When it comes to January football in recent
times, you have to admit there is something about the Seattle Seahawks, things do seem to happen at the end of their
games. They will tell you not always in
their favour of course (Super Bowl 49)
but the two time NFC Champions are still in it and fighting for a third
straight Super Bowl mainly as a
result of two single plays.
People talk in hushed revered tones about
the mystique of the frozen tundra of Green
Bay and with good reason. However if
the city of Minnesota had played
more outside games instead of the domed stadiums, then that legend may just
belong to the Vikings and not the Packers.
The Wild Card matchup in January 2016 was recorded as the third lowest
game temperature in NFL history, with the wind chill making it feel like
negative 25.
No surprise then that we were not treated
to a free flowing West Coast
offensive exhibition, this was a day when defence was king, as you would expect
from a 10-9 final score, but both defensive units were excellent. Teddy Bridgewater
and Russell Wilson were under severe
pressure pretty much all day long, and stepping up in the pocket just to try
and get something on a pass in those temperatures usually resulted in a sack or
a QB hit for the defence. What little
momentum there was through the opening 3 quarters was just on the side of the
Vikings, but this Seahawks team was not about to give up a touchdown for anyone
and held to two Blair Walsh field
goals.
It is not uncommon though for Pete Carrol to talk about the
importance of winning the 4th quarter, this Seahawks team act at
times like it is their right to do this, and so it proved again as this game
all turned on a moment of magic once again from Russell Wilson. Just inside the Vikings half for the first
time in a long time, the ball was snapped as Wilson was still identifying the
blitz, the ball therefore sailed past Wilson to around the 50 yard line. Wilson scrambled after it, was able to gather
the ball and roll out to his right before the blitz could arrive. This gave Wilson the chance to find rookie
Tyler Lockett left free over the middle, who took the ball down to the 4 yard
line.
A few plays later Wilson finds Doug Baldwin and Seattle are in
front. The next possession and the
Vikings biggest star Adrian Peterson
fumbles the ball under pressure from Kam
Chancellor and Jeremy Lane and
the Seahawks recovered for what would turn into the winning Field Goal attempt. Peterson out of all the players the league
suspended last year for domestic abuse seems to have rehabilitated back into
the league the easiest, but I wonder if the powers that be had one more thing
in store as a matter of penance for Peterson as that fumble came out far too
easily.
Credit to Teddy though, down 10-9 and in
final drive of the game scenario and under extreme pressure, Teddy stood tough
and maneuvered the Vikings into what was surely a game winning 27 yarder for
Blair Walsh, but it was pulled way left and Seattle advanced as the Vikings
slumped to the ground like they had been hit by a switch. The Seahawks will now face Carolina in Charlotte and the chance of another NFC West showdown to decide the
NFC title is still on the table although that would need to be hosted by Arizona for that to occur, somewhere no
doubt a lot warmer that Minnesota this past weekend.
Speaking of somewhere warmer than
Minnesota, football has returned to the city of Los Angeles in the form of the Rams. The league owners have approved the plans of
Rams owner Stan Kroenke by a 30-2
margin smashing the 24 votes required to relocate. The Chargers
may yet also move to be part of the new stadium Kroenke is building, but if
they reject that option then the Raiders
would have the option instead. For NFL
fans from the mid 80’s like myself the Los
Angeles Rams just sounds more right than St Louis, no offence to the city of St Louis intended.
Will the full rebirth of the LA Rams be
completed by the lighter blue and yellow uniforms just to complete the familiar
feel of this, time will tell but the Rams should be moving soon to play
initially at the USC Stadium as
their new stadium is built and it promises to be a stadium that rivals the
Cowboys stadium or house that Jerry built as it is commonly known. With a stadium promising to deliver the wow
factor it is going to be interesting to see how much longer Jeff Fisher will be given to get past
7-9 records or for Case Keenum to be
a starting QB. When in LA you need to be
a bit more showbiz to compete, we will see if changes are coming now that LA is
a potential destination for free agents etc…
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