Seahawks Beat Redskins 24-14 to Advance

The Seattle Seahawks got off to a rocky start on Sunday, finding themselves down 14-0 after the first two Redskins possessions. But after the second Redskins drive, Robert Griffin III obviously aggravated his right knee injury and was rendered ineffective. So it was only a matter of time that Seattle would come back with Russell Wilson. The Redskins gained only 74 yards after those first two drives through the end of the third quarter. And when a low snap resulted in Griffin’s knee buckling while reaching for the ball, and Kirk Cousins having to come into replace him, the Redskins were done. The Seahawks went on to a 24-14 win.

The Seahawks, lost in all of the Griffin controversy, have now won six straight games and eight of the last nine. Russell Wilson, who was a third round pick in a draft that featured first pick Andrew Lucks and second pick Griffin who both led their teams to the playoffs, is now the only rookie quarterback still standing. Wilson was an afterthought when the season started. In the pre-season, he beat out Matt Flynn, who Seattle signed for big bucks in the off-season to be the starter, and it raised a few eyebrows. How about some credit for Pete Carroll for making that call? It would be really easy to give the job to guy getting the big paycheck. “Let’s see if this guy can earn all the money he’s being paid”, would be most of our reactions if we were Seahawks fans. But look at where the team is now.

Now the Seahawks will travel to Atlanta next week to take on the top seeded Atlanta Falcons for a trip to the NFC Championship Game. The Falcons have seemed to be on wobbly legs all season. They have been winning close game after close game all year. So we know the Seahawks will be in the game. Can Wilson then do enough to pull the game out? Based on what we’ve seen all season, there is no reason to feel like he can’t. If he can deliver the Seahawks to another win on Sunday, then Seattle will face either the Green Bay Packers or San Francisco 49ers with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. Wilson has led the Seahawks to wins over both of them this season, Golden Tate‘s bogus touchdown against the Packers notwithstanding.

So of the four games played this weekend, the biggest was definitely the Redskins-Seahawks game. And now as we await news on the extent of Griffin’s knee injury, and look forward to Seahawks-Falcons next week, the aftermath of this game will live on for a long time.