{"id":19517,"date":"2016-01-10T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T17:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/seahawks-defense-peaking-at-right-time\/"},"modified":"2016-01-10T09:00:44","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T17:00:44","slug":"seahawks-defense-peaking-at-right-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/seahawks-defense-peaking-at-right-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Seahawks defense peaking at right time"},"content":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash.<\/strong> \u2014 The questions and concerns that dogged the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 vaunted defense in September and October were silenced by the end of the season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the Seahawks accomplished something that hadn\u2019t been done since the 1950s.<\/p>\n

Seattle heads into today\u2019s wild-card game at Minnesota on a roll defensively. The pinnacle of their late-season success was holding Arizona to six points in the regular-season finale to end up leading the NFL in scoring defense for the fourth straight season. According to STATS, Seattle is the first team since the Cleveland Browns (1953-57) to lead the league in scoring defense in four or more consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n

Over the final five games of the season, the Seahawks allowed only 55 total points. And two of the touchdowns scored during that time were special teams and defensive scores by their opponents.<\/p>\n

However long this postseason run lasts for Seattle, it will be a new, but somewhat easier task for the Seahawks defense. After playing all their NFC playoff games at home the past two seasons, the Seahawks will be exclusively on the road this time around where it\u2019s far easier for Seattle to communicate on the defensive side.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we focus better on the road, I don\u2019t know what it is. I just think we\u2019re a better road team than we are a home team this year,\u201d Seattle linebacker Bruce Irvin said.<\/p>\n

Seattle also led the league in rush defense at 81.5 yards per game, giving up the exact same amount of yards it did a season ago when the Seahawks were third-best in the league at stopping the run. Their first task in the playoffs could be their most difficult, trying to slow down Adrian Peterson, who led the NFL with 1,485 yards rushing this season.<\/p>\n

But Seattle\u2019s already stopped Peterson once this season, holding him to 18 yards on eight carries in Week 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t expect a guy like that to get eight touches again. They\u2019re going to find different ways, whether handing the ball off, or getting him screens or checking it down to him,\u201d Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said. \u201cI definitely feel like he\u2019s going to try to have a bigger presence in this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting the scoring defense title was particularly important, but seemed unlikely going into the final week. With Cincinnati having allowed 16 to Baltimore in its finale earlier in the day, the Seahawks could give up only eight points to Arizona to at least share the scoring title.<\/p>\n

Enter DeShawn Shead with the Seahawks holding a 36-6 lead in the closing minutes and Arizona deep in Seattle\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

The Seahawks had already gotten one break when Chandler Catanzaro\u2019s field goal attempt at the end of the first half hit the upright and ricocheted back onto the field. On fourth-and-10 from the Seattle 12 with 5:25 left, the Cardinals opted to go for it rather than kick a meaningless field goal. Drew Stanton\u2019s forced pass was intercepted by Shead, igniting a huge celebration on the Seahawks sideline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not aware at all. I heard them talking on the sideline in the fourth quarter about it but I didn\u2019t really pay no mind to it until I got the interception and I came back to the sideline and Earl (Thomas) and (Richard Sherman) came up to me and were like, \u2018Thank you, you saved the record,\u2019\u201d Shead said. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize until then how significant the interception was. For my first interception at the last possible defensive drive in the regular season it could not have come at a better time. It\u2019s a great feeling to know that I have legitimately been part of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherman was completely aware of what was at stake. He knew even before the game started how much the Seahawks could afford to allow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool. I think it means we\u2019re consistent in what we do. We\u2019re really diligent in our preparation, and all our hard work has come to fruition,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cEverything we\u2019ve wanted and everything we\u2019ve tried, strived to do has come to fruition. We appreciate seeing the fruits of our labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Online:<\/p>\n

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com\/AP_NFL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. \u2014 The questions and concerns that dogged the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 vaunted defense in September and October were silenced by the end of the season. That\u2019s because the Seahawks accomplished something that hadn\u2019t been done since the 1950s. Seattle heads into today\u2019s wild-card game at Minnesota on a roll defensively. The pinnacle of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-19517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19517"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}