Seahawks look like champs in dominant opening win vs. Green Bay
So about that chance to repeat as Super Bowl champs? (At least there was no Fail Mary this time around – or replacement refs for that matter.)
The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks made their statement that they are aiming for a repeat in their dominant 36-16 win over the NFC championship favored Green Bay Packers Thursday night.
“This is the Seattle Seahawks,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after the game. “They are a great defense. You don’t expect to move the ball effectively every down, every drive. You’ve got to make the most of your opportunities and when you’re near the red zone, you have to score touchdowns.”
Like Rodgers said, this is the Seattle Seahawks, who displayed a near-perfect performance of their game Thursday night.
They’re physical on both sides of the ball, they’re fast and they’re efficient and consistent.
Defensively, they held what was supposed to be an uptempo Packer offense led by Rodgers and running back Eddie Lacy to a crawling 255 yards. The only time the Packers were uptempo was early in the game. Rodgers was sacked three times on a tough night where he threw for just 189 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while Lacy was a non-factor as well, running for just 34 yards on 12 carries.
Lacy left the game in the fourth with a concussion while the Seattle defense also held Rodgers to his lowest quarterback rating (81.5) since Green Bay’s Week 3 loss to the Bengals last year.
“Lacy? He had 12 carries for 34 yards, I could do that,” Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett mentioned.
Even though it seemed like a dominant performance by Seattle last night, in the minds of the Seahawks, it wasn’t up to their championship standard.
“It wasn’t dominant at all,” Richard Sherman said. “We have a lot of things to clean up. We missed some opportunities on some turnovers. We missed some tackles on key drives we could have stopped, we had some key penalties. These are all things we need to clean up because we have a really high standard.”
Sherman didn’t see a single pass his way all night as Green Bay avoided him throughout the entire game. Green Bay lined up star receiver Jordy Nelson opposite of Sherman throughout the game, matching him up instead with cornerback Byron Maxwell, who picked off Rodgers on a throw that went off of Nelson’s hands on a slant route in the third quarter.
“I used to get pissed off when I was younger,” he mentioned. “But now I just stay disciplined, stay sound and assume just I’m making an impact somewhere.”
“If they don’t throw it, then they don’t throw it. But you don’t want to be lagging one play and cost your defense the game.”
However, if the defense “didn’t meet expectations,” then the offense surely did.
Marshawn Lynch had his first 100-yard game of the season, running for a physical 110 yards with a pair of touchdowns, highlighted by a nine-yard touchdown run where he ran through three Packers to give the Seahawks a 17-10 lead just before halftime.
Third-year quarterback Russell Wilson easily drove the Seattle offense down the field, throwing for 191 yards with a pair of touchdowns including a perfect fake on a read-option play, getting the entire left side of the defense to bite before tossing the ball over them to Ricardo Lockette for a 33-yard score.
A (finally) healthy Percy Harvin also had 100 combined yards (59 yards on seven receptions, four rushes for 41 yards).
“If we already peaked this game we’re going to be in trouble,” Harvin said. “I hope we can just take this game and build on it.”
That’s where Seattle gets scary and a repeat does in fact seem possible. While it is only the first game, Seattle showed no sign of a Super Bowl hangover against a team that was actually favored to win the NFC championship, over the Seahawks.
Thursday night’s win marked Seattle’s 18th win in their last 20 regular-season home games. Their last loss at home was against the Cardinals last December.
If the Seahawks are supposed to repeat as Super Bowl champions, a feat that hasn’t been done in over a decade, a 20-point win over a team that’s favored to beat them in the playoffs is a good start.