Sleepless in Seattle

It took only 12 seconds for Super Bowl XLVIII first score. That already sounded like destiny was on the Seahawks side, as a bad snap to Peyton Manning sailed into the end zone and was recovered by Knowshon Moreno for a safety. Following the punt by the Broncos the Seahawks decided to hand the ball off but not to Marshawn Lynch but to Percy Harvin. Harvin ran the ball for 30 yards before being forced out of bounds. the Broncos defense held Seattle to a field goal on the drive.

The following Denver possession the Seahawks defense forced a three and out, and after the Denver punt, Russell Wilson completed a 37 yard pass to Doug Baldwin, this would lead to another Steven Hauschka field goal and the Seahawks took an 8-0 lead. On Denver's next drive Manning threw his first interception of the game to Kam Chancellor, aided by a 15 yard run from Harvin and a pass interference call on defensive back Tony Carter, Marshawn Lynch ran the ball into the end zone with 12 minutes left in the 2nd quarter to put the Seahawks up 15-0.

Things really started to get bad for the Denver Broncos as on their ensuing drive, Manning's 3rd down pass was tipped high into the air, this allowed Malcolm Smith to grab it and once he did there was no turning back. Smith took it to the house for a 69 yard interception for a touchdown and so the Seahawks went up 22-0 before halftime. Denver started to get things going on the offense during their final drive of the half. The Broncos manged to get to Seattle's own 19 yard line but rather then taking the points and kicking a field goal they decided to go for it on 4th and 2. Manning's pass was nearly intercepted by Walter Thurmond, so the Seahawks went into halftime up 22-0, it was the largest deficit the Broncos had faced all season long.

The Seahawks won the coin toss but elected to defer to the second half, and what a start to the second half! Trying to avoid a huge kick return, Matt Prater kicked the ball short. The ball landed at the Seattle 12 yard line and Percy Harvin picked it up and began the second half with an 88 yard kick return for a touchdown. Again it only took 12 seconds to have this half's first score, pretty ironic huh?

After both teams punted the ball Denver began to show that they were not out of this game yet, as Manning was able to complete several passes to get the Broncos into Seattle territory. It wouldn't last. Manning threw a 23 yard completion to Demaryius Thomas but Byron Maxwell knocked the ball out of his hands and Malcolm Smith jumped on the ball and recovered the fumble to give the Seahawks the ball once again. Things just kept getting worse for Denver as an unnecessary roughness penalty gave the Seahawks 15 extra yards. Wilson didn't waste it after a 19 yard completion to Ricardo Lockette he threw a bullet to Jermaine Kearse, who shrugged off 4 tacklers and went 23 yards for the touchdown.

With a 36-0 lead it was looking like the Seahawks defense may produce the first shutout in Super Bowl history, but they didn't. Peyton Manning finally lead his team into the end zone, with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Thomas, but after that Denver would not score again.

Zach Miller recovered Prater's onside kick on the Seattle 48 yard line. He also caught an 10 yard pass as the Seahawks subsequently went 52 yards down the field for one more touchdown. With a 24 yard pass to Kearse that set up Russell Wilson's final touchdown pass of the game as he hooked up with Dough Baldwin for a 10 yard score. After that score which put the Seahawks up 43-8 that basically nailed the coffin shut. Denver's final drives would result in two turnover on downs and one fumble recovery by the Seahawks, thanks to Chris Clemons (which was the only sack in the game by either team).

The clock hit 0:00 and the confetti poured out blue a green and the Seattle Seahawks, who came 31 seconds short of the NFC Championship last year now were Super Bowl Champions for the first time in franchise history. It was the city of Seattle's first major championship since the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics.

Malcolm Smith was named the game's Most Valuable Player becoming just the ninth defensive player to win that award. A lot of ironic stats were recorded in the game. 12 seconds to score in both half's, 12 minutes left exactly when the Seahawks scored their first touchdown, 206 passing yards by Russell Wilson which is the area code for Seattle, Manning's 12th playoff loss, and finally Seattle's 12th playoff win. Those stats say "destiny" all the way.

Seahawks/Broncos Super Bowl Preview

Ok sure I'm writing a Super Bowl preview a week and a half away from the day before kickoff but so what! Too excited to wait. The second time in Seahawks history they are in the Super Bowl, but this opponent is way different from any opponent that they have face this season. For the first time since Super Bowl XXV that the number one offensive and defensive teams will be facing off for the ultimate prize......the Lombardi Trophy and to be crowned Super Bowl Champs!

The Seahawks have been from this stage in the NFL for 8 years and the last time they were there it was a complete disaster (thanks to the striped assholes calling the game). They fell short of their goal of Super Bowl champs to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10. Let's just hope that the refs will call a fair game in this Super Bowl huh?

Anyways, getting back to the game the Seahawks have the better team. Why do I say that the Seahawks have a better team compared to the Denver Broncos who have had Peyton Manning, DeMaryius Thomas, Wes Welker, Knoshon Moreno, and Eric Decker on their team? Simple, the Seahawks want this game more and have more to prove then the Broncos.

The Hawks have gone through criticism all season and have had the media doubt them all season long. Their wide receiver's have been called "pedestrian" but quoting wide out Doug Baldwin "It irritates the hell out of me when guys constantly want to talk about receiving, talking about we're average, we're pedestrian. Well guess what? We're walking our ass to the Super Bowl as pedestrians".

The Seahawks wide receiver core may not have any Pro Bowlers or highlight players in the eyes of the media and the experts but all season long Baldwin, Golden Tate, and Jermaine Kearse have shown how good they really are. The experts fail to forget that it was Kearse who made the game winning catch against the Panthers in Week 1, or made a spectacular catch in the Colts game to keep the Hawks in the game, and guess what? It was Kearse who made the tough catch against the 49ers last Sunday that basically won the game for the Seahawks. Golden Tate has had a career season for catches (64) and yards (898), he also had a career game against the St. Louis Rams in the final game of the season catching 8 passes for a career high 129 yards.

Those are not "pedestrian" wide receivers to me. The Seahawks may not have three guys who have caught 10+ touchdowns like the Broncos have no they have speedy and athletic young men who are ready to prove to the whole nation that even though they are not Pro Bowlers they are just as good.

The Broncos have Peyton Manning yes we know but here's the thing you take Manning away and the Broncos are not a Super Bowl team! That's all the Broncos are is a passing team and all season long the Seahawks secondary has shut down passing teams like this. The Legion of Boom have three terrific All-Pro and Pro Bowl players but their backups are just as dangerous. Byron Maxwell was put in for the suspended Brandon Browner and in just 5 games he picked off 4 passes!!!

Walter Thurmond III is just as dangerous, he may only have had one interception during the season but he still a great defender. Jeremy Lane has been outstanding for the Seahawks as well. To me this guy should have been a Pro Bowler for special teams, he's also a great cornerback as well.

The Broncos defense is good......but not that good. Their defense has proven that they are weak, when they go up against teams who actually HAVE an offense they struggle. The Broncos D almost blew it two weeks ago as the San Diego Chargers scored 17 points in the 4th quarter, their offense also struggled against the Chargers defense as well. The Broncos D has shown they are week in their three loses and in a couple of their wins.

If Russell Wilson can get his legs moving while under pressure and run the ball in 10 days then the Seahawks may have a shot at really pounding the Broncos. Wilson has been holding the ball way too long in the past couple games, during the first half of the season he ran the ball more often but since week 8 he has ran the ball less and less. During a three game stretch he ran 33 times and ran for 240 yards!! I mean damn what happened after that huh? Since Week 17 he has ran the ball 13 times for 15 yards.......that's not Russell Wilson. It's a big importance that Russell runs in his first Super Bowl when he has no one to go to.

Another big key in this Super Bowl for the Seahawks is get to Manning early and sack his ass! You do that you have Manning and the Broncos on the ropes. Manning has been sacked 7 times in the 3 loses this season and in the 13 that he has won he's been sacked 11 times......yeah weird huh? Doesn't matter the Seahawks D-Line needs to get to Manning early and put pressure on him and get him to panic to throw the ball, that will allow the secondary to pick Manning off or with the pressure have Manning throw it away.

Another thing is that Seahawks offensive corridinator Darrell Bevell needs to call a smart game. He's been highly criticized by myself and a lot of other Seahawks fans, but I do have to give him kudos on calling a great game last week, but he really does need to let Russell call the game. In the loss against the Colts it looked like Russell was calling the plays, actually the three game rushing stretch for Wilson looked like he was calling the plays. The point I'm trying to make is that Bevell needs to call one more smart game and let Russell call the plays from time to time.

The running game in the last three games has been scary for the Seahawks, lead by their Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch has ran for 346 yards in the last 3 games (249 in the playoffs). Beast Mode has been on another level since Week 17......boy has been eating his Skittles. Lynch needs to keep this stretch going against the Broncos, who are ranked 8th in run defense in the NFL. Before the Divisional Round Game Lynch had gone 6 weeks of not going over the century mark but since then he's broken big runs and of course created two new Beast Quakes.

The Broncos really have nothing to threaten the Seahawks if you look at it. The Hawks have the number one defense against the passing game and are 7th against the running game. Last week the Seahawks had one horrible game against the run game as Colin Kaepernick ran for 130 yards, but getting onto a positive note they only allowed 31 yards on 17 carries to the other running backs that the Niners had. The Seahawks have also shut down some of the game's best quarterbacks this season.

They held Cam Newton to 125 yards in Week 1, Kaepernick to 127 the following week, held Andrew Luck to 229 yards in Week 5, Matt Ryan to 172 in Week 10, Drew Brees to 147 in Week 13, Kaepernick to 175 in Week 14, held Eli Manning to 156 in Week 15 and picked him off 5 times, and then Kaepernick one more time last week to only 153 yards.

The numbers don't lie, this Seahawks secondary is the most feared in the NFL and the Seahawks lead the NFL in takeaway's with 28 coming from interceptions. This Super Bowl is really going to be one helluva show. Both teams have explosive offenses but the Seahawks still have the advantage in the defensive face-off.

This is going to be a game to remember win or lose the Seattle Seahawks have had a terrific season and the 12th Man will always be there to support the team including myself. I just wish the Super Bowl was kicking off this week instead of on February 2nd.

GO HAWKS!!!!!

NFC Champions SeaTalk Intentional Edition

Sorry for the technical difficulties with the music. Me and my guest Matt discuss the NFC Champion Seahawks and give our take on the game and the upcoming Super Bowl and talk about the racist comments that people made towards Richard Sherman. http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-823096.mp3

Seahawks are 1/2 Super Bowl Champs!

With a tip of the ball by Richard Sherman and Malcolm Smith catching it, the Seattle Seahawks secured their second birth in the Super Bowl but it was not an easy win for the Hawks last night.

On the first play from scrimmage Russell Wilson fumbled the ball and Aldon Smith recovered. The Seahawks defense though held Colin Kaepernick and the 49er offense to only a field goal. The Seahawks next possession would see a 3 and out after Marshawn Lynch failed twice to get 2 and 1 yards so John Ryan would punt the ball back to the Niners. Kaepernick would run for 29 yards on the ensuing drive for the Niners but the Seahawks D would shut'em down and make them punt.

Though on the next possession by the 49ers Kaepernick would burn the Seahawks defense for 70 yards! Jim Harbaugh's team would fail to convert on a 3rd down running play but Harbaugh would go for it on 4th down and Anthony Dixon would get the carry for the second consecutive run play and score to put the Niners up 10-0.

The CLink and the 12th Man were in awe as the Niners were shutting down one of the best offensive team's in the NFL. On a 2nd and 7 Russell Wilson teed up and threw a bomb to Doug Baldwin for 51 yards and so for the first time in the game the Seahawks were in the red zone, but unfortunately the 49ers defense would sack Wilson and prevent the Hawks from scoring a touchdown. Steven Hauschka put the Seahawks on the board with an easy 32 yard chip shot, so with 5:47 left in the 2nd quarter the Hawks were at least on the board but they needed to keep the Niners offense at bay.

The Seahawks D did just that, with a 3 and out and so with 4:20 left the Hawks had a shot to go down the field and tie the game before the half ended. It didn't happen, Pete Carroll's team had converted two 3rd downs but failed the third. So Carroll decided to go for it on 4th down........that did not work. After Kaepernick took a knee to end the first half the Seahawks and 12th Man were 30 minutes away from losing at home and having their Super Bowl hopes crushed.

Macklemore preformed at halftime and decided to pump up both the 12th Man and the Seahawks.......and I think it worked. The Niners first offensive drive was shut down by the Seahawks and so the Niners punted it to begin the second half. Lynch started the Seahawks first second half drive with an 11 and 5 yard runs. After a 4 yard gain on a pass to Baldwin Marshawn Lynch made the 12th Man erupt!

  "Wilson turns hands to Lynch, finds room first down and more! INSIDE THE 30, THE 25, 20 HE'S ON THE MOVE BEAST MODE 10, 5.......HE IS IN!!!! TOUCHDOOOWN SEAHAWKS!!!" as Steve Raible called what is now called the Beast Quake 3.0 as Lynch took off for 40 yards to help his team tie the game at 10-10.

The excitement didn't last long, as the Niners put together a 6 play drive that ended with Kaepernick throwing a bullet pass to Anquan Boldin that just missed being tipped by All-Pro Earl Thomas. So the 49ers regained the lead in the game but that wouldn't stop the Seahawks from putting their own scoring drive. Hauschka kicked his second field goal of the game, so the Hawks were still in the game down by 4.

The defense though would help out once again as the Niners went 3 and out and on the Seahawks ensuing drive the 3rd quarter ended but on the second play of the 4th, on one gutsy call by Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson was able to force an offsides on the Niners and on the free play threw a 35 yard touchdown pass to UW alumni Jermaine Kearse to put the Seahawks up by 3. The Seahawks defense came up big time on the following possession by the Niners as Kaepernick was sacked by Cliff Avril and forced a fumble that was recovered by Michael Bennett.

Though the Seahawks didn't score on turnover. Carroll last year went for a 4th and 1 instead of kicking the field goal and he said "I will never do that again", well he ate his own words as he went for a 4th and goal on the 1 yard line but Lynch fumbled the ball and so the Niners took over on downs.

It only took two plays and the Seahawks regained possession of the football as Kam Chancellor intercepted Kaepernick on the the San Francisco 40. Hauschka would be called on to kick his third field goal of the game to give the Seahawks the 23-17 lead. That field goal was thanks to a Doug Baldwin 69 yard kick return to put the Seahawks into Niner territory.

So here it is, 3:37 left in the 4th, San Francisco's last attempt to win the game. Like last year in the Super Bowl, Kaepernick lead his team down to their own red zone and just like last year he would go for one more try with Michael Crabtree. Kaepernick went up to basically the exact same spot in last year's Super Bowl but this time Richard Sherman the All-Pro cornerback tipped the ball up and Malcolm Smith came down with it to end Kaepernick's dream's of returning to the Super Bowl. Russell Wilson would then take three knees to end the game and make it sleepless in Seattle.

For the second time the Seahawks are NFC Champions but this time the Seahawks will look to have a different outcome in the Super Bowl. In two weeks the Seattle Seahawks will look to shut up the doubters, the experts, and the entire media that doubted them and will look to hoist their first Lombardi Trophy in the team's history and bring the first national sport championship (I dont count WNBA) to Seattle since the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics!

NOTES: Doug Baldwin became just the 6th player in NFL history to have 100+ receiving and kick return yards in a game.

GO HAWKS!!!

One game win or go home!

Two days remain on the countdown to Championship weekend in the NFL, but one of those games has more media attention then any other game in the playoffs. The Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers square off for one last time this season for a shot at becoming NFC Champs and for a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII. The Seahawks and the 49ers series is tied at 15-15 but the funny thing is that this will be the first time these two rivals face each other in the playoffs! Percy Harvin has already been ruled out of this Sunday's game with a concussion but K.J. Wright is ready to play, not at 100% but he will play on Sunday. The fans, the media, and the teams always look forward to facing each other but this one is for all the marbles in the bag.

Russell Wilson will look to improve from his last 4 games. Wilson has look sluggish in last couple games by over throwing his intended receivers, not running with the ball when he has a shot at 10 or more yards, and making rookie mistakes. Some of the media has said that the sophomore slump is getting to Wilson at the wrong time, but I look at it differently.......he was just saving his A-game for this game! Wilson finished the season with a career high 3,357 passing yards and a career low of 9 interceptions. Colin Kaepernick apparently already went through the sophomore slump in the first 3 games of the season but Kaepernick has problems getting the ball off in time and he has had numerous delay of game penalties on him this year, so you know the 12th Man is going to be a huge factor in this game.

Kaepernick will have his safety blanket back for this game that he did not have in the first meeting at Century Link and that is Michael Crabtree. Crabtree suffered a torn achilles tendon at the start of the season and missed all but the last 5 games of the season, since then he has caught 33 passes for only 284 yards and 1 touchdown. Richard Sherman will do his best to shut down the Niners main receiver and the rest of the Legion of Boom will try to keep Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis contained as well.

The goal in this game is for Russell to get going early and stay going. His main wide receiver Golden Tate was held to only 1 catch for 13 yards so its very important that Tate and Doug Baldwin get open, but Wilson does have another weapon not Jermaine Kearse but Zach Miller. If Wilson wants to get ahead early he and head coach Pete Carroll need to get Miller involved. Last year Miller caught 12 catches for 190 yards and 1 touchdown including his 142 performance in the Divisional loss to Atlanta. Miller was the big reason why the Seahawks came 31 seconds close to winning that game, so again its important that Wilson gets Miller the ball. One more weapon the Seahawks have of course is Beast Mode Marshawn Lynch, who set both a career high and a Seahawks playoff record last week with 140 yards on the ground. Wilson needs to get Lynch the ball also through the air.

There's plenty of things the Seahawks must do to win this game. Score points early, shutdown the Niner receivers, put a lot of pressure of Kaepernick, and above all give Russell Wilson plenty of protection. This Sunday is the final home game for the Seahawks and they want to give their fans one more win, they do not want the Niners winning a third consecutive road playoff win and winning the Conference Championship on their own field. The 12th Man needs to stay loud and get louder on every defensive play to get to Kaepernick and make him and head coach Jim Harbaugh to call timeouts early. In two days the Seahawks biggest game of the franchise kicks off and millions of football fans will be watch this heated rivalry not knowing who will come out on top.

GO HAWKS!!!

Flashback Friday: Blue Friday

Well, I'm going to be writing two flashback blogs including today's and then ill write one tomorrow. Today's flashback isn't that far, because of today's on Russell Wilson on NFL Top 100 which was #51, I think ill write about last year's incredible run by the Seattle Seahawks after their loss to the Miami Dolphins. The Seahawks took to the road again to take on the Chicago Bears with having a dismal road record of 1-6. The Seahawks were able to pull out the win in Chicago, thanks to a terrific overtime opening drive by Russell Wilson. Wilson threw the game winning touchdown to Sidney Rice. 

The next week the Seahawks came home to play host to the Arizona Cardinals and the Seahawks pulled all their cards out in this game. The Seahawks set a franchise record for points scored and forced eight turnovers in the game with both Richard Sherman and Bobby Wagner intercepting two passes.

The following week the Seahawks traveled to Toronto to play the Buffalo Bills at Rogers Centre. The Seahawks once again pounded their opponent winning 50-17. Russell Wilson finished the game with 3 rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown. The next week was the most important game of the season for the Seahawks. If the Seahawks won the game they would secure a spot in the playoffs. The 49ers came into Seattle with a hot Colin Kaepernick and a shot at the NFC West title. 

The Seahawks decided to bash them around as they crushed the 49ers 42-13 with the biggest play coming from Richard Sherman, Sherman returned a blocked field goal 93 yards for the touchdown. After the Seahawks won their fifth game in a row against the St. Louis Rams they were on their way to our nations capital for a Wild Card showdown with the Redskins.

That Sunday was the showdown that people wanted to see; Robert Griffin III vs Russell Wilson. Seahawks fans were hoping for this match, that way RW3 could show up RG3. The game did not start out in the Seahawks favor as the NFL's best defense allowed 14 unanswered points in the first quarter and on Twitter Seahawks fans were saying that this game was over, but I was staying positive and tweeting that we were going to win this game. The Seahawks defense did not allow another score after the first quarter and Russell Wilson did his job. The Seahawks scored 13 points in the second quarter to pull with in 1 after the first half. 

The second half saw a scoreless third quarter but in the fourth quarter the Seahawks scored a go ahead touchdown after Marshawn Lynch picked up a possible fumble and took it to the house. RG3 suffered an ACL injury along with the Seahawks DL Chris Clemmons suffering the same injury.

The following week the Seahawks faced the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional round. The Seahawks were able to take the lead with 30 seconds left in the game, but due to a breakdown in the defense the Falcons kicked a game winning field goal. The Seahawks season was over, with the horrible feeling of defeat the whole team was welcomed home by the whole 12th Man nation cheering for them as their bus drove past thousands of fans. The Seahawks are the favorite to win this year's Super Bowl. I can tell you this, I wish football season would start now!