Browsed by
Tag: Vikings

Golden Tate Hurdles A Defender For A Touchdown, Part of Wilson’s Three Touchdown Day, Russ’s Rookie Year

Golden Tate Hurdles A Defender For A Touchdown, Part of Wilson’s Three Touchdown Day, Russ’s Rookie Year

The Seattle Seahawks had stomached consecutive road losses and were now at 4-4, and while half of the season remained, taking a .500 football team to the playoffs left little room for error. Additionally, the San Francisco 49ers were 6-2 and pulling away with the division. If any culprit might explain the four losses, it was an ability to finish drives. The offense had only twice scored over twenty points, and the skill position players were disappearing in the red…

Read More Read More

2015 Seahawks Re-Watch, Wild Card Playoff: Little to the Left

2015 Seahawks Re-Watch, Wild Card Playoff: Little to the Left

By utilizing home field advantage, the Seattle Seahawks had propelled themselves to consecutive NFC Championship wins. As a sixth seed in 2015, they would have to win out on the road to experience Super Bowl glory. While historically an inconsistent road team, this year’s Seahawks, after losing their first three away games, had actually won out the regular season at San Francisco, Dallas, Minnesota, Baltimore and Arizona. This playoff game was hosted at a locale the Hawks surely remembered, but not exactly how they remembered it. TCF Stadium was home to the Minnesota Vikings, the exact stadium they had played in on December 6th, save on December 6th the temperature at kickoff was 37 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas it was minus-six degrees for this January 10th matchup, making it one of the coldest playoffs games ever.

Cold weather and its effects had been a hot topic. In 2014’s playoffs, the New England Patriots had been using under-inflated footballs during a game against the Indianapolis Colts. Some argued that taking a football from room temperature to forty degrees could naturally-but-not-significantly change its air pressure. If so, then a ball at below freezing temperatures faced far greater challenges than just its inflation. The characteristics of the ball—its feel, weight, and grip—could change so dramatically that quarterbacks struggle to intuitively know how hard to throw a ball and how to put an appropriate arc on it. Likewise, receivers may not correctly anticipate how a ball will handle when caught or may find that errant passes exceed their catch radius. Players who handle snaps faced the same challenges. But, if the cold so affected the football, what it did to the field conditions was worse. Fortunately, this would present no issue during the wildcard game, as TCF had had a hydronic heated field installed prior to the Vikings moving into the facility.

2015 Seahawks Re-Watch, Week 13: A Complete Win

2015 Seahawks Re-Watch, Week 13: A Complete Win

After an offensive juggernaut against the Pittsburg Steelers, and being 4-1 over their last five games, the Seahawks were resembling the team of yonder. Spending most of the season in a daze, it was hard to know if these point explosions—in the last three contests, the offense had scored 32, 29, and 39—were signs of true development or simply a fluke. The team would be tested once again in week 13, facing another likely playoff team. The surprising Minnesota Vikings, who had amassed an 8-3 record, were winning in a way the Seahawks recognized. By utilizing a smart, tough defense, the Vikings kept games close, and by utilizing their dynamic tailback, Adrian Peterson, they set a slow and suffocating pace to games.

The way to beat the Vikings was not so different from the way to beat the Seahawks. Use the pass to build an early lead and put that great defense on its heels instead of its toes, thereby relegating that great running game to the bench. Victory was only a matter of sinking the Viking defense’s low scoring ambitions, but could the offense deliver?

Wildcard Playoff: The Big Chill.

Wildcard Playoff: The Big Chill.

The Wilson-era Seahawks built on their illustrious history with a nail-biter victory over a tough, smart Vikings team who wanted a low scoring contest where they would have the final drive. Unfortunately for the Vikings, irony was abound and they got exactly as they wished. Field goal kicker Blair Walsh–who was the sole reason the Vikings had a chance to win at all–sent a chip shot wide left during the closing seconds of the game, dealing the Vikings a stomach churning loss.