The Seattle Seahawks are not a bad team, though maybe a slightly befuddling one. The team began the 2024 season 3-0 and in first place in the NFC West, fell to last place, only to later regain first place before finishing second and out of the playoffs. Seattle still has a game left to play, but it has already been eliminated from playoff contention.
Perhaps even more frustrating for 12s is that the team went only 3-6 at Lumen Field, a place where the Seahawks used to dominate. Now, opposing teams should feel like traveling to Seattle might almost be a guaranteed victory. On the other side, Seattle is currently 6-1 on the road. It has been a weird season.
Even Seahawks fans have come under some criticism for home games this year. Against the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers, Seahawks fans sold enough tickets to opposing fans that Lumen Field might have felt closer to a home game for those other teams. A fan has a right to sell their tickets, of course, but they also should feel slightly guilty when opposing fans are as loud as 12s at Lumen Field.
Seattle Seahawks fans still get the respect from opposing players, according to new poll by ESPN
Still, most opposing players feel the noise when they are playing at Lumen. In a recent poll of 111 NFL players by ESPN, Seattle's home field was voted as the second loudest in the league. The loudest was, unsurprisingly, the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium. Coming in third was the Minnesota Vikings' U.S. Bank Stadium, which is a bit of a cheat because the stadium is indoors.
Cornerback Jamel Dean of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers admitted to the four-letter network that while playing at Lumen Field in 2019, Dean, then a rookie, was taken off his game by the volume of the 12s. He said, "It makes your nerves bad. I finally understood the saying, 'Be prepared, as you never know when your time is going to come up.' And I was not prepared for that moment."
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle has admitted he likes playing at Lumen Field because the aggressiveness of the volume fires him up. He also admitted, "The way the stadium is shaped, the noise just comes right back down on top of you."
As far as the rest of the NFC West, teams did not get much respect. San Francisco was ranked in the bottom quarter of the league as was Los Angeles. The Arizona Cardinals did not even get a mention. In other words, the Seahawks should still have the best home-field advantage in the division and hopefully, things will be more successful in 2025.