🚧 Seattle is certainly tough enough 🚧

I’m not going to try and convince you that Seattle’s victory in Carolina on Sunday was a thing of beauty.

The Seahawks took way too long to pull away from a team that didn’t do much of anything on offense. This was largely due to turnovers, which remain a very troubling habit for Seattle, and only a facemask penalty on third-and-21 kept the Panthers from getting the ball and a chance to tie the game with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Still, this game was closer to a blowout than it was a defeat, and the reason for that is pretty simple: The Seahawks are tough.

That’s one thing that I’m absolutely certain about.

I’m not sure if they’ll beat the 49ers on Saturday with the division title and the NFC’s only first-round bye on the line. Even if they get that top seed, I’m not sure how long Seattle can last in the playoffs given its tendency to turn the ball over. 

But if Seattle does wind up losing in the weeks ahead, it won’t be for a lack of toughness. They have a defense that doesn’t give an inch on third-and-short, and an offense that doesn’t get discouraged even after (repeatedly) shooting itself in the foot.

On Sunday in Carolina, against an opponent playing to clinch a playoff berth, the Seahawks didn’t allow a pass completion longer than 8 yards, and they held the Panthers to 139 yards, the lowest single-game total for Seattle’s defense in 10 years. Perhaps even more importantly, the Seahawks ran the ball effectively for once as Zach Charbonnet gained 110 yards on the ground and rushed for two scores.

The Carolina Panthers had 11 possessions on Sunday. They failed to gain a first down on seven of them, which included a final drive in which Carolina got the ball back, trailing by 17 with just under 3 minutes remaining and decided that discretion was the better part of valor. After a 3-yard run took the game to the 2-minute warning, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young took a knee on the Panthers’ final three plays in what was Carolina’s most lopsided defeat in two months. 

The Panthers weren’t lacking for motivation, either. A win would have clinched a playoff berth. Now, the Panthers will play the Bucs next week with the winner earning the final postseason berth in the NFC. 

The Panthers finished with 139 yards of net offense, the fewest Seattle had allowed in any game since Dec. 6, 2015 when the Seahawks beat the Vikings 38-7 in a game where Minnesota’s only touchdown came on a kickoff return.

Sunday’s game wasn’t quite that lopsided, but that’s only because Seattle’s offense kept slipping gears. There was a second-quarter fumble that set up Carolina for a field goal and a third-quarter interception in the end zone that squelched what would have been a scoring drive. In between, there was a turnover on downs in which the officials ruled Sam Darnold was stopped short on a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak in the final minute of the first half.

Still, Seattle eventually pulled away because it was simply the stronger team. On both sides of the ball.

Charbonnet rushed 18 times for 110 yards and scored twice. Jaxson Smith-Njigba caught nine passes for 72 yards while tight end A.J. Barner has emerged as not just a trusted receiver but someone who can gain yards after the catch. He caught three passes for 43 yards and a touchdown. 

The Seahawks will play at San Francisco on Saturday in a game that will decide who wins the division and gets the NFC’s only bye through the first-round of the playoffs.

Seattle is now 13-3 for only the third time in franchise history. 

The first time was 2005 when the offense that Mike Holmgren had spent years assembling hit its stride. The offensive line was the best in the league, Shaun Alexander set the NFL record for touchdowns in a single season and Matt Hasselbeck expertly guided the top-ranked offense in the league to the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

The Seahawks also went 13-3 in 2013, a year that began with Super Bowl ambitions and ended with the franchise’s first championship.

I’m not sure if this Seahawks team is good enough to make it that far. The offense has slowed down this second half of the season, and turnovers very well might prove fatal in the playoffs.

This team is tough enough to have a chance, though. It has shown that throughout this season. Even in the three games Seattle lost, the Seahawks had the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final 5 minutes.