SEATTLE — On a day of opportunity, the Seattle Seahawks closed their regular season with an inspired second-half effort, overtaking and defeating the St. Louis Rams 20-6 before a raucous and ultimately celebratory crowd at CenturyLink Field.
With the victory, Seattle clinches the NFC’s No. 1 playoff position and a first-round bye next weekend. It also means the Seahawks will host a playoff game at 5:15 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, and perhaps a second playoff game a week later, putting them on the same postseason path they used to reach last season’s Super Bowl.
“We control home field throughout the playoffs and now everyone is going to have to come here,” said Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright. “And we know how hard it is for the opponents to come in here. We’re right here in our comfort zone where we’re at our best, we’ve got our fans here, and everything is just right.”
“The real season has just started,” added linebacker Bruce Irvin. “We’re back (in the playoffs) where we want to be and now we just have to keep going.”
Trailing 6-0 at halftime, Seattle’s defense shut out St. Louis over the final two periods while forcing three pivotal turnovers, including a 49-yard interception return for a touchdown by Irvin. An earlier interception by defensive tackle Jordan Hill had set up a go-ahead Seahawks touchdown, and a subsequent forced fumble for a touchback by safety Earl Thomas denied the Rams a potential fourth-quarter touchdown.
Seattle’s offense, meanwhile, opened the second half with two field goals from place-kicker Steven Hauschka, then took advantage of a short field after Hill’s interception to go 54 yards in six plays, capped by a 9-yard Marshawn Lynch touchdown run that put the Seahawks on top to stay.
Facing a six-point halftime deficit, “we just had to keep battling and to hang in there and to believe that we could get it done,” said Seattle head coach Pete Carroll.
And the Seahawks got it done, Carroll went on, with a defense that has simply been superb over the season’s final six weeks. In beating San Francisco and Arizona twice, plus wins against Philadelphia and the Rams, Seattle has given up just 39 points, or an average of just 6.5 points a game.
“It’s been an incredible run of defense that we’ve watched,” Carroll said. “The guys have just played so consistently and so solid, and to get the turnovers and turn the game around on the defensive side (against St. Louis) is fitting.”
Seattle needed some heroics in the second half after a lackluster first half. The Seahawks had six offensive possessions in the first two quarters with two ending on punts, two on turnovers (an interception by quarterback Russell Wilson and a Lynch fumble), one on downs and one as time ran out at halftime.
But the Seahawks swung the game with field goals on their first two possessions of the third period, the Lynch TD on the third, and the Irvin touchdown on St. Louis’ ensuing possession. Later, Thomas’ forced fumble essentially thwarted any hopes the Rams had for a comeback.
The victory completes a remarkable late-season surge by the Seahawks. After sputtering to a 3-3 start, Seattle won three games in a row, lost on the road to Kansas City, and then ran off six straight one-sided wins, including five against NFC West Division opponents.
“It took us all year (to rise to the top),” Carroll said. “There was a time we were 3-3, and I think we said just five or six weeks ago that we were still three games out of the (division) lead. So to win the division today and to be the NFC West champs is really a big deal.
“And it’s a big deal because we get to play (at CenturyLink Field) in the playoffs. We have an opportunity, like we did last year, to bring it home to the (Seattle fans).”
Through six games this season, “everyone counted us out,” said Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett. “But we just stayed true to what we believed. It’s easy to win games when you’re playing for each other and you’re not trying to do anything special. That’s how you win.”
After a week off to rest and mend, the Seahawks will prepare to face the lower seed to emerge from next weekend’s first-round games — No. 5 Arizona at No. 4 Carolina and No. 6 Detroit at No. 3 Dallas. If Detroit wins, Seattle will host the Lions. If Dallas wins, the Seahawks will host the Arizona-Carolina winner.
“Going into the playoffs, to have a bye week … that’s huge,” Wilson said. “It allows us to rest up … and most importantly we get to play at home again. We get to play in front of the best fans in the National Football League and the best fans in the world, and we’re going to need them as we have all year.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
