After hanging on to beat Carolina 30-24, Seahawks learned 49ers lost. Seattle (11-3) clinched a playoff berth and grabbed the NFC West lead. Wilson’s bounce-back was large.
Author: Art Thiel
Art Thiel
Never having met a metaphor he could not twist beyond recognition, Art has been illuminating, agitating, amusing and annoying Puget Sound sports readers for a long time. Along with Steve Rudman, he co-founded Sports Press Northwest because it didnt seem right that the Google monster should aggregate daily journalism into oblivion without at least a flesh wound from somebody. Thiel and Rudman labored under the Seattle Post-Intelligencer globe until the print edition died an undeserved death in March, 2009. Art continued on at its online successor seattlepi.com while working on SPNWs creation. His radio commentaries can be heard Friday and Saturday mornings and Friday afternoon on KPLU-FM 88.9. In 2003 he wrote the definitive book about the Seattle Mariners, Out of Left Field, which became a regional bestseller. In 2009, along with Rudman and KJR 950 afternoon host Mike Gastineau, Thiel authored The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a cross between historylink.org and Mad Magazine that has become mandatory reading for any sports fan who has an indoor bathroom. A graduate of Pacific Lutheran University as well as two dead papers and a live one, the News Tribune of Tacoma, he has become a fan of entrepreneurial online journalism because it allows him to continue a lifelong passion to take the English language to places it rarely visits willingly, and does not involve the cleaning of kennels or stables.
The Seahawks will be without defensive starters Jadeveon Clowney and Mychal Kendricks Sunday, and the missing list could include Shaq Griffin and Ziggy Ansah.
Russell Wilson’s passing numbers have declined as good defenses sharpen pursuit of him. In C.J. Prosise and Josh Gordon, Seahawks have fresh legs to help with the heavy lift.
“They’ve had better games,” said DC Ken Norton Jr. of the Seahawks linebackers in the Rams loss. Part of it was a rookie starting his first game, part of it was plain old confusion.
Rams pressured Russell Wilson further into a downward cycle with 5 sacks. Pete Carroll thinks he’s holding the ball too long. Related: RB Rashaad Penny is out for the season.
If you thought the 28-12 whipping by the Rams was grim for the Seahawks, imagine what Rams fans thought about LA’s 45-6 loss to the Ravens. It’s the NFL — whipsaws happen.
Irony wins again. The Huskies play Chris Petersen’s former team, Boise State, at the Las Vegas Bowl in his final UW game. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 loses again: No CFP entrant.
Calling coaching a “cauldron of competitiveness,” Pete Carroll understands how Huskies coach Chris Petersen could walk away. Maybe he could walk toward the NFL.
“It’s one of those jobs that is extremely heavy on the balance of your life,” said Chris Petersen. He knew change was pending when he wasn’t excited about the Rose Bowl.
The 10-2 Seahawks are atop the NFC West, but the harrowing 37-30 win over Minnesota shows it’s going to be broken axles and windshields all the way.