late in the second quarter, moved the ball well on the first possession of the second half to put more points on the board, then forced the Cardinals to punt. But just when it seemed Seattle had momentum, quarterback Russell Wilson missed an open Doug Baldwin streaking downfield, throwing to the wrong side of Baldwin and allowing Tyrann Mathieu to intercept the pass.
¦ The Seahawks scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter and decided to go for the two-point conversion in an attempt to tie the score, only to call a fade pass to the back of the end zone to the 5-foot-10 Baldwin, a play that never had a chance and left Seattle trailing by two.
¦ Needing a stop on third-and-3 as the two-minute warning approached, the Seahawks not only failed to stop Andre Ellington from picking up the first down, they allowed him to scamper 48 yards down the sideline for the clinching touchdown.
But then, we’ve all seen this type of script before. Seattle’s season as a whole follows the same pattern. Twice the Seahawks fell two games below .500, only to provide hope by clawing back even, thanks to victories over inferior competition.
Twice Seattle had undefeated teams on the ropes in the fourth quarter, only to suffer dramatic late collapses against both the Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers, depriving the Seahawks of that signature victory that could have catapulted their season forward.
Even Seattle’s struggles in the red zone, which saw the Seahawks converting fewer than 30 percent of their red zone opportunities into touchdowns, are a tease. Settling for field goals instead of touchdowns is the equivalent of expecting creme brulee for dessert, but then being served a piece of last Christmas’ fruitcake.
Sunday’s game sure had the feel of a passing of the torch. Arizona had to play third fiddle to Seattle and San Francisco two years ago, missing out on the playoffs despite winning 10 games. Last year the Cardinals were in control of the division race all season long, and despite Seattle’s late-season surge could have wrapped up the NFC West title by beating the Seahawks at home in the penultimate week of the season. Instead the Cardinals were slaughtered by Seattle 35-6, and a once-promising season dissolved in a season-ending three-game losing streak, which concluded with the embarrassment of losing a playoff game to a team with a losing record.
But the tables were turned Sunday, and this time it was the Seahawks who had to suffer the indignity of losing a crush game on their home field, despite it being a prime-time game, where Seattle has usually shined under head coach Pete Carroll
It’s hard to see how Seattle can recover from this one. The loss dropped the Seahawks three games behind the Cardinals in the division standings with seven games to play. The division title may be out of reach, and the playoffs are also in danger of fading away.
“We’ll talk about the truth of what happened tomorrow, make sure we cover it all, and we get back to battling,” Carroll said after the game. “Look at how much potential there is to come back and control the game. That was exquisite. I don’t care how it starts, I care how we finish it. We came back and that was our game to win. We have to finish that game, we didn’t get it done.”
Unfortunatley, that’s been the teasing story of Seattle’s season. So much potential, but too often the end product wasn’t there.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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