Seahawks in the Super Bowl, part two: (r)ode to joy

Seahawks draft a DangeRuss player and give him the keys

Russell Carrington Wilson was drafted in the third round by Seattle. You know what he can do, and what he did as a rookie. If you forgot, all he did was beat out the designated savior of Seattle, the aforementioned Matt Flynn. The Seahawks signed Flynn to a three-year contract worth up to $26 million. Luckily for Flynn $10 million was guaranteed. Once the Hawks saw what Wilson could do, Flynn was relegated to mop up duty. He threw nine passes on the year and was traded to the Raiders after the season.

With Wilson at the controls, the Seahawks offense leapt from 2011’s 23rd ranked offense to ninth. Points per game jumped from 20.0 to 25.75; basically a touchdown per game. Combining a much-improved offense with an already great defense put Seattle back in the playoffs in 2012. Seattle beat Washington in the wild card round 24-14, climbing back from a 14 point deficit. Robert Griffin III started off hot, going 6-9 with those two early touchdowns. Seattle cooled him off though as he completed just four of his last ten passes. Kirk Cousins fared even worse when he came into the game in the fourth quarter, as he was just 3-10.

Once again, the Seahawks couldn’t make it past the second round of the postseason. This time they fell behind by 20 points to the Atlanta Falcons. Seattle mounted a furious comeback that featured three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and actually took the lead 28-27 with just 31 seconds left on the clock. A 34 yard kickoff return by Jacquizz Rodgers brought the ball to Atlanta’s 28-yard line. Two quick passes by Matt Ryan got the ball to Seattle’s 31, where Matt Bryant kicked the winning 49 yard field goal with 13 seconds on the clock. A desperation throw by Wilson to Doug Baldwin was intercepted, and the Seahawks would have to wait another year.