In the aftermath of the NFL game of the year that wasn’t between the Seattle Seahawks and the New Orleans Saints, it’s fair to wonder about the Seahawks’ state of mind.
Not the Seattle Seahawks’ fans state of mind, mind you. They’re out of their minds with visions of Super Bowls dancing in their heads. Four out of five of your closest Seahawks fans have checked into flight availability for the New York area around the weekend of Feb. 2, 2014. The other guy is at his doctor appointment getting his hearing checked.
Route to the playoffs
With all the talk coming out of San Francisco about this weekend’s NFC West rematch as a “statement game,” the Seahawks could be forgiven for growing tired of statement games this side of the playoffs. Last Monday night’s thrashing of the top NFC opponent, the New Orleans Saints, proved to be an end-to-end route.
The Seahawks’ next travel route takes them to the Bay Area. As the undisputed consensus No. 1 NFL team, the Seahawks can expect a heavyweight title-like shot from all comers on their remaining schedule. Just like what they received from the Saints on Monday. Or not.
Laughing all the way
Monday night’s game was for all the NFC marbles, and turned into a laugher. By the way, “a laugher” is exactly the way you could describe the first match-up between the Seahawks and the 49ers back in week two. A pattern has emerged.
With the 49ers still smarting from that early season smack down and in near-desperate need of revenge to keep pace in the Wild Card standings, the Niners are depending on a win. Seattle, on the other hand, travels to San Francisco this season under the rarest of circumstances — they actually do not need to win to keep pace with the 49ers, the Saints or anyone.
The Seahawks could lose this game in San Francisco and it will change absolutely nothing about their postseason fortunes. The only thing it would do is strengthen San Francisco’s hold on the No. 6 NFC playoff slot. Which means Sunday’s game is of more importance to the 7 – 5 Arizona Cardinals and a handful of other NFC playoff hopefuls. In other words — somebody else’s problem.
Fun with math
The Seahawks, due to their opponent-mowing prowess, probably only need to win two of their last four games to hold on to first place in the NFC playoff seeding. The Saints, now two full games behind Seattle in the standings and on the foul-smelling end of the tiebreakers due to Monday’s head-to-head loss, have to face the where-did-they-come-from 9 – 3 Carolina Panthers not once, but twice, to close out the season.
The Saints don’t even have their division locked up. Of course, the Seahawks don’t much care which of the two top NFC South teams emerge as the division champs — Seattle beat them both.
The playoffs are nigh — invest in hearing protection
I’m not saying they will, but the Seahawks can coast to the division round of the playoffs. Please do not forget that a win on Sunday will clinch the NFC West Division title for Seattle. I almost did. Doesn’t it feel pretty much like a foregone conclusion? I said, DOESN’T IT FEEL PRETTY MUCH LIKE A FOREGONE CONCLUSION?
Julian Rogers is a freelance writer and communications consultant. Follow him on Twitter (@mrturophile), or connect with him on LinkedIn and Google+.
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