Seattle Seahawks Overcome History in Win over Washington Redskins

After many years of watching the Seattle Seahawks lose on the road in the playoffs, fans were able to see the first team since 1983 to get the job done—and in spectacular fashion.

History can be a funny thing for fans. One can’t expect this year’s Seahawks team to perform like one from the 80s, 90s or even Pete Carroll’s 2011 playoff team that lost to the Chicago Bears on the road. But it’s hard to shake those memories of historical performances.

After the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Washington Redskins, it looked like history might continue to repeat.

Robert Griffin III’s two touchdown passes in the first quarter put the Redskins ahead early 14-0, and the defense looked as though it had no answer for Griffin or the Redskins’ rookie running back Alfred Morris.

Michael Robinson said in a postgame interview the team knew they were going to have to overcome an emotional start from the home team.

“It's not about the first quarter. It's not about the second or third. It's about the finish. It's about the fourth quarter in the playoffs.”

The pace the Redskins were performing at was definitely on a different level.

“We just weren't there with the tempo at the start of the game. They did a great job at coming out of the chutes at us,” said Carroll in his postgame press conference. “Our guys stayed focused and started to put the game in order.”

After getting on the board with a field goal and forcing the Redskins offense to punt in the second quarter, it started looking like things were going the Seahawks’ way on one play in particular.

On 1st-and-5, Russell Wilson faked a hand off to Marshawn Lynch. Wilson fumbled the ball and Lynch had the awareness to pick the ball up on the run, break to the outside and pick up 20 yards on the play. Five plays later, Robinson caught a 4-yard pass for the Seahawks’ first touchdown of the game.

If the Redskins had been able to recover, it could have drastically changed the outcome of the game.

“Oh my goodness, what a play that was,” said Carroll. “It was a huge play for us. It happened so fast you could hardly believe what he did.”

Things continued to go Seattle’s way.

On the Redskins’ following drive, Earl Thomas intercepted a deep pass intended for Pierre Garcon. A 33-yard pass to Doug Baldwin and runs by Lynch put Seattle in position to kick a field goal before halftime. After a 14-point deficit, the Seahawks were within a point and moving the ball extremely well.

“Eventually we figured out what they were doing offensively and defensively, and we started to move the ball,” said Golden Tate after the game. “I thought after those 14 points they scored, we had no problem moving the ball.”

The Seahawks didn’t have a problem moving the ball after halftime, but they did have a problem with scoring. After driving down to the 2-yard line, Lynch fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Redskins.

Their second drive of the half stalled after getting inside the Redskins 30-yard line before Wilson was sacked for an 8-yard loss to force a punt. Still down by one point going into the fourth quarter, fans were starting to get nervous.

With Griffin visibly unable to run with his usual explosiveness, the Redskins worked out of the shotgun and looked to pass for most of the second half. That strategy proved ineffective.

Down 14-13, Seattle got the ball back with 10:53 remaining in the game. At midfield, Wilson completed a big third-down pass to Zach Miller for 22 yards. He followed that by acting as lead blocker for Lynch on a 27-yard touchdown run.

A two-point conversion to Miller put Seattle up 21-14. Lynch finished the game with 132 yards on 20 attempts.

Washington had seven minutes left on the clock to answer, but Griffin was sacked by Bruce Irvin for a 12-yard loss on the Redskins’ first play of the drive. Griffin fumbled the next snap and twisted his injured knee as he went down.

Griffin came out of the game, and the Seahawks kicked a short field goal to make it 24-14 and put the game out of reach. The pass rush overwhelmed the Redskins’ backup QB Kirk Cousins as he went 3-of-10 for 31 yards passing over their final two drives.

With three straight wins on the road and a six-game winning streak, the Seahawks are getting hot at the best time of the year.

“It's all coming together,” said Tate. “We're peaking at the right time.”

Robinson had a message for Seahawks fans after the game.

“12th Man, you're always with us. We heard you all the way from Seattle, and we're going to need you next week in Atlanta.”

With the win, Wilson became the only rookie quarterback to advance in this year's playoffs. The Seahawks became the lowest seed and the only road team to advance to the Divisional Round next weekend. 

Brandan Schulze is a Navy veteran and member of the Military Sea Hawkers, the military chapter of the official booster club for the Seattle Seahawks. For more information on the chapter, visit www.militaryseahawkers.com Membership is free for all military service members and veterans.