Russell Wilson, Seahawks on favorite stage. And more key players tonight versus Minnesota
Russell Wilson and the Seahawks are back on the stage they’ve owned unlike anyone else in the NFL.
Seattle is 25-10 all-time on Monday nights. That .714 winning percentage is best in league history on Mondays. Since 2010, the Seahawks are an NFL-best 28-5-1 in primetime games. That includes 18-2 at home in prime time.
“I just love playing in the lights. It’s always fun,” Wilson said. “When the lights come on, it takes you back to high school and playing in the lights. The ball looks better in the air sometimes just under the lights.
“It’s just a feeling that you get. You want to step up and play great.”
Especially tonight.
It’s all there for the Seahawks. First place in the NFC West. An inside track to a first-round playoff bye. At least the second seed in the conference’s postseason. San Francisco losing on the final play Sunday at Baltimore gives Seattle (9-2) the opportunity for all that, if the Seahawks win tonight against Minnesota (8-3) at CenturyLink Field.
Kickoff is at 5:15 p.m.
Wilson, the first NFL quarterback with a winning record in each of his first eight seasons, needs 63 yards passing to join Peyton Manning as the only players to throw for 3,000 yards with 20-plus touchdowns in each of their first eight years in the league.
But Seattle’s QB isn’t the only key player in this showcase. Just the most important one. Again:
1. He’s under the radar, because that’s where gap-plugging defensive tackles work and live. But Al Woods has been quietly brilliant for the Seahawks stopping the run and ruining plays in opponents’ backfields. The 32-year-old veteran has played for five teams in his 10-year career, including Seattle now twice.
He has added importance Monday against 1,000-yard rusher Dalvin Cook and the Vikings. Minnesota bases its offense off Cook’s running inside and out.
The Seahawks list Woods, who has played in every game this season, as questionable with a foot injury he got in last weekend’s win at Philadelphia. But coach Pete Carroll said Saturday Woods is ready to go tonight.
“He had a sore foot and we just made sure we gave him rest on it,” Carroll said. “He practiced (Saturday) and he looked fine.
“Those guys, this is that time of the year where these guys aren’t going to be perfect, but they all feel like they can play and they’re excited to play in the game.
“Until they don’t and can’t, we’re counting on them.”
If Woods continues being effective controlling gaps and the interior of the line, the resurgent Seahawks defense is halfway home to another win.
2. Cook’s dynamic running has turned around Kirk Cousins’ Minnesota career. Recently ripped as an $84 million guaranteed failure with the Vikings, Cousins is having a career year. He’s a 70-percent passer with 21 touchdowns and just three interceptions for an 8-3 team.
He’s 1-2 in his career against the Seahawks. The win was in 2017 when he overcame six sacks and made huge throws late to lead Washington to an upset win.
Wilson knows Cousins from when both were star quarterbacks in the Big Ten Conference entering the 2012 draft.
“Kirk and I, we know each other extremely well,” Wilson said. “Let’s take us back here. When I went to Wisconsin, he was the Michigan State quarterback. We had some tremendous battles. He broke my heart on a Hail Mary. We had a chance to potentially go to the national championship or go to a big game. He broke my heart on that one. So, then we played in the Big Ten Championship. That was an amazing game. I think I got him back on that one.
“Just fast-forward and we go to the combine—actually, before the combine, we actually go to the Senior Bowl together, which was awesome. Great experience. Go down to IMG, train together. We had a tremendous class down in IMG. Kirk Cousins, myself, Ryan Tannehill. Luke Kuechly. Josh Norman was there. Bobby (Wagner) was there for a bit. Let’s see, who else did we have? We had a bunch of other guys. We had Mohamed Sanu. We were working everyday pushing each other, just having a lot of fun. It was a tremendous experience just getting to know him and working. We literally lifted together, me, Ryan, and Kirk. Had a lot of fun getting after it every day and just working together and helping each other.
“Just a tremendous mind that Kirk has. Great player. We took all those battles on the field and put them together to try to help each other and do whatever we could. I’ve got tremendous respect for who he is, the dad that he is, the husband that he is and everything else. Gotten to know him through PAO (Pro Athletes Outreach) and that’s been awesome, just Christian athletes, pro athletes, we get together offseason and stuff like that. Been in a lot of small groups with him. I’ve spent a lot of one on one time with him just talking about life and everything else. It’s been cool just getting to know him.
“Like I said, he’s a great football player. He’s a great competitor. I love who he is.”
3. Cousins throws to one of the league’s top group of receivers.
Adam Thielen is an exquisite route runner. He’s missed the Vikings’ last three games and returned to practice this week after his hamstring injury healed during Minnesota’s bye. But the Vikings have declared him out for tonight.
But veteran Seahawks defenders say Stefon Diggs is as problematic a wide receiver as they face. He’s physical grabbing throws while covered with size to go over the middle and speed to beat you deep. And Pro Bowl tight end Kyle Rudolph leads Minnesota with six touchdown catches.
4. The Seahawks’ linebackers have been successful shutting down Rudolph. He has just five catches for 20 yards in three career games against Seattle. And that was before the Seahawks went to so much base 4-3 defense as they have this season. Mychal Kendricks has benefited most from 2019’s emphasis on base over nickel defense. The linebacker had 11 tackles, all solo, last weekend in the shutdown of the Eagles in Philadelphia.
Kendricks’ hamstring tightened during practice last week. Coming off the field Saturday, the last full practice before this game, Kendricks was giving pointers to rookie linebacker Cody Barton. Don’t be shocked if Barton starts, but Kendricks really wants to play. It would be his fourth time playing against his brother Eric, a Vikings linebacker. That dates to when Mychal was at California and Eric at UCLA.
Kendricks has stayed on the field with Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright on many passing downs this season. Those three (or Barton) will have primary responsibilities covering most of Rudolph’s routes, and for bringing down Cook on Minnesota’s foundation running plays.
5. Minnesota’s defense is sixth in the NFL against the run but just 20th versus the pass. Seattle’s recent history is to attack those statistical weaknesses; Wilson coming out throwing all over Tampa Bay in early November was a prime example of that. Look for Wilson, who has 27 total touchdowns against just three interceptions, to come out throwing to Tyler Lockett.
Lockett should be back to regular speed and effectiveness after just two targets against the Eagles a week and a half after a two-night stay in a Bay Area hospital for a severe leg contusion.
But the key to Seattle to being able to throw is to run. The Seahawks need to slow down Danielle Hunter, Everson Griffen and Vikings’ pass rush, which has 31 sacks in 11 games. Seattle is going to run Chris Carson and more of last weekend’s hero Rashaad Penny at Minnesota to slow down that pass rush and give Wilson a better chance to win the game.
Carson fumbled for the seventh time last week at Philadelphia. That’s the most by a non-quarterback in the NFL. Penny is coming off a career game with 122 yards on 14 carries and the game-breaking touchdown romp of 58 yards.
But offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said Carson remains the lead back.
“I mean, Chris is our guy. We know that. He’s playing terrific football, as well,” Schottenheimer said. “But, like what happened last year some, each week, sometimes different guys step up. It happens that way in the passing game. Different receivers step up. Happened in the running game. Of course, we want to get Rashaad his touches, get him in the game. In terms of forcing it to happen, we’re not going to do that.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 2:06 PM.
