A Grip on Sports: The Seahawks’ defense allows them to celebrate another NFC West title but the road ahead could be rocky
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s been a while since the Seattle Seahawks had won the NFC West title. Not anymore. The revamped defense led the way Sunday as the Hawks shut down Jared Goff and the Rams 20-9 in Lumen Field, clinching the top spot in the division. The playoff seed? That won’t be determined until next year.
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• OK, so we made an elementary-school joke above. Sue me. It just seems the right time to be a little giddy and silly. After all, not only did Seattle win yesterday, the game didn’t come down to the last seconds. How unusual.
C’mon. You thought the Rams would march down the field and score, didn’t you? Put up a two-point conversion. And then somehow recover the onside kick. Admit it. The way the season has gone, a last-possession decision had to be coming, right?
Not anymore. Not the way the defense has turned its season around. The group can get stops these days. I know. Remarkable. After watching the first few weeks of the 2020 season, there is no way we ever could have imagined it.
John Blanchette covers the turnaround well this morning, citing statistics and emotions and humor to show how the NFL’s worst defense the first couple months have turned into one of its best.
That’s all well and good, since it led to winning the division, but the early struggles, coupled with the face plant at home against the New York Giants, mean the Hawks will probably have to travel to (and through) New Orleans or Green Bay to the Super Bowl. Maybe both.
Nothing is set in stone just yet – it is the NFL and the league loves to have week 17 mean everything – but the Seahawks seem destined for the NFC’s third seed. That means in all likelihood a conference semifinal in New Orleans or Green Bay and a final in the other city. Not an easy road to Tampa, is it?
If Green Bay is victorious at Chicago on Sunday, the Hawks are relegated to the third seed no matter what. But if the Bears, who need a victory to ensure a playoff spot, win, then the Hawks could either end up first (if New Orleans loses to Carolina) or second (they own the tiebreaker with Green Bay).
Moving up is all predicated on winning against San Francisco, of course, and that won’t be easy. All of those games will be happening at the same time Sunday afternoon.
Either will the first round playoff opponent. As far as we can tell, reading the NFL’s tiebreaking procedures, if the Hawks finish third, it will be an NFC West foe, either Los Angeles or Arizona, which means the familiarity/contempt thing is in play. Finish first and there is a bye. Second and it could be any of the NFC West participants or the Bears.
See? The NFL gets its wish. Next Sunday is important. The Seahawks’ playoff foe will come down to the wire. Just like so many games did this season.
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Gonzaga: The women and men play tonight, with the women opening their conference season at Loyola Marymount. Jim Allen has a preview of the conference season, noting GU has posted a 50-4 record the last three WCC seasons. … Jim Meehan previews the Northern Arizona contest – the start of a four-game homestand – by looking at the Zags’ offense. He also has tonight’s key matchup.
WSU: Around the Pac-12 and college football, as Oregon preps for the Fiesta Bowl, there are questions about its defensive coordinator. … Colorado has mined the transfer market for a quarterback. … UCLA received some good news for its defense. … In basketball news, Arizona and Colorado meet tonight in Tucson. Well, it is on the schedule.
EWU: Cooper Kupp has been a pain in the Seahawks’ side often already in his career. But yesterday was a bit different. He’s the focus of our local NFL roundup. … Former Eastern football player Jim Northcutt has had a long career as a college football official. He also has a long streak of working bowl games. He will continue that this season, as our local briefs highlight. … Around the Big Sky, the two games scheduled this week between Weber State and Idaho State have already been canceled due to a virus outbreak among the Bengals.
Seahawks: Pete Carroll isn’t a young man. But he has the energy of one and this year’s turnaround shows he’s still got what it takes to win. … The defense has been more than solid lately and the offense has tried not to hurt. Sound familiar? … The two safeties each had their moment yesterday. … That northern endzone wasn’t kind to the Hawks last year. This year, it is where they clinched the NFC West. … The Rams are hurting, literally, and may go into a showdown with Arizona for a playoff spot without their quarterback. …There was some roster movement before the game. … There are always grades. Pretty good grades this week, actually.
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• I was dealing with a few internal issues yesterday so I didn’t get to partake of the chili cheeseburgers we made in a homage to one of our favorite L.A. hangouts, Tommy’s. Kim had a burger that included chili, tomato, pickles, bacon and mustard. She says it was good. The boys had a similar burger with chili-cheese fires. I had lemon-lime jello. They make that in Los Angeles somewhere, don’t they? Until later …