After the Seahawks won their tenth straight home playoff game, there are a few numbers that stand out to me this week. Those numbers are five, six, eight, nine, eighteen and four and a half. Let’s break them down, shall we?
After dispatching the Detroit Lions to the tune of 26-6, the Seattle Seahawks have now earned a postseason victory in each of the last five seasons. Five straight years with one playoff win, five straight years with a trip to at least the Divisional Round, and five straight years of hope being kept alive. During this span only one other team in the NFL has won a playoff game in five straight seasons: The New England Patriots. That’s it. If the only company in that category is the arguable team of our generation, something is going very right for the Seahawks. In fact, Seattle has won at least one playoff game in every year but one under Head Coach Pete Carroll.
This brings us to my next data points: six, nine, and ten. In the Pete Carroll Era, the Seahawks have enjoyed unprecedented amounts of postseason success for the franchise. Of course a Super Bowl title came under his leadership, but Carroll has built an incredible playoff resume to go along with a World Championship. Under Carroll, the Seahawks are undefeated at home, going 6-0. Two wild card wins, two divisional wins, and two NFC Championships. In the 35 years of franchise history prior to Pete Carroll, the Seahawks had won a grand total of seven playoff games. With Carroll, Seattle has won nine. Carroll has matched the win total and more during his time in the Great Northwest. While it is clear that Pete Carroll has been an incredible difference maker, it is impossible to win in the NFL without a franchise quarterback. Luckily for Carroll, he has an excellent one in Russell Wilson.
DangeRuss Wilson, who was playing with a cold, threw his eighteenth postseason touchdown pass, which ties former Seahawk Matt Hasselbeck for most playoff scores in franchise history. Wilson is only in his fifth year, with at least one more game this year alone. This brings up further evidence to support the claim that Wilson may very well end his career as the best signal caller to ever play for the franchise. On Saturday, Wilson earned his eighth playoff victory. That statistic is impressive in its own right, but even more so when you consider that he has eight wins in his first five seasons. Compare that to the Detroit Lions who, in their 87th season, have seven wins all time. In fact, Wilson has more playoff wins than the Cardinals (7 wins), the Saints (7 wins), the Buccaneers (6 wins), the Jaguars (5 wins), the Bengals (5 wins), the Texans (3 wins), and the enxt round opponent Atlanta Falcons (7 wins). Russell Wilson now has 64 total wins in his first five seasons, which breaks Joe Flacco’s record for most in NFL history through that span.
Looking Ahead – Here is the final number that stands out to me, and that number is four and a half. This sticks out because that is how many points the Falcons are favored to win by according to Vegas. A four and a half point spread is the largest spread against the Seahawks in the playoffs since they played the Chicago Bears in the 2010 season, which was 10 points in a 35-24 loss. It is also the fourth time in the Russell Wilson Era that the Seahawks are underdogs in a playoff game, including the fourth straight time they’re road dogs in a divisional playoff game. Interestingly enough this point spread is the third largest against Seattle since a 13-6 Thursday night contest they dropped to the 49ers in 2012. The Falcons are looking to avenge a 26-24 loss from week 6 that was riddled with late controversy. Atlanta has enjoyed the luxury of a week off as they prepare for their first playoff game since the 2012 season. This will also be a rematch of a 2012 divisional round game where the Seahawks lost to the Falcons. Seattle fans will remember an early 20-0 halftime hole, storming back to take a 28-27 lead, only to fall 30-28 thanks to a Matt Bryant game winning kick.
The bad news is that this Falcons team is infinitely superior to the 2012 edition as Atlanta quietly became the 8th highest scoring offense in league history this season. By nature of the Seahawks blowing it against Arizona, the Falcons moved into what should have been Seattle’s first round bye. They will be rested and prepared to challenge a depleted Legion of Boom. In order for Seattle to escape the Georgia Dome and move on to the Conference Championship, this is a game where the offense will HAVE to win it. The line will have to keep Wilson upright, the run game cannot disappear again, the offense will have to finish drives with touchdowns. If Seattle falls in another early hole due to a slow start the game is over. There is some reason for hope, however.
The Good news for Seattle is the only two times since week 7 of 2012 where Seattle was an underdog by more than 4.5 ended up as Seahawk victories. They were 6 point dogs to Arizona last season, and ended up winning 36-6, and they were slated to lose by more than 7.5 to the Patriots this season which resulted in a 31-24 upset. In that game, Seattle had to travel to the east coast to face an explosive offense coming off of a bye playing in a stadium that road teams rarely win at. Sound familiar? I truly believe that the Seahawks have all the talent in the world to repeat history and pull off another incredible upset. Question is, what team will show up?
