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For Pete’s sake: These Seahawks put Seattle in the playoffs

By Todd Vandenberg

Jan 8, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs (6) returns an interception against the Los Angeles Rams during overtime at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 8, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs (6) returns an interception against the Los Angeles Rams during overtime at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Seahawks are back in the playoffs, thanks to an overtime win over the Rams. They needed help from the Lions, too. But let’s praise the Hawks that made it happen.

As I’m sure every member of the 12s feels, I could not be more proud of this team. It’s one thing to love your team and “just know” they’ll make the playoffs. It’s another thing entirely to see them pull it off after they’ve moved on from two of their greatest players ever. It wasn’t an easy road for the Seahawks, who couldn’t seem to find their identity during the season.

Was this a 2-3 team that struggled to win shootouts? Hmmm…maybe it was a 6-3 team that was efficient on offense and ferocious on defense. Or were they equally incompetent on both sides of the ball, a team that struggled through a 1-5 stretch to take themselves all but out of postseason contention?

As it turns out, they were all of these things. The Seahawks blasted the hapless Jets in Week 18 to even their record at 8-8, then needed overtime to get past the Rams. Geno Smith has been brilliant this season, but he was anything but that Sunday. I’d say he had his worst game of the season.

The running game powered the Seahawks Week 18 win

When you’re picked off on the opening play, that isn’t a great sign, right? Still, I’ll give Smith credit. He kept his head in the game, made several great runs that kept drives alive and threw a beautiful strike to Tyler Lockett that gave the Hawks their only touchdown of the game.

As I wrote earlier, Geno Smith made each of his four runs count. But the man who really drove the Hawks to the win was running back Kenneth Walker III. He had his third straight 100-yard game and topped 1000 yards rushing for the season. That’s all the more remarkable when you consider he didn’t start until week six when Rashaad Penny went down for the season. Hmmm…I wonder where all those pundits who said the Hawks wasted a draft pick on Walker are today?

Back to Mr. Kenneth Walker III. While he didn’t rip off any huge runs against the Rams, he did account for over 30 percent of the Seattle offense. He saved his best for the end of the game when a 20-yard ramble took the ball deep into Los Angeles territory in overtime. Four more runs by Walker brought the ball to the Rams’ 14-yard line, and that was all another hero of the Seahawks needed to end the game. The Hawks had to wait for help from the Lions but Seattle did exactly what they needed to do today.

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