What’s next for the Seahawks: from three seed to one, their possible playoff scenarios
It was about the biggest party anyone could have in Seattle right now.
You know, with the pandemic and masks and all.
Six dozen or so masked Seahawks players, the NFL’s only team to test negative for COVID-19, every player, every day since July, partied like it was 2021. Or any year but 2020, for that matter.
Jamal Adams smoked a victory cigar. K.J. Wright cackled and howled that the All-Pro safety lit his celebration stogie during a press conference.
They had just won the NFC West for the first time since 2016. They had just thoroughly throttled their nemesis in those years since, the Los Angeles Rams, in a 20-9 victory Sunday.
“Oh man, the locker room was amazing,” quarterback Russell Wilson said after securing his fourth division title in his nine seasons. “.Just that everybody was so ecstatic you know? Everybody’s having a blast.
“It’s been a special year for us. I think everybody’s really fired up about it. ...So many guys never want an NFC West championship. Never even been to the playoffs, maybe, even.”
But Wilson then added: “There’s more to do.”
The Seahawks still have a chance at the NFC’s only bye through the first round of the playoffs in two weeks, as the conference’s top seed.
Seattle (11-4) is currently the three seed. The team first needs to win against San Francisco (6-9) on Sunday in the 49ers’ temporary home of Glendale, Ariz. The Niners are playing there because their home county in Santa Clara, California, recently prohibited any sporting events because of the coronavirus spiking there again.
Then the Seahawks would need Green Bay (12-3), the current one seed, to lose at Chicago. The Bears (8-7) are in win-or-go-home mode. A victory gets Chicago into the playoffs as the seventh and final team in the NFC, ahead of Arizona (8-7).
The Seahawks also need New Orleans (11-4) to lose at Carolina (5-10) for Seattle to be the top seed.
The Seahawks, Packers and Saints games all kick off at 1:25 p.m. Sunday.
Seattle will move up the two seed and host the seventh seed in the first round of the playoffs Jan. 9 or 10 if it beats San Francisco and the Saints lose. The Seahawks also get the second seed if the Packers lose and the Saints win.
That’s because Seattle wins a head-to-head tiebreaker with Green Bay (based on a 4-0 record versus Green Bay’s 4-1 record against common opponents) but loses a two-team tiebreaker with New Orleans. The Saints have a better conference record.
The Seahawks will be the third seed in the playoffs if it loses against San Francisco, or if they, the Packers and the Saints all win next week. The third seed hosts the sixth seed in the first round of the playoffs, and would be in line to likely play at the second seed in the conference semifinals the weekend of Jan. 16-17.
The Rams (9-6) currently hold the sixth seed. That hold is tenuous. Los Angeles quarterback Jared Goff broke his right thumb on his passing hand Sunday during his erratic performance in Seattle, according to NFL Network’s Mike Silver. Goff reportedly may need season-ending surgery.
L.A.’s backup to its $100 million guaranteed QB is John Wolford.
Yeah, we didn’t know that before Sunday night, either.
Wolford was an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest signed a rookie by the New York Jets in 2018. He is not a $100 million guaranteed QB.
Wilson is Seattle’s $140 million man and Super Bowl champion from seven years ago. He extended his franchise record with his 38th touchdown pass of the season. Wilson to Jacob Hollister for 13 yards with 2:51 was Sunday’s clinching score for the Seahawks.
Wilson and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes are tied for second in the league in TD throws. Aaron Rodgers threw three more in the snow in Green Bay Sunday night during the Packers’ blowout of Tennessee. He has 43 touchdown passes.
Wilson also has set his career high with 13 interceptions in 2020.
He said this may his most special season yet.
It’s certainly exceptional. In many ways.
Wilson wore a Lakers jersey of the late Kobe Bryant into and out of Sunday’s game. He said it was to honor the basketball legend’s “Mamba mentality,” and his life that ended in helicopter crash in California this year.
“This year has been super, super challenging—not just for our players, but also for families and our loved ones,” Wilson said in a tired, raspy voice. “People are planning to come in and see us but they’re struggling with whatever’s going on: financially, circumstances of health-wise, so many different scenarios. A lot of these are grown men who have loved ones and families—we all have different circumstances.
“The reality is for us to be family, and for us to be able to get to this point in play the way that we’ve played, for us to be able to overcome challenges just to be able to overcome challenges, every obstacle that we feel like we keep overcoming ...we all came together.
“So I think for us, this has been a year with an asterisk next to it. ...But there’s still more to do.
“That’s where my focus is. What can we do next? How far can we take this?”
