Seattle and Carolina have played each other four times in the regular season with the home team winning every time. They’ve faced each other once in the playoffs with Seattle crushing Carolina to go to the Super Bowl, a game known to my family as the time daddy cried like a baby and hugged every person he saw for about three days. Well, what would you expect after all the years of futility?
The Seahawks traveled to Carolina with a 2-2 record—2-0 at home while 0-2 on the road. As I talked about in my first quarter report card, the defense and running game have been studs, while the passing offense has been a dud so far.
A lot of voices, including mine, in the PNW (Pacific Northwest) have been questioning Russell Wilson’s anointment as the starting quarterback. I think offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell heard the rumblings because the Seahawks came out throwing, looking to light up a suspect Panthers defense that was stacking the box to stop Marshawn Lynch.
Play of the Game
With the score 16-10, the Seahawks had the lead but was punting the ball back to Carolina with a minute left in the game. That doesn’t sound good but you know what the bad part was? The ball was on the Seattle 18-yard line with the Panthers special teams looking for a block.
Seattle took a timeout and came up with a plan. The snapper almost put the ball over Jon Ryan’s head. Ryan took the ball and scrambled around in the end zone, burning about 10 seconds off the clock before stepping out to the back of the end zone to take the safety.
I was shocked at first but a realization dawned on me. It’s a stroke of genius by head coach Pete Carroll and the special teams coach, Brian Schneider. Carolina was going to have to get a touchdown either way, as the two points were meaningless. The play didn’t allow the Panthers to attempt to get a blocked punt either.
That kind of thinking outside of the box is one of the things that has me becoming more of a fan of Carroll. Of course, that only matters if it works, though.
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