LOOKS LIKE REIGN
Seahawks aiming to repeat
SEATTLE — It had been 10 years since a defending Super Bowl champion won a playoff game the following season. Ten years since winning a Vince Lombardi trophy and the subsequent spoils didn’t derail a team from properly validating its championship.
That in itself makes the 2014 Seahawks special. They’ve managed to stay humble, focused and motivated enough to reach the NFC Championship Game for a second straight season. They’ll play host to the Packers on Sunday at CenturyLink Field with the winner advancing to Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1 in Glendale, Ariz.
The Seahawks, who improved to 134 with a 3117 win over the Panthers Saturday, insist the secret to their success is simple.
“It’s all about team ball, playing for the guy next to you,” said safety Kam Chancellor, who sealed Saturday’s victory with a 90yard interception return of a Cam Newton pass in the fourth quarter. “It’s when you appreciate playing with the guy next to you and genuinely meaning it and not just saying it.”
Cornerback Richard Sherman, who seems like a “me guy,” but is actually a “team guy,” put it this way: “We’re playing for each other,” said the Pro Bowl cornerback who collected his own interception of a Newton pass in the first quarter. “There aren’t any egos and there aren’t any agendas. Guys are just doing what it takes to win.”
It has been nearly a year since they destroyed Peyton Manning and the Broncos in the Meadowlands to win the franchise’s first championship. The Seahawks appear every bit as hungry to capture another ring. They remain a team that feels it doesn’t get all the respect it deserves.
They might have earned the top seed in the NFC with a 124 record during the regular season and now have won seven straight games. But not one of the Seahawks receivers made it to the Pro Bowl, and Chancellor, the Seahawks enforcer, was regulated to secondteam AllPro.
The Seahawks made mention of that after beating the Panthers in a game Chancellor had 10 tackles, nearly blocked a field goal by jumping over the Carolina linemen and then produced the longest scoring play in Seahawks playoff history with his interception.
“Every year he gets snubbed,” Sherman said of his Legion of Boom team mate. “He should have been first team AllPro.”
When last seen in New Jersey, wide receiver Doug Baldwin was grumbling about the lack of respect the Seahawks receivers get. He was grumbling again Saturday night, even after catching a 16yard TD pass from Russell Wilson for Seattle’s first points of the game. Later Jermaine Kearse caught a 63yard TD pass and tight end Luke Willson added a 25yard TD reception.
“They gave us some opportunities in the passing game,” Baldwin said. “[Wilson] threw it up a couple of times for us and we were able to do what we do as average receivers.”
The Seahawks look every bit the dominant team that steamrolled through the playoffs last year. They might be even better.
“It’s a different group,” Chancellor said. “The trust is even stronger because guys believe in each other. When you believe and you see it happening and everything is playing out like you want it to and how you prepared it to happen, you just believe, you believe in one another.”
The 2004 Patriots were the last defending Super Bowl champion to win a playoff game. They were also the last team to capture backtoback Super Bowls. Respect that.