SEATTLE – No need for a Fail Mary this time for the Seattle Seahawks, who after unveiling their Super Bowl XLVIII banner, showed off their dominant defense and creative offense against a listless Green Bay Packers team, 36-16.
In front of a national audience, Seattle displayed the tenacity that helped them win their first-ever Super Bowl in making Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers uncomfortable, stuffing second-year running back Eddie Lacy and making plays on defense.
For the game, Rodgers completed 23-of-33 passes for 189 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Not the usual-type of numbers that Packers fans normally expect, facing the deafening combination of Seattle’s crowd noise and their relentless pass rush that frustrated Rodgers all night, never allowing him to get into any type of rhythm.
Green Bay did not help themselves in committing eight penalties for 65 yards and allowing 398 total yards—including 207 yards on the ground—with running back Marshawn Lynch tallying 110 of those and two touchdowns. The Packers also had no answer wide receiver Percy Harvin, who caught seven passes for 59 yards and rushed four times for 41 yards, gashed the Packers defense for big plays all night.
Credit Seahawks offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell for burrowing a couple of pages out of Auburn Tigers head coach Gus Mahlzahn’s playbook, as he incorporated a couple of read-option plays that kept the Packers defense off-balance in allowing quarterback Russell Wilson to do what he does best, makes plays on the move.
The highlight play being Wilson’s 33-yard touchdown reception to Richardo Lockette in which he faked a handoff to Lynch, before flipping it to Lockette in the flat, who would run down the left sideline for a touchdown, giving the champions a 10-7 lead.
After a Mason Crosby 23-yard field goal tied th score at 10-10 in the second quarter, the Seahawks would ride Lynch’s two touchdowns and a safety to a eye-opening and dominating win.
Going into Thursday’s matchup, many in NFL circles were doubting that the Seahawks would be able to defend their title, thanks to the new rules on defense, specifically illegal contact, pass interference and touching a wide receiver within five yards. If last night’s stat line that show that Seattle only had one penalty, then Seattle is going to be once again hard to beat.
Also, there is Wilson.
Call him a game manager at your own risk, but the third-year quarterback makes plays, whether it’s a timely throw or scrambling for the first, Wilson is the modern-day template of today’s generation of quarterback; small, mobile and accurate.
Despite completing 19-of-28 passes for 191 yards, Wilson tossed two touchdowns and rushed for 29 yards on seven carries. Not a stat-stuffer like a lot of today’s NFL quarterbacks, Wilson won his 29th game in three seasons as a starting quarterback.
Based on Thursday night’s resounding statement win by the Seahawks, Wilson—and Seattle’s relentless defense—will be in line for a few more.
For current news, sports, entertainment, politics and more please follow us at @TheInscriberMag and like us on Facebook: The Inscriber : Digital Magazine
Doubt Seattle is going to dominate even with a 36-16 win over the Packers, there’s a huge difference with facing a team with a decent defense. Seattle is going to struggle, no receivers.
You think so, Steven? You are correct that SEA has no “big-name WR’s to speak off, except Harvin, and he’s never been fully healthy, but they have the right recipe of defense and running.
Harvin is not a prototypical big name receiver and he’s not going to cause major attention from defense. Harvin’s biggest strength is speed, which gets negated with physical play.
The Seahawks supposed best receiver who is a glorified no.3 caught 7 passes for 59 yards and a long of 33. So, without the big gain he caught 6 passes for 26 yards.
Again if the Packers had a bit better defense this game would have been much closer. Like I’ve stated multiple times, Lynch is the key to the Seahawks offense.
Steven,
Well said on all points. You bring up a great point in Lynch, and thanks to him, SEA doesn’t really need a true No.1. Harvin, WHEN healthy is dangerous but is no more than a 2 or a 3. I agree with you in reference to the Packer’s defense, IF–being the key word–but it didn’t happen so you can’t argue semantics.