The Many Highs, Few Lows Of 2013 Seattle Seahawks
By Matthew Asher
With the Lombardi Trophy now in Seattle at least until Super Bowl XLIX, it’s time to look back at the many highlights and the few low points of this fantastic Super Bowl-winning season for the Seahawks.
Seattle’s Defense Gets an A+
In both the regular season and postseason this year, Seattle’s defense was nearly unstoppable. In the regular season the 'Hawks had the best scoring defense and allowed the fewest total yards against and passing yards against, while they came it at seventh in the whole NFL for least rushing yards allowed. They were also a plus-20 in the turnover department and allowed just 14.4 points per game on average.
Then came the postseason and Seattle didn’t let up. They actually improved their defense; this time allowing just 13.3 points scored per game and were a plus-seven in turnovers, including four in the Super Bowl.
Richard Sherman's attitude adjustment gets an A
Seattle's defensive star cornerback Richard Sherman had one of the greatest attitude adjustments of the season after being chastised in the media for the comments he made about San Francisco wide receiver Michael Crabtree after the NFC Championship game. The Monday after the Super Bowl on ESPN's Mike and Mike talk radio show, Sherman had nothing but praise for Peyton Manning saying, “He's a Hall of Fame player, he's a living legend, he's a record-holding quarterback, he's a Super Bowl champion, he's been a Super Bowl MVP.” The cornerback also tweeted:
"Peyton is the Classiest person/player I have ever met! I could learn so much from him! Thank you for being a great Competitor and person."
After this tweet, some Seattle fans took to social media to badmouth the future Hall of Fame quarterback and Sherman quickly responded tweeting:
"There is no reason to bash him on here please Seattle let's just enjoy this one!!!! He is still a future HOF player."
While it’s unlikely that Michael Crabtree will get a Tweet like like from Sherman, it’s nice to know he still has a deep respect for the game.
Seattle’s Special Teams Get an A
Steven Hauschka had a spectacular season, making 33 of his 35 field goal attempts as well as all 44 extra points for 143 points in the regular season. In the postseason, Hauschka made all eight field goal attempts and all nine extra point attempts as well.
It wasn’t until the Super Bowl that Seattle finally got to show why they wanted Percy Harvin during the offseason. To start off the second half, Denver’s Matt Prater intentionally kicked the ball short to prevent Harvin from getting a good return. It didn’t matter because Harvin returned it to the house for an 87-yard touchdown and a demoralizing 29-0 lead to start the third quarter.
Seattle’s Offense Gets a B+
This isn’t a knock on Seattle’s offense, because as they just proved, you don’t need the best offense in the league to win the Super Bowl. Rather, it’s because the ‘Hawks defense played so well the offense didn’t have that pressure on them that they constantly had to perform.
Russell Wilson had a good regular season, throwing more than 3,300 yards, 29 touchdowns and just nine interceptions for a quarterback rating of 101.2. In the postseason, Wilson added another three touchdown passes and wasn’t intercepted in any of his 68 passing attempts. Running back Marshawn Lynch picked up more than 1,500 total yards of offense and 14 touchdowns in the regular season. He added another 291 yards and four additional touchdowns in the postseason.
This concludes my final article on the Seahawks for the season. You can’t ask for more than a Super Bowl trophy at the end of any season, so to all the 12th Men and Women out there: enjoy this offseason and next season, and of course, bring the noise at home!
For more Seahawks news and updates, visit Seahawks Central.
Matthew Asher is a freelance journalist. From an early age, sports have played a major role in his life. He graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in Journalism. After college he spent 2 years working with CNN Sports and still occasionally writes sports articles for several publications both in the United States and Canada. His work can be found on Examiner.com.