Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll likes the familiar challenge of facing Carolina in an NFC Divisional playoff game next Sunday. “It was in their hands, I knew they were going to blow it for us”.
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“It’s my fault. I don’t care if you give me a watermelon hold, I should be able to put that through”, Walsh said.
“I am just proud of this team in general”, Robison added. “We were warm, for the most part, especially on the sideline with the heated benches”. The touchdown was set up by an improbable play in which the snap went over Wilson’s left shoulder. While Doug Baldwin has been Wilson’s top target with 11 TD receptions in his last six games, the buzz in Seattle revolves around the availability of running back Marshawn Lynch, who returned to practice for the first time since undergoing abdominal surgery on November 25.
Chancellor, who ripped the ball away from Peterson that Ahtyba Rubin recovered, missed a tackle on tight end Kyle Rudolph’s 24-yard reception that let the Vikings advance to the 18 with 1:26 left. Peterson had trouble all game, carrying the ball 23 times for only 45 yards. Walsh, whose third kick was almost blocked by Sherman, jogged out for the defining moment.
“It was an ugly game, we didn’t play very well on offence and that’s on me”.
Many NFL fans on Twitter tweeted out that they would have made the chip shot of a kick. “He’s got to make it”. But the Seahawks defense stiffened, forcing Minnesota to convert a 22-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
For all their skills, experience and swagger, however, the combination of conditions and a well-prepared, embarrassed-by-the-previous-performance Vikings team proved to be quite the challenge.
This was a fittingly frigid finish for Minnesota’s two-year stint outdoors at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium during construction of the new covered downtown stadium. For the Vikings’ first outdoor postseason home game since the 1976 NFC Championship Game, Bud Grant, the grizzled coach of that team, served as an honorary captain. He walked out to midfield for the coin toss wearing just a Vikings short-sleeved golf shirt and a purple Vikings cap.
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: The Seahawks burned all three of their first-half timeouts early in the game, the result of some miscommunication and difficulties getting the plays into Wilson. But Seattle’s top-ranked scoring defense (17.3) also happens to possess the league’s top-ranked run defense (81.6).
“I am the only one who didn’t do my job”, Walsh said, “so this is on me”.
The kicker – Ray Finkle – was blamed for the Dolphins’ loss in the Super Bowl years earlier after missing a game-winning field goal.
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Wilson produced 66 of his 142 passing yards in the game on that touchdown drive. Carroll said they had issues with the headsets and communication during the game, perhaps because it was so cold. Baldwin finished with a game-high five catches for 42 yards.
