Seahawks on a familiar dominant path across NFC
GLENDALE, Ariz. — This is all starting to feel familiar to the Seattle Seahawks, right down to a December domination on the field where they hope to win a championship come February.
Last year, it was a 23-0 rout of the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, where the Seahawks returned to paste the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. Sunday night, it was a 35-6 runaway against the Arizona Cardinals, who ceded control of the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
"Trust me, I know. It feels like the same season as last year," Seahawks all-pro safety Earl Thomas told Paste BN Sports. "That's who we are. When we step on the football field, man, there's a presence. And everybody knows it, because you can feel the other team looking at us."
Win again next week against the St. Louis Rams, and the Seahawks won't have to play away from Seattle again before Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium on Feb. 1.
They look primed to get back here, too, with eight wins in their past nine games, a defense that has held its past five foes to 33 points combined and an offense that blew the doors off in the fourth quarter Sunday with Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson leading the way.
"We hot, bro. We in the zone right now," Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin said. "Our defense playing some of the best ball we done played in a long time, including last year. Just everybody like we're straight-up puppets, man. We're all connected."
This one was never a fair fight, of course. Not with the Cardinals down to fourth-string quarterback Ryan Lindley, whose final passing line — 18-of-44 for 216 yards and an interception — doesnt fully reflect how badly he was overmatched.
"I heard (Cardinals safety) Rashad Johnson say something about, '(Lindley)'s killing the first team defense in practice,' " Irvin said. "But in live bullets, it's different, baby."
Just six of Lindley's first 22 throws reached their intended target. The Seahawks outgained the Cardinals 305-64 by halftime and could've put them away sooner if not for a heap of penalties and three missed field-goal attempts by Steven Hauschka.
Instead, Arizona somehow was within eight points entering the fourth quarter, when Wilson hit Luke Willson for a 20-yard touchdown and Lynch broke off a tackle-busting, sideline-tiptoeing, 79-yard touchdown run that had teammate Richard Sherman pitching him as an MVP candidate.
"He's really just showing the world that he's a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad — continue to say bad — man," Sherman said.
It's a team of bad men, including Wilson, who had a 55-yard scramble and connected with Willson on an 80-yard score in the first half, then capped the scoring with a 5-yard dance into the end zone with 4:40 to play.
The Seahawks' surge has coincided with the surprise trade of explosive and volatile receiver Percy Harvin in mid-October. And if the offense still can be inconsistent, the defense is looking every bit like its 2013 incarnation — if not better.
"We played the Rams, and they had their backup quarterback and they beat us," Thomas said, referring to a 28-26 loss at St. Louis on Oct. 19 that dropped the Seahawks to 3-3.
"You can never take any team lightly. When you're in control and you have that type of strength against that type of weakness, you've got to pound them, and we did that (Sunday)."
They swept the Cardinals and can clinch home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs by avenging their loss to the Rams at CenturyLink Field, barring the unlikely event of a Packers-Lions tie and a Cowboys win next week.
"Nobody wants to come to Seattle," Thomas said. "But we know we still have to play football. Just because if we get home-field advantage, that doesn't give us the right to play in the championship just automatically.
"We've just got to keep playing who we are: physical, have fun and swag it out."
It's gotten the Seahawks to this point, again. If all goes to plan, the trip home will be their last before a return here in a little over a month.
"Just like New York last year, man," Irvin said. "We left a good impression in New York. We left a good impression here. Hopefully, it'll work out again."
Follow Tom Peliserro on Twitter @TomPelissero.
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