The Seahawks waited a long time to make their first trip to the Super Bowl. Their second trip didn’t take nearly as long, and had a much happier ending.
Seahawks took a long journey to reach their first Super Bowl in 2006. You can read a lot – and I mean, a LOT – about that here. Now it’s time to move on to a much shorter and much more joyful journey. The 12s didn’t have to wait long to see their favorite team back in the NFL’s biggest game. They were quite a bit happier about the outcome, too. This then is the Seahawks ode – or is it road? – to joy.
We left our heroes at the 2006 Super Bowl, regretting the two big plays that cost them the championship. The 12s were heartbroken at the loss, but no more than the Seahawks themselves. As reported by Rich Myhre on heraldnet.com, the team was upset about their own play, questionable calls, and their reactions to the officiating. Mike Holmgren was quoted as saying:
"“If I could change anything, it would be to change the emotions of the players on the field and on the sideline as that game was going. With every call after the beginning, our sideline just erupted. And I couldn’t calm them down partly because I was getting excited. So I didn’t do that very well.”"
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Holmgren would have his chance to calm his team in a tough playoff game the very next year. The Seahawks record dropped to 9-7, largely due to Shaun Alexander being worked to the point of death in 2005. He paid for his 2005 MVP season by missing six games in 2006. Seattle did make the playoffs though. They squeaked past Dallas 21-20 in the wild card round. Tony Romo is a complete genius in the broadcast booth, but he didn’t look great against Seattle that day. The following week, Seattle couldn’t keep the magic going and fell to Chicago in overtime, 27-24.
The beginning of the end for Holmgren and the Seahawks
Holmgren had the Hawks back in the playoffs the following season too. The 2007 team was still led by Matt Hasselbeck and Alexander, although Maurice Morris took an even bigger role than before. The running back tandem combined for over 1,300 yards and helped the Seahawks regain the NFC West title. Unfortunately, they met the same fate as the year before.
Seattle crushed Washington in the wild card round 35-14. The defense played a huge role as first Marcus Trufant returned a Todd Collins pass for 78 yards and six points, then Jordan Babineaux joined the pick six party with a 57-yard interception of his own. The following week saw the tables turned as the Packers roared back from a 14-0 deficit to win 42-20. The Seahawks couldn’t get anything going on the ground as they rushed for just 28 yards. Meanwhile, Ryan Grant trampled Seattle with 201 yards on 27 carries. Ironic that a loss to his former team was the beginning of the end for Holmgren.
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2008 saw Seattle tumble from 10-6 and the division crown to a dismal 4-12 record. Shaun Alexander was gone, as the Seahawks had extracted virtually every yard possible out of him. Matt Hasselbeck missed nine games as he suffered from knee and back injuries. He was just a shadow of himself when he could take the field as the injuries robbed him of his strength. With the defense in decline as well, Seattle fell to 25th in offense and defense. Holmgren took the blame and his walking papers
2009 wasn’t much better. Hasselbeck played much better as he was relatively healthy, but he still wasn’t close to his Pro Bowl form. Even if he had been it likely wouldn’t have mattered. Seattle still hadn’t found a lead back to take charge, and the defense was still undermanned. For the second year in a row, the Seahawks ranked 25th in both offense and defense. The less said about the one year Jim Mora “era”, the better. If there was anything good about it, it was that the Seahawks organization realized it needed a radical change in culture. And boy, did they ever get it.
The Seahawks didn’t know it, but help was on the way
Seattle desperately needed a new direction, and they got just that when they hired former USC head coach Pete Carroll. Carroll is generally acclaimed as the best coach in Seahawks history. I concur completely, as does site expert Lee Vowell in a totally not pre-agreed ranking, even though we both had the same top three. Pick the three that made the playoffs; not too difficult, really.
Carroll had four years under his belt as a head coach in the NFL before he jumped back to the college ranks. He inherited a bad Jets offense in 1994 and couldn’t fix them in the year he was given. After two years as the 49ers defensive coordinator, he took over the head job for the Patriots. Three years of diminishing returns (10-6, 9-7, 8-8) got him the axe from New England at the end of the 1999 season.
People tend to forget that the Patriots went 5-11 under the genius touch of Bill Belichick when he followed Carroll in 2000. Rookie Tom Brady was on that team and threw all of three passes. It wasn’t until the following year that the all-time genius Belichick replaced Drew Bledsoe with Brady. Even then, it was only because Bledsoe was nearly killed by a torn blood vessel in his chest. Some genius; “Hey kid, my other quarterback is nearly dead. Get in there.”
Back to Carroll. As the head coach at the University of Southern California, Carroll wasted little time in getting the program back on track. After an inaugural 6-6 season in 2001, the Trojans racked up seven straight years of double-digit wins. In his nine years at USC, Carroll’s record was 97-19, won seven bowl games and a national championship. Yes, I know about 2005, but this is a happy story.
Pete Carroll shows the Seahawks a new path
Seattle hired Pete Carroll to take the reins for the 2010 season. Along with new general manager John Schneider, he wasted no time in setting things back to their natural order. The Seahawks won the NFC West in Carroll’s first year. Now, it may be a little strange that they were just 7-9, but they were still the best in a weak division. The Hawks quieted their doubters when they dispatched Drew Brees and his New Orleans Saints in a wild shootout, 41-36.
Due to their status as division champs, Seattle hosted the heavily favored defending Super Bowl champion Saints. Matt Hasselbeck threw four touchdowns in the win. Oh, and some guy they picked up in midseason apparently had a pretty cool run.
Carroll had laid the groundwork for future success earlier that year. In October, Seattle traded for a disgruntled running back who felt underappreciated and underused in Buffalo. It would take Marshawn Lynch a little time to get acclimated to Seattle, and for Seattle to figure out how to best use him. But Carroll had the bruising back he wanted. When Beast Mode sprang to life in that playoff run, the Seahawks were on their way to years of success.
Seattle gave up 35 in their next playoff matchup, this time against the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately, the offense only mustered 24 points, and the Hawks improbable playoff run was over. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was allowed to test the free agent market, despite his immense popularity with the 12s.
Part two of Carroll’s reshaping of the team was a more mobile quarterback. Initially, they thought that was Tarvaris Jackson. 2011 would prove Carroll wrong, as Seattle repeated its 9-7 record. This time there was no miraculous division title to go with it. Carroll wouldn’t find his quarterback until the following year. However, he had already found his defense.
Seattle begins a long run of defensive dominance
The third prong of Carroll’s plan was to overhaul the defense. He had inherited a defense that ranked 25th in the league in points allowed in 2009. Carroll’s first squad actually gave up 17 more points. Even though he kept defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, the 2011 defense gave up almost 100 fewer points than the year before and ranked seventh in the league. What made such a huge difference?
The Legion of Boom was born in 2011. Earl Thomas was outstanding as a rookie free safety in 2010. Kam Chancellor was there as well but played behind Lawyer Milloy. It was the addition of rookie cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner in 2011that transformed the Seahawks into an aggressive, predatory defense. Linebacker K.J. Wright arrived on the scene that year as well. Although they missed the playoffs in 2011, it would be the last time they did so for five years. Yes, I know about Brandon Browner, too. Lay off, this is happy time.
Seattle Seahawks
The 2011 defense ranked seventh in the league in points allowed, ninth in yards allowed, and were eleventh in red zone touchdowns allowed. Clearly, this wasn’t good enough for the former secondary coach turned head coach. 2012 saw more key changes. Bobby Wagner was drafted to take over at middle linebacker, and his impact was immediate. He led the team in combined tackles by 41, and led in tackles for a loss. And only became the best linebacker in the entire league in short order.
Sack machine Bruce Irvin was drafted in 2012 as well. While he was used strictly as a situational player as a rookie, he still racked up 8 sacks and 19 quarterback hits, both second highest on the team after defensive end/Leo Chris Clemons. For more on the Leo position, I highly recommend this article by Eric Stoner for bigcatcountry.com. Clemons, by the way, had 434 more snaps on defense than Irvin. Clemons was great, but Irvin was, well, a sack machine.
Clemons is another of Caroll’s success stories. He had bounced around the league for five years, played on three different teams. The Seahawks installed the 6’3″, 250 pound Clemons at the edge and let him go 16 games a year. For three straight years, he had at least 11 sacks and 21 quarterback hits. Carroll was putting his masterpiece together, but he wasn’t done yet.
Overall, the 2012 defensive unit ranked first in points allowed, fourth in yards allowed, and fourth in touchdowns scored in the red zone. They would actually improve on those rankings in 2013. But before we get there, we should probably mention a third-round pick in 2012 who had a little bit to do with the Seahawks return to the playoffs. Some may remember him as the kid who was drafted to back up Matt Flynn. All true 12s know him as the guy who will eventually hold the title of GOAT. Nope, it isn’t Matthew McConaughey.
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.
2013 was the ode, or road, to joy for the Seahawks
The Seahawks put it all together in 2013. Russell Wilson improved on his Pro Bowl rookie campaign, pushing his passer rating from 100.0 to 101.2. Marshawn Lynch saw his average yards per carry drop from 5.0 to 4.2, but caught 13 more passes than in 2012. He also bumped his touchdown total up from 12 to 14. Both Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse emerged as prime targets for Wilson, along with Golden Tate.
The biggest change came on defense. The Buccaneers decided to let Michael Bennett go in free agency, despite his nine sacks and eighteen quarterback hits in 2012. The Lions did the same with their standout defensive end, Cliff Avril. Avril amassed 29 sacks and 50 quarterback hits in his previous three seasons. As we’ve written elsewhere, the salary cap wreaks havoc on teams trying to hold onto their own free agents.
As for the 2013 Seattle Seahawks, these were the final pieces Carroll had wanted. Bennett and Avril reinvigorated the pass rush, as the team’s sack total jumped from 36 in 2012 to 44 in 2013. Quarterback hits climbed from 84 to 99 and tackles for a loss moved up from 58 to 70. Not surprisingly, the increased pressure from the front seven paid dividends in the secondary. Interceptions rose from 18 to 28 and passes defended from 78 to 91.
Remember I mentioned the defense would improve its rankings from 2012 to 2013? Of course, you can’t move any higher than first in points allowed. But the Hawks did improve from 245 points allowed to 231. They also gave up 500 fewer yards, which moved their rank from fourth to first. In 2012 they allowed opponents to score touchdowns in the red zone on just 45 percent of their attempts, good for fourth place. Again, the Legion of Boom and their brothers up front turned up the heat in 2013. Seattle allowed a touchdown in the red zone a ridiculously low 36 percent of the time. For context, the Seahawks scored a touchdown in 56 percent of those situations. All of this showed up in their beautiful postseason run.
Seahawks beat two tough opponents to get to the Big Game
Seattle finished their 2013 regular season at 13-3. Their average score was 26-14. They were held under 20 points just four times, and never less than 10. Conversely, they only allowed 20 or more points five times. Two of those scores were exactly 20, and only once did they surrender more than 30. The Seahawks three losses were by a total of just 15 points. Their average loss was by five points, their average win was by fifteen. They were primed for a great run, and they made the most of it.
First up, the New Orleans Saints returned to the site of the Beast Quake game in the divisional round. Finally, the Seahawks flipped their payoff script. Instead of falling behind early as they had so often in the past, this time it was Seattle that built an early lead. Stephen Hauschka, a heretofore unnamed hero of the Seahawks, drilled three field goals in the first half. Marshawn Lynch squeezed in a 15 yard touchdown run at the start of the second quarter, and it was already 16-0 at the half. The Saints cut the lead to eight early in the fourth quarter, but Lynch put the game out of reach with a 31 yard score. New Orleans score again with 26 seconds left, but the game was over.
The Hawks moved on to face the defending NFC champion 49ers in the conference championship. This would be the last game in which San Francisco lived up to their rival status until the inexplicable debacle in 2018. More than anything, this game is remembered for this reserved commentary by Richard Sherman at the end of the game:
Oops, spoiler alert: Seattle won. They had to come from behind once again, not gaining a lead until Wilson hit Kearse with a perfectly placed 35 yard bomb early in the fourth quarter. It was an excellent game, especially by the Seahawks defense. They shut down 49ers running back Frank Gore and held him to 14 yards on 11 carries. Colin Kaepernick was sacked twice and fumbled both times; Seattle recovered the ball on the second sack.
The Legion of Boom made him pay through the air as well, both in the fourth quarter. Kam Chancellor picked him off midway through the fourth quarter to stop one drive. With the game very much on the line, Malcolm Smith intercepted Kaepernick after Sherman tipped the ball away from Michael Crabtree in the end zone with just 22 ticks left on the clock.
The Seahawks did just enough on offense to win the game. The defense was excellent, although they could rarely contain Kaepernick on the ground. The Niners quarterback ran for 130 yards on 11 carries. That includes a 58 yard run that set up San Francisco’s first touchdown. Once this game was in the bag, Seattle’s defense wouldn’t have to worry about the next quarterback they’d face taking off like that. I don’t think he ran for 58 yards on the entire season.
Seahawks begin their annihilation of the Broncos
The Seahawks opponent in Super Bowl XLVIII (please, it’s 48) would be the Denver Broncos. Even more so than when they faced the Steelers in Super Bowl XL, their opponent was a mirror image. Seattle had a good offense; Denver had a great one. Led by Peyton Manning, the Broncos had rolled up the ridiculous sum of 606 points, the all-time NFL record. That’s almost 38 points per game. They were only held under 30 points three times, and never less than 20. Denver scored over 40 six times, three of those over 50.
Manning made it all happen. Going into the title game, he had thrown for 6,309 career yards in the postseason alone. He’d thrown 36 touchdowns in the playoffs in his career. He was coming off the second-best, if not the best, season of his Hall of Fame career. Manning threw for 5,477 yards, 55 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions in 2013. On top of that, he had been sacked just 18 times. One thing he couldn’t do though is run. He lost 31 yards on 32 carries. That’s a lot of victory formations there, dropping to a knee and watching the clock roll up another win.
That’s also something Manning wouldn’t do in this Super Bowl. The Seahawks defense set the tone on the very first play of the game. Denver’s snap sailed over Manning’s head, and Cliff Avril tagged Knowshon Moreno in the end zone for a safety. Seattle returned the ensuing punt for 20 yards and eventually settled for a Steven Hauschka field goal. Less than five minutes into the game and the Seahawks were up 5-0. They wouldn’t be able to keep up that point a minute pace, but they came much closer than anyone expected.
The Broncos couldn’t do anything on their next drive and were forced to punt. Seattle mounted a six-minute drive, but had to settle for another field goal. 8-0, Seattle. Manning tried to force the ball into coverage and Kam Chancellor made him pay with his second interception of the postseason. Seattle had the ball on Denver’s 37-yard line and made them pay after a seven play drive with a one-yard Marshawn Lynch touchdown. After the extra point, it was 15-0 Seattle.
The Broncos finally mounted a drive of their own. Manning dinked and dunked his way downfield, finally getting into Seattle territory with just over seven minutes left in the half. Personally, I think this was just a cruel joke perpetrated by Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. On the 15th play of the drive, Manning threw into the flat for Moreno.
Sadly for the guys with ponies on their helmets, Malcolm Smith is the guy who caught the ball after Cliff Avril got a piece of Manning’s arm. Smith didn’t stop until 69 yards and six points later. With a little over three minutes left in the half, it was now 22-0 Seahawks. Again, Denver managed to move the ball, this time all the way to Seattle’s 19-yard line. A short pass to Demaryius Thomas was broken up by Chris Clemons, and the Hawks ran out the clock.
Seahawks bring the NFL championship to the 12s
As if the Broncos weren’t already facing an uphill battle, the Seahawks special team unit got into the fun. Percy Harvin returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and a 29-0 Seattle lead. Harvin may have been one of Seattle’s worst trades ever, but he came through big time here. After Denver and Seattle exchanged punts, Manning connected on his longest pass play of the day, 23 yards to Demaryius Thomas. Again the Legion of Boom struck, as Byron Maxwell forced Thomas to fumble and Malcolm “I’m wherever the ball is” Smith recovered it. After an unnecessary roughness penalty on Denver, Seattle had the ball at their own 44.
The Seahawks took advantage of the short field as Wilson hit Mr. Clutch, Jermaine Kearse, with a 23 yard strike for Seattle’s fourth touchdown of the game. The score was now Seahawks 36, Denver 0. If anything, most people outside the Pacific Northwest would have expected that score to be reversed. Perhaps more than any game before or since, this one emphasized the adage that defense wins championships.
The Broncos finally got on the scoreboard to avoid the ignominy of suffering the first-ever shutout in the Super Bowl. With just seconds to go in the third quarter, Manning found Thomas for a 14-yard scoring strike. Denver converted the two-point play to get within – sorry, I had to stifle a laugh – 28 points. The Lions, of all teams, once scored 34 points in the fourth quarter. But that was against a mediocre Bears team in 2007, not against one of the league’s best defenses of all time.
Denver tried an onside kick and failed. Gotta love the true believers, right? Seattle took advantage of the short field once again, as Wilson drove his team down to the Denver 10-yard line. This time it was Doug Baldwin who did the honors for the 12s as he took the ball into the end zone. The lead was back up to 35 points with just under 12 minutes to play. Denver never quit, I’ll give them that. Manning was in the game to the very end. That had to feel like an eternity to the Broncos and their fans.
Malcolm Smith won the MVP award, but if there ever was a time to give the award to an entire unit, this was it. The Seahawks defense forced four fumbles and recovered two. They picked Manning off twice and held him to 280 yards passing. He had just shredded New England in the AFC title game for 400 yards two weeks prior. The number one ranked defense in the league proved they ranked among the best ever.
Those final 12 minutes may have felt like a lifetime, but many 12s literally spent a lifetime as Seahawks fans, cheering for their team to win the NFL title. It had been a long road since 1976, with more than a few bumps along the way (can you say Tom Flores?) and a detour or two (like moving from the AFC to the NFC), but in the end, every moment was worth it.