“That’s complementary football at its finest,” receiver Cooper Kupp said. “Open the game up with a kickoff return, defense goes out there, does a great job getting stops, gives us field position… Man, when you’ve got offense, defense and special teams playing off of each other like that, it’s dangerous, it’s very dangerous, and we were able to capitalize on that today.”
Thanks to overtime in the divisional round game between Denver and Buffalo, kickoff of Saturday night’s game, originally scheduled for 5 p.m. was pushed back to 5:20, but if that delay took any energy out the buildup to the game, Rashid Shaheed lit up Lumen Field on the first play of the game, returning the opening kick 95 yards for a touchdown.
Sticking with the theme of complementary football, Seattle’s defense got stops on third-and-short and fourth-and-short to force a turnover on downs on San Francisco’s next possession, a short field the offense turned into a field goal and 10-0 lead. The next 49ers possession ended on a turnover, with Ernest Jones IV forcing a fumble that Julian Love recovered, and the offense capitalized with a touchdown, with Sam Darnold hitting Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 4-yard score.
And just like that, before the first quarter had come to an end, the Seahawks had a 17-0 lead thanks to two big stops on special teams, two drives by the offense to take advantage, and one massive play on special teams.
“Today I would say was one of our most complete games for sure,” said defensive tackle Leonard Williams, whose day included a fourth-down sack. “Shaheed starting the game off like that, setting the tone scoring on special teams, defense out there getting a stop, offense capitalizing on that and scoring. Teams talk about this all the time, especially starting the season and camp and things like that, you want to be a complete team that can win in all three phases, and I think this is truly one of the only times I’ve been on a team where we’re good in all three phases.”
Linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who had both a forced fumble and an interception, called Shaheed’s kick return “electric” and said the way the team got rolling in all three phases just confirmed what the Seahawks already knew about themselves.
“(The return) gave us a boost, but it also just confirmed what we knew—let’s go ahead and play our game, and this will happen often,” he said.
Seahawks wins have happened often this year—that was the team’s 15th in 18 games so far—but the type of dominance they put forth, especially at a stage in the season when only the best teams remain—was rare.
The 35-point margin of victory was tied for the largest in franchise history, matching the 43-8 Super Bowl XLVIII win over the 49ers, and the point total was tied for the team’s second highest in a playoff game, matching the total scored in the “Beast Quake” win over the Saints in the 2010 wild card round. Saturday night’s win saw the Seahawks hold the 49ers without a touchdown for the second straight game, rush for 175 yards as a team, with Kenneth Walker III eclipsing 100 yards while becoming the second Seahawk, along with Shaun Alexander, to have three rushing touchdowns in a playoff game, and Shaheed’s kick return touchdown was the longest in Seahawks playoff history.
“That’s big,” Jones said. “That’s the style we want to play, that complementary football. Getting turnovers on defense, that’s something we strive to do, and the offense being able to capitalize and get touchdowns out of that. It builds our confidence. We just want to go get the ball more now and give them more opportunities to go get as many points as we can.”
The Seahawks will be back at Lumen Field, hosting the NFC championship game for the fourth time in franchise history, with the previous three all resulting in trips to the Super Bowl. They’ve gotten this far not just because they have the NFL’s best defense or a Pro Bowl quarterback and All-Pro receiver and a surging running game, or great special teams play, but because they have all of those things working together to make them arguably the most complete team in the league this season.
“We’re the real deal,” Smith-Njigba said. “Honestly, I think teams know that, but we know that and that’s all that really matters. We’re just going to continue to be us.”
