SEATTLE — Forget the NFC East or the long road trips or even the greatest passer in NFL history.
The Seattle Seahawks’ most formidable opponent of the past 12 months has been a less frequent one. And on Sunday, they finally conquered it.
Snow was supposed to be the Achilles’ heel of the Seahawks, who saw their 2007 season end in a near blizzard at Lambeau Field last January. The 42-20 loss to Green Bay haunted Seattle, so the sight of snowflakes this week served as a chance at redemption.
“Last time we didn’t play as well as we wanted to,” cornerback Josh Wilson said Sunday, after the Seahawks beat the AFC East-leading New York Jets 13-3 on a snow-covered surface at Qwest Field. “It was our time to show them this year.”
In what is officially being recorded as the coldest NFL game in Seattle history — the temperatures was 31 degrees at kickoff — the Seahawks showed no signs of frigidity. Longtime Packers quarterback Brett Favre, now with the Jets, was the one who froze up in the conditions. Favre is now 1-6 in road games played in sub-34-degree temperatures, as opposed to 43-6 at Lambeau Field in the same conditions.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, looked like they play in snow every Sunday.
“It wasn’t too bad,” linebacker Julian Peterson said. “It was nothing like Green Bay last year. We had a little more footing. It wasn’t as cold. Guys were ready to play.”
Of the players who rose to the challenge Sunday, the most expected was a rookie who grew up in Minnesota and attended college in South Bend, Ind.
But, amazingly, rookie tight end John Carlson had never before played a football game in snow. His football seasons at Litchfield High School in Minnesota typically ended in early November, while the worst weather he experienced at Notre Dame came during a sleet-ravaged spring game one April.
“It’s unusual,” said Carlson, whose 2-yard reception in the end zone marked the only touchdown of Sunday’s game. “I grew up in Minnesota and was in school for five years at Notre Dame. I’ve had snow before games and after games, but never in a game.”
Before Sunday, the coldest game ever played in Seattle was a Monday Night Football appearance against Favre’s Packers in Nov. 2006, when there was snow and 34-degree temperatures.
Outshining the Joneses: While the spotlight was on the Jones brothers — New York’s Thomas and Seattle’s Julius — heading into Sunday’s game, a different running back stole the show.
The Seahawks’ Maurice Morris rushed for 116 yards, his highest total since rushing for 124 in a November, 2006 game against St. Louis. It marked the second 100-yard rushing performance of the season for Morris, who ranks second on the team behind Julius Jones in rushing yards this season.
The Jets’ Jones is still the AFC’s leading rusher but was held to 67 yards on 17 carries Sunday. Julius Jones was on the field for only a handful of plays and didn’t touch the ball a single time.
“I don’t care,” Jones said of not getting any carries Sunday. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
Julius Jones added that he did not plan to talk to his brother about Sunday’s game.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said. “They lost, they’re not going to the playoffs. We won, we knocked them out of the playoffs. He’s not going to want to talk about that.”
Engram’s swan song? Just in case he doesn’t play for the Seahawks next year, Bobby Engram was looking at Sunday’s game as a possible final chapter in his Seattle career.
The 34-year-old wide receiver is scheduled to become a free agent this spring.
“I really don’t have a feeling one way or the other,” Engram said of the possibility that Sunday marked his final home game in Seattle, “but I’m realistic in the fact that it might be. So I didn’t want to let it pass me by without taking some time to take it all in. I did that the whole entire game, from the time I woke up all the way to the stadium until (afterward).”
Asked whether he wanted to come back, Engram said: “I’ve been saying that all along. I want to retire here. But the business side has to dictate that. That will only be determined in the near future.”
To go or not to go: One play more than any other was debated in the Jets locker room after the game. It came on New York’s opening possession, when coach Eric Mangini opted for a field goal on fourth-and-1 at the Seattle 2-yard line instead going for a first down and a possible touchdown.
“I anticipated the game being tight,” Mangini explained, “and I thought at that point, being the opening drive, the important thing was to get points. I wasn’t sure how much the weather would continue to worsen and I really felt like it could come down to three points. So I wanted to get the points on the board at that point.”
The flip side of the argument is that New York had moved briskly down the field on that march, and gaining 1 yard — actually a half-yard — seemed fairly certain.
“I felt like we had good momentum, but I understand (Mangini’s) decision,” said New York QB Brett Favre. “And I think it was a good decision.
“I felt like had we had gone for it, we’d get it. But that’s the competitive nature of me. I thought we’d moved the ball well on that drive. But as bad as the (weather) conditions were, points are always valuable. There was no thinking that we wouldn’t be back there. So in hindsight … I think it was a good decision.”
“As a competitor, would I want to go for it? Yeah, as a competitor I would,” said Jets offensive tackle Damien Woody. “But that’s not my call. My job as a player is whatever we decide to do, just go out there and do my job 100 percent.”
Quick slants: Sunday’s game saw the Seahawks score the fewest points in a home win since Nov. 27, 1994, when they beat Kansas City 10-9. … Seattle’s 2-6 home record is its worst since the Seahawks went 1-7 in 1992. … In addition to his two interceptions on Sunday, Wilson had his first sack of the season. … Sunday’s win moved the Seahawks back one spot in the projected draft order, from No. 5 to No. 6. Seattle and Oakland are both tied with a 4-11 overall record, but the Raiders now have an easier strength of schedule. If both the Seahawks and Raiders lose next week, their strength of schedule would be even and the No. 5 pick would come down to a coin flip.
Herald Writer Rich Myhre contributed to this notebook
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