“I don’t think anybody had us doing anything,” defensive end Quinton Jefferson said. “We had a young team, guys came out here, and everybody fought their tails off. We had some growing pains, but that’s what happens with young teams. I’m pleased with the fight in these guys. We gave ourselves a chance and that’s all that you can ask for.”
Or as safety Ryan Neal bluntly put it earlier this season when the Seahawks first moved into first place with a Week 7 win over the Chargers, “I mean let’s just be honest, didn’t nobody think we’d be (expletive). It feels good to come out here and just show you’ve got to play us, this is not just a roll over game.”
There have been ups and downs since Neal uttered those words, but he was correct that the Seahawks aren’t a team that rolls over. Ever. And now the Seahawks are back in the playoffs for the 10th time in 13 seasons under the leadership of Pete Carroll and John Schneider, a total that represents half the postseason appearances in franchise history. The Seahawks have not missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons under Carroll and Schneider, and they’ve finished first or second in the NFC West in 11 of those 13 seasons.
Making this postseason run all the more special is that so few outside of the organization ever saw it coming. But while it might have been easy to look at a change at quarterback and the release of a Hall of Fame-caliber linebacker and say the Seahawks were a rebuilding team, Carroll and Schneider always believed that the team and the culture they have built in Seattle was bigger than individual players, no matter how talented.
And when the season actually got underway, they got outstanding quarterback play out of Geno Smith, who was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career after spending the past seven years as a backup; and they got huge contributions from a rookie class, one bolstered by the Wilson trade, that produced a Pro-Bowler in cornerback Tariq Woolen, and several other players who were either regular starters or significant contributors in tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, and in 1,000-yard rusher Kenneth Walker III, and in outside linebacker Boye Mafe, and in nickel corner Coby Bryant, who forced four fumbles and had a pair of sacks, and in receiver Dareke Young, who emerged as one of Seattle’s best special teams players this season. Newcomers like Uchenna Nwosu, Noah Fant, Shelby Harris and Jefferson added to a nucleus that included Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf,…
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