RENTON — Kam Chancellor missed just two games this season because of injury, but in a lot of ways, the Seattle Seahawks have played much of the season without their Pro Bowl strong safety.
While Chancellor was on the field for each of Seattle’s first seven games, he was rarely himself thanks to bone spurs in his ankle that nearly required surgery during the bye week, as well as a hip injury. Looking back on those games is as painful for Chancellor as the multiple ailments that kept him from playing at the level that made him arguably Seattle’s best defensive player in the playoffs on the way to a Super Bowl victory.
“Oh yeah, definitely, it was tough,” Chancellor said. “I hated it, I hated watching film, I hated watching myself, I just hated it. But it comes with the territory, it comes with football, so you just have to find ways to get through it and push forward.”
But after limping through the first half of the season, Chancellor missed a pair of games because of a groin injury that may have actually been a blessing in disguise. Now, Chancellor isn’t just back on the field, he’s back to looking like he did in 2013 when he was named second-team All-Pro, which is very good news for the Seahawks as they continue in this make-or-break closing stretch of the season.
“What he brings to the table when he’s himself; it’s a very powerful force,” said safety Earl Thomas.
In Sunday’s win over Arizona, which saw the Seahawks suffocate the Cardinals offense like they did so many teams in 2013, Chancellor was back to flying around, making big hits and sure tackles, such as the open-field takedown of shifty Cardinals running back Andre Ellington after a short pass. A play the beat-up version of Chancellor probably doesn’t make.
And there is no better game for Chancellor to show just how much better he is feeling than a primetime matchup with Seattle’s biggest rival, the San Francisco 49ers. Few players on either roster, if any, embody the NFL’s best rivalry the way Chancellor does. In a way it makes perfect sense that Chancellor, when asked about the 49ers prior to January’s NFC Championship game, said “You know what? I like that team.”
Chancellor likes the 49ers because they, like his Seahawks, set out to not just dominate, but to physically punish opponents.
“This is his type of game,” Thomas said. “This is definitely the type of game where Kam can really dominate and make impactful plays; I’m talking about igniting me. You heard me at the Super Bowl when I was like, ‘Woo,’ I was going crazy? It could be something like that.”
At this point, talking about Chancellor has Thomas so fired up that he can’t help but go on a bit of a tangent about what’s to come.
“Don’t be surprised, man,” Thomas continues, shifting topics. “I don’t want to start talking, but be ready, bro, we’re going to shock you. We’re going to shock you.”
Chancellor may not be the Seahawks’ most talented or valuable defensive player — Thomas is almost certainly both — but he is the player who most embodies what the Seahawks want to be, much in the same way Marshawn Lynch sets the tone for the offense.
“Guys feed off of one another,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “That’s exactly what you saw (Sunday), you saw a team that was really feeding off of one another’s play and effort and love for the game and all of that. Kam really brings that, he really stands for that on this team. He’s tough, he’s physical, he’s smart, he cares so much, he’s such a good leader, that when he’s right and playing, other guys can feel him, it just uplifts them.
“Great players have that ability to uplift those around them, and he’s one of those guys. He does it with the physical side of it. He really had a ball playing football (Sunday). It was the best he’s felt, you could just tell he was really in it.”
One of the most memorable plays in this rivalry’s recent history involved Chancellor crushing 49ers tight end Vernon Davis with a massive — and clean, despite the flag that was thrown — hit that didn’t just help set the tone in that 2012 game, a 42-13 victory, but perhaps also served notice of a shift in the balance of power in the NFC West.
The 49ers would go on to win the division that season and go to the Super Bowl, but that December victory was part of a late-season surge which saw the Seahawks, and their defense in particular, find the swagger and dominant style that would carry them to a championship the next season. Up until that game, the 49ers had won three straight against Seattle and were on their way to a second-straight division title while holding the unofficial title of division bully. That game and that Chancellor hit on Davis signaled that change was coming.
While it was less memorable, Chancellor had another big hit on Davis in the NFC championship game that was just as important, hammering the tight end over the middle of the field to force a second-and-10 incompletion in the third quarter. After another incomplete pass, the 49ers punted, and on the ensuing possession, the Seahawks scored the go-ahead touchdown and would not trail again.
And Chancellor’s importance to the team goes beyond physical ability. Despite not being as loud as other members of the secondary like Thomas and Richard Sherman, Chancellor was voted the captain of Seattle’s defense by his teammates. And on Sunday, for the first time in his career, he was tasked with delivering the pregame speech that helped get his team ready for what would end up being their best performance of the season.
“I just felt when he gave that speech that he was going to come out and have a great day,” said linebacker K.J. Wright. “Just watching him fly around out there and just hit guys, it felt right.
“Usually it’s Mike (Bennett) and Russell (Wilson), but Kam gave this one, and that’s probably one of the best ones I ever heard in my life. I just felt it. Usually guys just talk to talk, but I actually felt him. He just spoke from the heart. It was good … We needed that. That’s why we voted him captain.”
After limping through the first half of the season, Seattle’s defensive captain, its tone-setter, is back, and Chancellor’s return to form couldn’t have come at a better time.
“He’s one of the igniters for us, for sure,” said defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. “We talk about, at times, who is going to be the one to set it off? And usually he’s at the front of that line.”
Herald Columnist John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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