From losing streak and schedule gauntlet, Seahawks believe they have playoff resolve
Colby Parkinson smiled under eye black smeared down his face.
Maybe it got smeared by teammate Brady Russell. The special-teams mainstay was clowning, dancing and making faces behind Parkinson, who’d just caught the winning touchdown pass to save the Seahawks’ season Sunday in Tennessee.
Lil Uzi Vert was boomin’ through the visiting locker room. Dre’Mont Jones was talking about his game-ending sack being his biggest play yet as a Seahawk. Tyler Lockett talked about growth. Center Evan Brown was bashfully smiling when asked about pancaking a Titans pass-rusher on the final drive. That gave Geno Smith time to complete a huge third-down pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba late in Sunday’s Seahawks-Titans game.
What about the leaders of these revived Seahawks? What were Smith, Tyler Lockett, Pete Carroll and Bobby Wagner doing immediately after their team’s second final-drive rally in a week turned the Seahawks (8-7) from near postseason extinction into holding a playoff spot with two games left in the regular season?
They talked about resolve.
If nothing else, these dramatic, nothing’s-easy Seahawks do have resolve. A four-game losing streak that ended last week did not bury them.
They survived their four-game gauntlet of San Francisco, at Dallas, at San Francisco and Philadelphia. The Seahawks believe that has set them up to flourish into the postseason.
“I think we’ve come out of those games because we didn’t get screwed up from the losses, which we could have. We could have flipped out and lost our minds,” Carroll said after Geno Smith’s touchdown pass to Parkinson with 57 seconds left rallied the Seahawks to a 20-17 win over the Titans Sunday.
“We kept believing that we could get it done. And so the resolve stayed intact, and so that we can utilize all of those difficult experiences and the tough games, and the matchups, and the great personnel that we went against.”
Lockett said the Seahawks grew through losing.
“Man, I think when you look at the gauntlet of the schedule that we had these last previous games, I think it really showed us who we were,” the veteran wide receiver said. “Even though we were losing, I felt like and the coaches were saying, ‘It’s hard to believe it when you’re losing,’ but we were actually getting better.
“And I think it taught us how to be triumphant at the end, how to be able to win games on last-minute drives.”
Wagner used a word teammates also were using about Smith repeating in Tennessee what Drew Lock did replacing the injured starting quarterback six days earlier against the Eagles: “Belief.”
Like Lock, Smith drove Seattle the length of the field to the winning touchdown at the end.
“I think the connection of the guys and I think the belief of the guys that we have and the coaches that we have,” Wagner said. “I think that’s what allows us to keep our mind in it. We knew that we were going to have a tough stretch.
“But we control our own destiny, so we need to just take it one game at a time.”
The Seahawks hold the seventh and final postseason spot because of their rally at Tennessee. If they beat Pittsburgh (8-7) on New Year’s Eve at Lumen Field and win at Arizona (3-12) to end the regular season they will be in the playoffs for the 10th time in 12 years. That’s regardless of what the Rams in the sixth spot in the NFC or anyone else do.
Two Seattle wins and one Rams loss, at either the Giants (5-9) next weekend or at the 49ers (11-3), and the Seahawks will be the sixth seed for the NFC postseason.
The NFL says the Seahawks have a playoff probability of 69%. It was in the 20s last Monday night, when they trailed the Eagles late.
Jones thinks coming out of San Francisco-Dallas-San Francisco-Philadelphia not buried and out of playoff contention is indicative of where this uneven Seahawks team can go. If they can get consistent, that is.
“We rose to our competition,” Jones said. “Those are like Super Bowl-caliber teams. ...
“Today was one of those days where early our energy was low. We’ve got to make sure that we avoid games like that.”
Jones said the messages from Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt in the locker room at halftime with the Seahawks down 10-3 to the five-win Titans sparked the team’s latest resolve.
“Coaches got on our butts a little bit,” Jones said. “Coach Hurtt specifically said, ‘We’re playing soft right now.’
“We didn’t take that personal. We got together. We said we’ve got to go out there and play better. ...
“We definitely did. We definitely turned things up a notch. We still can be better. We still gave up too much on the ground (Tennessee had 162 yards rushing).
“But we got the win.”
Parkinson practically yelled about the music in the locker room to agree that Niners-Cowboys-Niners-Eagles — plus last-second wins over 10-5 Cleveland and Washington — have steeled the Seahawks for a playoff push.
Parkinson said it has to have been the toughest stretch of games any team has faced inside a month in the NFL this season.
Seattle has come out of it now owning five late, game-winning drives on offense this season.
“We played a lot of tough teams and we proved that we can hang in there (in the season) and that we’re never out of it,” the big tight end said. “Especially last week. This week. The Browns game. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to gain confidence at the end of games.
“That’s what we showed again this week.”
Geno Smith: Carroll’s practices are key
At Tennessee was Smith’s fourth late, game-winning drive this season. It came in his return from missing a game with a groin injury, the game Drew Lock rallied late to win over the Eagles.
The 33-year-old Smith credits Carroll and how he structures practices for the success — and belief — the Seahawks have late in games on offense. Carroll has his teams run 2-minute offense repeatedly in the middle and ends of just about every practice at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton. That includes in full workouts and walkthroughs, from spring minicamps through training camps and each season.
It’s central to Carroll’s constant preaching that you can’t win the game in the first, second or third quarters, but you absolutely can win them in the fourth quarter.
“It’s preparation,” Smith said Sunday on his way out of Tennessee. “Coach prepares us for these opportunities, for these moments in the VMAC. Every single day we go over 2-minute, a bunch of different situations and scenarios.
“It helps when you get out there on the field, you’re used to it, you know what to do. Guys are calm, they know their assignments. And you saw, it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is.
“Coach prepares us to be in those situations and to make those plays and that’s what we’re about as Seahawks.”
Smith has been on four NFL teams in his decade in the league. He thinks Carroll’s emphasis on 2-minute drills is unique.
“I think we do a lot more than a lot of teams,” Smith said. “Guys coming from other places, they mention that.
“I think there’s a reason why we’ve been able to win games. I mean, just over the course of Coach Carroll’s career here, we’ve been able to win games late in the fourth quarter in those game-winning drives. So that speaks volumes to the preparation and the coaching.
“The players obviously got to go execute. But it feels like we’ve been in those situations a million times.”
This story was originally published December 25, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
