Tag Archives: Earl Thomas

The hallmarks of that win: Redemption, trust and resilience

January 19, 2015 cc 1 Comment

Redemption, resilience, trust, teamwork.

Other than a trip to the Super Bowl, those were the themes of the Seahawks’ historic comeback win over the Green Bay Packers, 28-22 in overtime, on Sunday.

For much of the game, Russell Wilson, Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin were the Three Stooges — taking turns poking each other in the eyes, hitting each other in the head and tripping over each other.

Wilson threw four interceptions — all on passes intended for Kearse, who had two go off his hands — and Baldwin fumbled on a kick return and dropped two passes himself.

But all three redeemed themselves on the winning drive in overtime — Wilson hitting Baldwin twice for 45 yards and then finding Kearse for the winning 35-yard touchdown.

After the game, Wilson and Kearse were overcome with emotion after their rollercoaster day.

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CHAWK LINES, Playoffs: Green Bay

January 17, 2015 cc Leave a comment

First, some game matchups to watch, via Seahawks.com.

Jerry Brewer expresses what probably every Seahawks fan feels: The team needs to find a way to keep Marshawn Lynch beyond this season.

Lynch’s new gold-plated shoes are pretty boss … Boss.

How much did the Seahawks want to keep B.J. Daniels around? They bumped his pay by five times to equal an active-roster salary.

With Bam Bam Kam Chancellor getting so much love all week, Greg Bishop of SI.com put together an in-depth look at the Seahawks’ Super Serious Safety, Earl Thomas.

Sound FX got some great sound from the Carolina-Seattle game off the microphones of linebackers Bobby Wagner and Luke Kuechly.

Demarcus Dobbs’ team is in the NFC title game for the fourth straight year. He should get his first Super Bowl win this time.

Russell Wilson and J.R. Sweezy’s salaries will jump in 2015 due to the “Proven Performance Escalator.” Of course, Wilson is going to get a huge contract extension, making the escalator moot. But Sweezy’s $660,000 salary will more than double, into the $1.5 million range.

Who says all big linemen are blockheads? The Packers’ guys are addicted to the strategy game “Settlers of Catan” (wait until they try “Puerto Rico”).

Playoffs: Carolina

Like Easley, Chancellor is heart of defense

January 11, 2015 cc Leave a comment

It was only appropriate that Kam Chancellor had perhaps the best game of his career on the day Kenny Easley raised the 12th Man flag.

Just as Easley was once Seattle’s best player, Chancellor — who, like Easley, is from Virginia and once dated Easley’s daughter — has been this team’s MVP the past two years.

Yeah, that’s a loaded statement on a team that includes so many star players — fellow Legion of Boomers Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman, linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright, defensive linemen Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, quarterback Russell Wilson, running back Marshawn Lynch.

Everyone likes to say Lynch is the heartbeat of the team — embodying the tough, relentless style Pete Carroll wants his guys to play with.

But the defense is the backbone — the reason Wilson has won more games than any quarterback in his first three seasons — and Chancellor has been the heart and soul of that unit for the past two dominant years.

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Pro Bowl

Five Seahawks picked to Pro Bowl

December 23, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks had five players picked to the Pro Bowl, although none is likely to play because the Hawks are on a collision course for another Super Bowl win.

The Seahawks’ announcement (click to enlarge):

State of the team, Week 15: San Francisco

Defensive leaders explain resurgence

December 13, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks’ late surge was born of roster health, leadership and camaraderie — things that were missing at midseason — and the Hawks have emphasized for the past three weeks that they are playing for each other more than ever now. And, because of that, they are able to play smarter and faster.

With every win, they reinforce the reborn mantra that they will continue to win if they trust each other.

After the 24-14 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Kam Chancellor was asked if the defense had sent a message. He said yeah, “but the message wasn’t to anyone outside of this team. The message is to each other.”

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State of the team, Week 11: At Kansas CIty

Hawks have NFL’s worst penalty differential

November 21, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Super Bowl XL goat Bill Leavy’s crew screwed the
Seahawks again, but it’s not like he and his zebras are the only ones who have been giving Seattle opponents a helping hand this season.

On Sunday against Kansas City, the Hawks were flagged eight times (for 50 yards) to the Chiefs’ three (for a whopping six yards). But the Chiefs obviously committed more fouls than that, and the NFL reportedly admitted it Thursday.

The biggest miss was a non-call on pass interference committed by Kansas City cornerback Sean Smith against Seattle receiver Doug Baldwin on fourth down from the 2-yard line late in the fourth quarter of the 24-20 loss. The Seahawks should have had a first down at the 1 — and they almost certainly would have scored a touchdown, which might have resulted in a 27-24 win.

“The interpretation was it definitely played a factor in (Baldwin’s) route and it should have been called,” Carroll told USA Today. “There’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to live with it. That’s just part of the game.”

Unfortunately, it has been a big part of Seattle’s games all season.

The Seahawks have the worst penalty differential in the league, called for 3.6 more penalties per game than their opponents. If that continues, it will easily be the largest margin in the NFL since at least 1990, per sportingcharts.com.

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Week 7: At St. Louis

Carroll relays what NFL said about last play

October 20, 2014 cc Leave a comment

The ball settles under Richard Sherman in a pile on the last play of the Seahawks-Rams game (via FOX)

Pete Carroll said the NFL called him Monday to talk about the last play of the Seahawks’ 28-26 loss in St. Louis.

With about one minute left, the Rams fumbled the ball on the play and Richard Sherman appeared to recover the ball for the Seahawks.

“I got a call from them this morning, just to see if I had any questions about it,” Carroll said. “What I was concerned about was: It was such a crucial moment in the game, it was such an unusual situation, why wouldn’t they take all the time that they needed to make a clear-cut decision?

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Week 7: At St. Louis

Just a Seahawks fact: ‘We’re playing the referees, too’

October 20, 2014 cc Leave a comment

In a loss like the Seahawks suffered in St. Louis — rallying from a horrible first half to lose by two — it is easy to assume that any complaint about the officiating is simply sour grapes and poor sportsmanship.

But Earl Thomas merely stated the obvious when he said, “We’re playing the referees, too.”

We are not just referencing the controversial final play to the game in which the Rams fumbled and Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman appeared to recover with about a minute left.

The St. Louis game was the third in a row in which NFL officials have quite obviously favored Seattle’s opponent.

In those three games, Seattle has been flagged 32 times for 237 yards. Their opponents have been penalized a mere 11 times for 96 yards.

For the season, Seattle opponents have been flagged a league-low 29 times — and it certainly isn’t because they have committed just 29 fouls. They have been called for 51, which is tied for seventh most. They led the league in penalties last season.

“If you really look at some plays, we’re playing (against) more than our opponents,” Thomas said. “We’re playing the referees, too. I don’t care what anybody is saying. Something is wrong. That needs to be brought up.”

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Week 6: Dallas

‘They come in bunches’: Turnovers have been oddly elusive

October 9, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Last season, Seattle became the first defense since the legendary 1985 Chicago Bears to pull off the triple crown — first in yards, points and takeaways.

They have a ways to go this year if they are going to repeat that feat.

While they are the No. 1 run defense, fifth in total yards and ninth in points allowed, they are tied for 31^st in takeaways.

After four games last season, they had 13 forced turnovers on their way to a league-best 39. After four games this season, they have just three.

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Week 3: Denver

Defense dominates Broncos — until the inexplicable final drive

September 22, 2014 cc Leave a comment

Forget the whole Super Bowl rematch thing. The Seahawks’ defense was just looking for redemption after a poor performance in the loss in San Diego.

Led by embattled safety Kam Chancellor, the defense proved its mettle for most of the game Sunday, but then the unit inexplicably gave up an 80-yard, game-tying touchdown drive to Peyton Manning in the final minute.

That left the redemption to the Seattle offense, which had basically done everything it could to give the game away in the second half. Led by Russell Wilson, the offense made up for it in overtime and let the defense off the hook in a 26-20 victory that for three quarters did not seem like it would be nearly that close.

For most of the game, the defense picked up right where it left off against Manning in the Super Bowl — making everyone realize that the San Diego game was indeed an aberration.

Continue reading Defense dominates Broncos — until the inexplicable final drive →