SEATTLE — A lot of dreams came true Saturday for the Seattle Seahawks receiving corps.
Luke Willson scored his first home touchdown. Jermaine Kearse got to dive for the pylon. And Doug Baldwin got another opportunity to stick it to the national media.
On a day when the running game was largely held in check, those guys each caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Russell Wilson to lead the Seahawks to a 31-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers in an NFC Divisional Playoff game at CenturyLink Field.
Willson, a tight end, said he had a feeling that the passing game might go off and that he would have a hand in it.
“Big time. It was weird. I was coming in today and I was thinking I have never actually scored a home touchdown,” Willson said. “I got a good feeling about today maybe scoring my first home touchdown.”
He got it early in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard pass from Wilson that made the score 24-10 and created some long-awaited breathing room. Willson also had a 29-yard catch and run on third-and-six to keep that drive alive, a play that symbolized so much of what Seattle did well on offense.
Wilson completed 15 of 22 passes for 268 yards and no interceptions, and he was especially brilliant on third down.
On third downs, Wilson was 8-for-8 for 199 yards, and all three touchdown passes came on third-and-long.
The first went to Baldwin late in the first quarter, on third-and-9 from the Carolina 16-yard line. Wilson recognized that the Panthers were blitzing and would be in man-to-man coverage, and he audibled to a play that would give Baldwin a chance to beat rookie safety Tre Boston.
Baldwin, a wide receiver, started upfield from the left slot, made a hard head fake toward the center of the field, which Boston bought, then sprinted past him into the end zone for a relatively easy catch.
“I know his leverage on that coverage,” Baldwin said. “I know where he has to protect, so I attacked that and made sure that he stayed on his leverage, and then I go up and do what I’m allowed to do.”
On Seattle’s next possession, Kearse made the offensive play of the game with a 63-yard touchdown reception. On third-and-7, Kearse was in man coverage against rookie cornerback Bene Benwikere on a deep corner route. Wilson lofted the ball his direction, Kearse fended off Benwikere with his left arm and made a one-handed catch with his right hand.
That was at about the 30-yard line, then Kearse slipped free of Benwikere and outran Boston to the corner of the end zone.
“I saw the ball thrown and I just tried to use my body to kind of shield the guy away from me and just make a big play,” Kearse said. “I was able to break a tackle and run free and score a touchdown.”
Kearse is not noted for raw footspeed, and he said he knew it was going to be a close race to the goal line.
“I was telling myself just get to the 5 so I could dive,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to dive at the pylon. That was the first time.”
The 63-yard touchdown pass put Seattle ahead 14-7 and was the longest passing play in Seahawks playoff history, breaking a record set in 1984 when Dave Krieg connected for 56 yards to Steve Largent at Miami.
Kearse finished with three receptions for a game-high 129 yards, to the surprise of none of his teammates.
“It’s just what he does,” Baldwin said of Kearse. “It’s just what pedestrian, average receivers do. I see it every day in practice so it’s no surprise to me.
Baldwin’s use of the words pedestrian and average recalled last year’s run to the Super Bowl, during which Seattle’s receivers received little respect from the national media. Apparently, that still motivates Baldwin, who had four catches for 68 yards Saturday.
“We’re a run-first team, but when we get opportunities in the passing game we’re going to make them miss with the best of them,” Baldwin said. “We wanted to do that, and we had a lot of explosive plays.
Baldwin was quick to credit Wilson
“He was on point today. I’ve got to give him some credit,” Baldwin said. “That’s Russell. He gave us some opportunities in the passing game. He threw it up for us a couple of times and we were able to do what we do as average receivers.”
Seattle coach Pete Carroll agreed that Wilson had a special game.
“That’s a fantastic night, coming through in critical situations,” Carroll said of Wilson. “To get three scores … He might have hit them all on third down, completion-wise.
“That’s not a one-guy show, but he certainly had some stats on third down tonight.”
Even Wilson, who is as humble as they come, allowed that the passing game was on on a night when it had to be.
“The guys made some tremendous plays,” Wilson said. “I think we played a lights out game against a very good defense.”
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