Seattle Shows No Signs of Super Bowl Hangover
The NFL regular season started on Thursday and the Seattle Seahawks showed why they won last season’s Super Bowl and why they could repeat this season.
Seattle defeated the Green Bay Packers 36-16, behind strong play from Russell Wilson, Percy Harvin and Marshawn Lynch. The win was the 18th in its past 20 regular season home games.
Harvin returned to play wide receiver after missing most of last season for Seattle. However, on Thursday he did a little of everything with 59 yards receiving, 41 yards rushing and three kickoff returns for 60 yards. He touched the ball 14 times and accumulated 160 yards.
Staying healthy will be a key for Harvin and the Seahawks this season. Last year in played in just one game during the regular season after having hip surgery in August.
Harvin says he has never been this healthy since joining the NFL, which could spell trouble for Seahawks opponents.
The offense for Seattle was solid last season without Harvin on the field. With him, the offense is great. If too much attention is paid to Harvin, then Lynch will run over you from the backfield. On Thursday, Lynch had 20 carries for 110 yards and scored two touchdowns for Seattle.
Harvin however was only one of the players on the field for Seattle.
Wilson played outstanding during the first half. He hooked up with Ricardo Lockette for a 33-yard touchdown pass.
Wilson on the night hit 19 of his 28 passes for 191 yards.
As a team, the Seahawks ran for 207 yards.
For Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers had 189 yards passing on 23 of 33. He looked to Jordy Nelson most of the time. On the night, Nelson had 9 receptions.
The offense was not the only positive part of Seattle’s game on Thursday. The defense had three sacks as they took advantage of Bryan Bulaga’s knee injury. The right tackle for Green Bay suffered his injury during the second quarter. Derek Sherrod replaced Bulaga but allowed a sack on fourth down on a drive that was in Seattle territory.
Sherrod was also beaten by the defense who stripped Rodgers of the ball in the end zone, which was recovered by Sherrod for a safety.
Running back Eddie Lacy for the Packers had 34 yards on just 12 carries, but did not factor much in the game.
The Packers could muster just 255 on total offense, their third fewest since the beginning of the 2012 season.
The Packers drew to within 29-16 in the fourth on a Rodgers to Randall Cobb pass. However, Wilson marched the Seahawks down the fall after the ensuing kickoff with a 13-play drive eating up over 7 minutes of the clock capped off by a touchdown pass of 15 yards to Derrick Coleman with only 2:31 on the clock.
Fifteen regular season games remain for Seattle, but the team showed they did not have any Super Bowl hangover and is still the team to beat in the NFC.
