SEATTLE — While eight teams opened the NFL postseason this weekend, the Seahawks kicked their feet up and enjoyed the games from home.
It’s a pretty surprising position for the Seahawks to be in considering how the 2014 season started. The Seahawks struggled at times on the way to a 3-3 start, they dealt with drama, reports of locker room unrest and the surprising Percy Harvin trade, then later dropped another game to fall to 6-4, putting them three games out of first place in the division with six games remaining.
If anything, it seemed like the only way the Seahawks would be off this weekend is if they were to miss the playoffs altogether, but thanks to a dramatic turnaround and a six-game winning streak to end the season, Seattle is once again the NFC West champ and the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC, meaning a weekend off and home-field advantage in the playoffs.
Over the next week, we’ll spend plenty of time looking ahead at who Seattle will play and what the Seahawks will need to do to get back to the Super Bowl, but first let’s take a look back some of the key players and moments from the 2014 season.
MVP: QB Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson’s passing numbers don’t compare with the league’s top quarterbacks, but his importance to the Seahawks is still impossible to overstate. When you factor in Wilson’s 849 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns along with his 3,475 passing yards and 20 touchdown passes, few players in the NFL account for more offensive production. And perhaps most importantly to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, Wilson rarely turns the ball over, throwing just seven interceptions despite being under more duress than just about any NFL quarterback.
Offensive player of the year: RB Marshawn Lynch
Would it be a cop-out to acknowledge both Lynch and QB Russell Wilson? Maybe, but both deserve recognition. While Wilson may be the most irreplaceable player on the team, Lynch, who rushed for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season, was Seattle’s best offensive player. He set the tone with his physical running style and also contributed a career-high 376 receiving yards and four touchdown catches. This was arguably the best season of Lynch’s decorated career.
Defensive player of the year: LB Bobby Wagner
On the one hand, missing five games should count against Wagner, but on the other hand, the way Seattle’s defense improved after his return from a toe injury only underscored how good he was this season. With Wagner back, the Seahawks closed out the regular season by giving up a total of 39 points in their last six games — a big reason Wagner was named first-team All Pro despite missing nearly a third of the season. This award could probably go to safety Earl Thomas every year — he’s that important to the defense — but Wagner deserves recognition for a spectacular season.
Rookie of the year: WR Paul Richardson
For most of the season, this was Justin Britt’s award by default, because the 16-game starter at right tackle was the only rookie making an impact early in the season. But the way Richardson, Seattle’s first pick in the 2014 draft, has come on of late has been an important development for Seattle’s offense. After catching more than three passes just once in his first 13 games, he caught 13 over Seattle’s final three games for 142 yards and a touchdown, not spectacular numbers, but an encouraging trend heading into the postseason.
Most improved: LB Bruce Irvin
Seattle’s first-round pick in 2012, Irvin moved from defensive end to linebacker last year and by his own admission didn’t handle the transition very well. This season, however, Irvin has dedicated himself to his new position, improving both in coverage (two interceptions, both returned for touchdowns) and against the run. He also contributed to the pass rush with 6.5 sacks.
Best free-agent signing: DT Kevin Williams
The Seahawks signed the 34-year-old veteran to be part of a deep defensive-line rotation, figuring the six-time Pro Bowler would be more effective in a limited role this late in his career. But after starting nose tackle Brandon Mebane went down with a season-ending injury, Williams took over as the starter and has played a huge role in Seattle’s defense finishing strong despite the loss of Mebane.
Best play, offense: Marshawn Lynch’s 79-yard touchdown run in Arizona
Few running backs in NFL history have as spectacular a run on their résumé as the one Lynch pulled off in Arizona last month, yet for him that 79-yard score likely wasn’t even No. 1 on his list thanks to his 67-yarder against New Orleans in the 2010 playoffs. Whichever run you prefer, both showed off so many attributes that make Lynch such a spectacular player: power, speed, agility, and perhaps most important, determination.
Best play, defense: Earl Thomas’ touchdown-saving forced fumble against St. Louis
While Thomas tried to downplay the significance of the fumble he forced just inches from the goal line in last week’s game against the Rams, cornerback Richard Sherman called it colossal, and Pete Carroll said it was one of the plays of the year. Perhaps more important than the play itself — the Seahawks were up two scores in the fourth quarter — was what it symbolized about Thomas and the Seahawks, who fought to the last inch on the play.
Best addition by subtraction: Trading Percy Harvin to the New York Jets
The Seahawks shocked the NFL by discarding one of the league’s most talented players early in the season, but in the end it was probably one of the most important moves of the year, and not just because of the reported off-field issues Harvin presented. Without Harvin, the Seahawks got back to their offensive philosophy and, as Carroll put it, “rediscovered the things that have been good to us that we had just fallen out of somewhat. It helped us in many ways.”
Quote of the year: “Be ready, bro, we’re going to shock you.” — S Earl Thomas
When the Seahawks beat Arizona Nov. 23 to start a six-game winning streak, no one outside of the team knew yet just how dramatically they had turned things around. Sure Seattle had just knocked off the Cardinals, but Arizona was playing with a backup quarterback, and the Seahawks still had a tough schedule ahead, starting with a Thanksgiving game at San Francisco. Thomas, however, knew what was coming, saying before that Thanksgiving game, “Don’t be surprised, man. I don’t want to start talking, but be ready, bro, we’re going to shock you. We’re going to shock you.”
Most important snack food: Sunflower seeds
During a November walk-through practice, safety Earl Thomas saw teammates eating sunflower seeds and lost it. He later admitted it was silly, but the confrontation grew heated at the time — Thomas thought the unnamed teammates should be taking the practice more seriously — and eventually led to team meeting in which players cleared the air and found an element of trust that was missing. “If you can play this game with love, with trust and commitment to each other, that’s probably the hardest thing for anybody to stop,” wide receiver Doug Baldwin said a few days later after the first of six straight wins. Maybe Seattle finishes strong without that blowup and subsequent meeting, but we’ll never know for sure.
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