Color Scheme

Subscribe now
Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks’ remaining schedule appears less than daunting

Russell Wilson and the Seahawks struggled against Tampa Bay on Sunday, but their odds of making the playoffs and winning their division actually improved. (Jason Behnken / Associated Press)
By Bob Condotta Seattle Times

SEATTLE – Last year proved that home-field advantage isn’t everything in the NFL playoffs.

For the first time, all four road teams won on the same weekend of the playoffs, that occurring during the wild-card round, with the Seahawks contributing to that history by pulling out a victory at Minnesota.

But home field certainly means something, as the Seahawks’ own postseason history makes clear. That win at Minnesota was only the third road win in playoff history for Seattle, which is 3-10 on the road in the postseason, 11-2 at home.

All three times Seattle has made the Super Bowl, it so did having won the No. 1 seed in the NFC, then winning a divisional and conference title game at home to advance.

And with five games left in the regular season, trying to get the No. 1 seed becomes an even starker – and suddenly possibly harder-to-reach – goal.

Since the other three teams in the NFC West lost on Sunday – meaning Seattle still has a three-game lead on the rest of the division – the Seahawks’ statistical odds of both making the playoffs and winning the division improved despite the loss at Tampa Bay. According to the calculations of the website makeNFLplayoffs.com, Seattle’s odds of winning the division improved from 89.7 to 91.7 percent, and the odds of winning the division from 92.1 to 92.6 percent.

What the Seahawks are mostly playing for now is playoff positioning.

And that took a little of a hit with the loss Sunday.

Seattle is 7-3-1 and holding the second spot in the NFC Conference behind 10-1 Dallas, and just barely ahead of the other two division leaders – Detroit and Atlanta which each are 7-4.

Seattle is also behind the 8-3 Giants, but as a wild card team New York would be the fifth seed (the top four spots are reserved for the four division leaders. Washington at 6-4-1 would be sixth).

While catching Dallas and getting the No. 1 seed is the ultimate goal, maybe even more important is hanging on to the No. 2 seed and not falling to three or four, which means having to play an additional playoff game in the wild card round, and then going on the road in the divisional round.

What works hugely in Seattle’s favor is having the most advantageous schedule of any team remaining in the NFL, with no games remaining against a team that currently has a winning record, and only one against a team that has won more than four games.

What somewhat oddly also changes the dynamic this season is Seattle’s tie against Arizona, which will likely prevent any true deadlocks at the end of the year and will make it pretty clear where the Seahawks stand.

It also means, though, that Seattle likely needs three Dallas losses to overtake the Cowboys for the No. 1 seed.

Seattle’s remaining opponents are the Carolina Panthers (4-7), Green Bay Packers (5-6), Los Angeles Rams (4-7), Arizona Cardinals (4-6-1) and San Francisco 49ers (1-10). Those teams are a combined 18-36-1.

The Seahawks have by far the most favorable schedule left among not only the remaining NFC playoffs teams, but the entire league. And it’s yet another sign of how much a schedule can change from April to November. The final month appeared a potential killer when the schedule was announced with the three games against Carolina, Green Bay and the Cardinals in a span of four weeks. But three teams that all won 10 or more games last season (and were a combined 38-9) are all currently holding losing records and are a combined 13-19-1 leaving the door wide open for the Seahawks to run the table.

One big question is if the Seahawks can keep up their December magic. Seattle is 18-4 in the month of December since 2011.

Roster moves

The Seahawks on re-signed receiver Kevin Smith to their practice squad while releasing running backs Zac Brooks and Malcolm Johnson. That leaves one spot open on the team’s 10-man practice squad, which would likely be filled before the team begins its practice week on Wednesday.

Smith, who played at the University of Washington, played in seven games for the Seahawks in 2015 and both postseason games, making three catches for 43 yards in the regular season and two for 21 in the postseason.