Despite playoff loss, Seahawks still set up for sustained success

Incredibly, Carolina’s lead was down to 31-21.

After winning the playoff game against the Seahawks Sunday, Newton was celebrating with fans by giving high-fives in a victory lap.

The two-time NFC champs are done with football in January for the first time since the end of the 2012 season when this group of Seahawks were experiencing the postseason for the first time and fell short in the divisional round at Atlanta.

Carroll was speaking to the potential the Seahawks still possess, even though their season ended two rounds earlier than it had in each of the past two seasons. During Seattle’s game on Sunday against Carolina, Panthers defensive back Roman Harper learned that the hard way. And there were no easy answers afterward about how it all went wrong so quickly. That, combined with the 27-20 win by the New England Patriots over the Kansas City Chiefs, means Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will play one another for the chance to get to another Super Bowl.

In those two quarters, Wilson threw more interceptions (two) than he did over the final seven games of the season (one). We just lost the game. “No matter how good you play in the first half, the second half is just as important”. You can’t not score.

“Definitely adds a chip to our shoulder, and you know, we’re not a team that needs a chip on our shoulder”.

“I don’t know how that’s going to go”, Carroll said Monday.

Regardless, this was a team that had expected much more. Then a 7-1 run got Seattle to within two games – or perhaps a game and a little bit more time on Sunday – of becoming the first team in the salary-cap era to reach three consecutive Super Bowls.

Yet it took one play to find out things would be different Sunday on the road.

Well, the first factor was the play of Jonathan Stewart.

“We are not done yet, we need to continue to keep fighting” said Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, whose likely will be covering Fitzgerald. The Cardinals won the coin toss and scored a touchdown on the opening possession for a 26-20 win.

Things only got worse.

Although the Panthers jumped out to a 31-0 lead in the first half, the Seahawks stormed back with twenty-four points in the second half.

On the Seahawks’ second play from scrimmaged a pressured Russell Wilson served up a room-service interception that Luke Kuechly returned 14 yards for a touchdown. We’re proud of ourselves. In their second season as a franchise, the Panthers faced the eventual Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers in the 1997 NFC Championship, losing 30-13. However, Thomas Davis recovered the onside kick for the Panthers and Cam Newton just needed to kneel down to end the game.

And while the Seahawks were quick to tout their second-half comeback bid, they also knew the game was ultimately decided in those opening minutes.