Seahawks vs Steelers; Statement time for Seattle

The Seattle Seahawks host the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday in a crucial inter divisional match up at CenturyLink Field.

The Seahawks did themselves a lot of good in their quest to get back in the NFC playoff race with their convincing win over San Francisco, and they got a lot of help from other teams as well. Losses by the Vikings and Falcons in particular helped move the Hawks to within a game of the final playoff spot. Keith takes a look at the details of their playoff chances here. 

As he points out (and we’ve been saying this for weeks) the Hawks need to get to 10 wins to have a chance. That means they need to go 5-1 over the final six to make that happen. It would stand to reason then, that if there was a game the Seahawks could afford to lose it may be the one this Sunday, right? After all, Pittsburgh is in the AFC so it wouldn’t affect conference tie-breaker scenarios.

Wrong.

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The Seahawks need to beat the Steelers, for a number of reasons:

• Seattle needs to show they can beat a good team at home. The three home wins this year have been at the expense of teams with a combined 10-20 record, and we all know how it went down against Carolina and Arizona. The Steeler offense will pose a huge challenge for the LOB. They need to recapture some of that home field mojo.
• To get back over .500. It’s been a struggle to tilt the record in favor of the win column ever since they started in that 0-2 hole. Getting to 6-5 would get them “over the hump”, and further strengthen their chances of grabbing the final wild card spot.
• Minnesota and Atlanta, the two teams the Hawks are trying to catch for that wild card, play each other this week, meaning only one can see their playoff hopes damaged. Seattle must win to take advantage. (Side note, I would suggest rooting for the Vikings this week, keeping Atlanta’s free-fall allive).
• Week #17. Yeah…..AT Arizona. It’s possible the Cards have everything locked up and rest Carson Palmer and others, but it’s more likely that they’ll be locked in a battle for the #1 or #2 seed and this game means everything to them.

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If the Seahawks can beat Pittsburgh Sunday, there’s a good chance they’ll end up tied with Atlanta, and it would put them in position to possibly clinch a playoff spot before they get on the plane for that last game against the Cardinals.

This is all new for Seahawk fans. We’re used to projecting our chances of being the #1 seed around here the last few years. The playoffs are still in their control, but it has to start this weekend.

As bad as it’s been at times in 2015, Seattle can still make the playoffs and achieve all their goals. They just have to win…… starting Sunday.