The Seattle Seahawks opened up the 2014 NFL Season with a bang taking on the 2010 Super Bowl champions Green Bay Packers. This was a special day for all Hawks fans because the Super Bowl XLVIII banner was unveiled inside the stadium. What also made this day special was the amount of media coverage the city of Seattle received with all the major sports networks (ESPN, NBC Sports, NFL Network) broadcasting live in and around the stadium. Plus having a near perfect day weather wise didn’t hurt in showcasing how beautiful the Pacific Northwest can be. I was listening to AM 950 KJR (shoutout to the IHeartRadio app) for most of the day and the morning show, “Mitch In The Morning”, was talking about how packed it was down by the stadium at 7 a.m. Later around 3:30 Dave “Softy” Mahler was on with Seahawk great Mike Holmgren and Softy was just losing his mind  (which if you listen regularly happens about 5 times a show) about how many people turned out for all the free activities and the Soundgarden/Pharrell kickoff concert. All in all the 12th Man showed the sports world how large, raucous and, most importantly, supportive they truly are (I’m looking at you Forbes). Anyways enough about how great Seattle and it’s fans are and let’s get into the actual game!

Overall the Seahawks are picking up where they left off after their decisive Super Bowl victory. The defense took a quarter or so to get adjusted and into the game but eventually the rush defense shut down Eddie Lacy and James Starks, the pass defense ended up being  good but I am still shocked Hall of Fame QB to-be Aaron Rodgers didn’t even attempt to throw a pass on Richard Sherman’s side of the field. It blows my mind Rodgers said f it and decided against even trying 1 pass to Sherman’s side. I guess Sherman was right to say he gets bored sometimes because opposing QB’s don’t want to risk an interception to him. Byron Maxwell is going to need to prove last season wasn’t a fluke because he is going to get every teams best WR on his side of the field for the rest of the season. The offense, which looked good in the preseason, looked even better with the integration of Percy Harvin. Last season he didn’t make much of an impact due to being injured most of the 2013 season but now with him being healthy the Seattle offense should be in the top 5 statistics wise. Russell Wilson is primed to make the jump into top 5 QB conversations. This is now his 3rd season so he should have a great handle and feel for Darrell Bevell’s offense. Marshawn Lynch made his triumph return to NFL action after holding out of training camp and then not playing most of the preseason. He came back with a bang, racking up 110 yards on 20 carries and scoring 2 touchdowns. The only major blunder was the fumble by Earl Thomas during his 2nd punt return. I’ve been on the fence about this issue ever since Pete Carroll said he wanted to use Thomas in this capacity. I read and listened to all the possible pros and cons and I decided to jump feet first and let Earl return punts. His 1st return was a little too aggressive and he should have fair caught it but I understand he was amped up and wanted to prove his doubters wrong. His 2nd return attempt was just plain foolish and he should have just let it go or call for the fair catch. There were plenty of things that the Seahawks did well but it was far from a complete performance.