5 Thoughts on Seattle vs Minnesota

1. The Finish: Wow, in 100 kicks from the 9 yard line, maybe 3 of them would be missed -- this was one of those times. BUT, there was a reason why Minnesota's kicker angled it towards the left, and it's because Richard Sherman was 4 inches from reaching the prior field goal attempt. Angled away from Sherman who was coming from the right side, Walsh overdid it and Seattle won in a shocking finish. Sometimes you just get lucky, though, and unbelievably, it seems the Seahawks tend to be more lucky than not. 
2. Are You Superstitious?: I take no credit, but I'd been wearing a long-sleeve shirt over my Seattle Seahawks shirt all game long, that is, until late in the third quarter after the Vikings kicked their third field goal. I tore off my long sleeve, and the team's fortunes turned around. It wasn't my doing, of course, but the players obviously realized that nearing the end of the third quarter, they had to change gears and alter the direction of the game, ASAP, at the same point when I knew things needed to change. Still, I'm wearing my shirt proudly, next week. I think I might go buy myself a lottery ticket. :D
3. Live or Die by Wilson: Those sacks Russell Wilson took, were because he was trying to look down field to hit his deep receivers, but the problem was, Wilson was off-target on his deep throws, no doubt because of the temperature. And yet, there was that spectacular play when the ball was snapped past Wilson's head, and he scrambled to get it, then scrambled to his right and threw to a wide open Tyler Lockett. This is Wilson's team and the offense lives or dies by Wilson's heroics.
4. Cold Effect: It was obvious that Minnesota had practiced in the deep cold, while Seattle hadn't. Even while Blair Walsh's kickoffs were deep into the end zone, Steven Hauschka's kicks were much shorter, and returnable. Even Jon Ryan's punts were much shorter than usual, by about 10 yards. Obviously even Minnesotans don't want to be playing or watching outside in the cold, as their new stadium will be ready for the 2016 season and it sure looks like a gem, but they were well-prepared to play in the sub-zero temperature.
5. Minnesota's good: You don't go 7-9 in 2014 to 11-5 in 2015, without having a good team, and the Purple People Eaters have got great personnel all around, but most importantly, they've got tremendous speed that limited Wilson's runs, while making life difficult for Sherman and Chancellor. This was a defensive battle between two top-5 scoring defenses in the NFL, and it showed. Minnesota needs only to improve on offense -- spreading it out besides Adrian Peterson -- to take the next step.

+1 Thought: Separately, if you watched the Bengals-Steelers game last night, you saw what Vontaze Burfict did. I've written before about the downside of Vontaze Burfict, going back to when he was recruited by USC, but failed to get a decent SAT score -- that left Pete Carroll to drop his recruitment. There was never a question of his talent, but he's always had difficulty with discipline. He's the same undisciplined guy in high school that he was at ASU, that he was when he showed up at the NFL combine out of shape and was undrafted, to the guy who made the dumbest personal fouls that would lead to the Steelers kicking the winning field goal last night. It seemed like he was headed in the right direction once he made the Bengals team, but then he showed last night that he still couldn't control himself, and that's an awful shame.