2014 Seattle Seahawks season

2014 Seattle Seahawks season
Head coach	Pete Carroll
General manager	John Schneider
Owner	Paul Allen
Home field	CenturyLink Field
Results
Record	12–4
Division place	1st NFC West
Playoff finish	Won Divisional Playoffs (Panthers) 31–17 Won NFC Championship (Packers) 28–22 (OT) Lost Super Bowl XLIX (Patriots) 24–28
Pro Bowlers	5 SS Kam Chancellor RB Marshawn Lynch CB Richard Sherman FS Earl Thomas LB Bobby Wagner
AP All-Pros	5 SS Kam Chancellor RB Marshawn Lynch CB Richard Sherman FS Earl Thomas LB Bobby Wagner

The 2014 Seattle Seahawks season was the franchise's 39th season in the National Football League and the fifth under head coach Pete Carroll. The Seahawks started the season as the defending Super Bowl champions for the first time in franchise history.

The season began with a 36–16 victory over the Green Bay Packers in their first meeting since the controversial Fail Mary Game. After struggling to a 3–3 record, which included a rare home loss to the Dallas Cowboys, they went on a 9–1 run to finish the season, which included a sweep of their division rivals, the Arizona Cardinals, who battled with them the whole season. They repeated as NFC West champions and finished in a three-way tie with the Packers and Cowboys for the NFC's best record, but earned the No. 1 seed based on tiebreakers, securing home-field advantage for the second consecutive season. This was the first time that a defending Super Bowl champion retained the No. 1 seed in the next season since the 1990 San Francisco 49ers. They were also the first team overall to repeat as the #1 seed in the NFC since the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles; and the first NFL team to do so since the 2013 Denver Broncos.

The Seahawks opened the playoffs with a win over the Carolina Panthers in the Divisional round, becoming the first defending champion since the 2005 Patriots to win a playoff game the following season. In one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, the Seahawks advanced to Super Bowl XLIX by defeating the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in overtime after trailing 16-0 at halftime and 19-7 with less than three minutes left in regulation. In doing so, they became the first team since the 2004 New England Patriots to repeat as conference champions, the first NFC team since the 1997 Green Bay Packers to repeat as NFC Champions, the first team to go to consecutive Super Bowls as the #1 seed in the playoffs since the 1990-1991 Buffalo Bills, and the first NFC team to go to consecutive Super Bowls as the #1 seed in the playoffs since the 1982-1983 Washington Redskins. In Super Bowl XLIX, the Seahawks were defeated by the Patriots 28–24, thereby being dethroned as World Champions ^[1] and failing to become the first repeat champion since the 2004 New England Patriots.

Roster changes

Free agents

Position	Player	Tag	2014 Team	Notes
CB	Brandon Browner	UFA	New England Patriots	Signed 3 year/$16.8 million deal
WR	Arceto Clark	UFA	Seattle Seahawks	Signed 2 year/$930 thousand deal
TE	Kellen Davis	UFA	Detroit Lions	Signed 1 year/$730 thousand deal
OL	Breno Giacomini	UFA	New York Jets	Signed 4 year/$18 million deal
K	Steven Hauschka	UFA	Seattle Seahawks	Signed 3 year/$12.15 million deal
QB	Tarvaris Jackson	UFA	Seattle Seahawks	Signed 1 year/$1.25 million deal
S	Chris Maragos	UFA	Philadelphia Eagles	Signed 3 year/$4 million deal
DL	Clinton McDonald	UFA	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Signed 4 year/$12 million deal
OL	Paul McQuistan	UFA	Cleveland Browns	Signed 2 year/$3 million deal
WR	Sidney Rice	UFA	Retired
FB	Michael Robinson	NONE	Retired
WR	Golden Tate	UFA	Detroit Lions	Signed 5 year/$31 million deal
CB	Walter Thurmond	UFA	New York Giants	Signed 1 year/$3 million deal
WR	Bryan Walters	UFA	Seattle Seahawks	Signed 1 year/$570 thousand deal

Draft

2014 Seattle Seahawks draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
2	45	Paul Richardson	WR	Colorado	Pick from DET[b]
2	64	Justin Britt	OT	Missouri
4	108	Cassius Marsh	DE	UCLA	Pick from MIN[a]
4	123	Kevin Norwood	WR	Alabama	Pick from CIN[d]
4	132	Kevin Pierre-Louis	OLB	Boston College
5	172	Jimmy Staten	DT	Middle Tennessee St
6	199	Garrett Scott	OT	Marshall	Pick from CIN[d]
6	208	Eric Pinkins	S	San Diego St
7	227	Kiero Small	FB	Arkansas	Pick from DET[b]
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Notes

^{^[a]} The Seahawks traded their first-round selection (No. 32 overall) to Minnesota in exchange for their second- and fourth-round selection (Nos. 40 and 108 overall).

^{^[a]} The Seahawks traded the second-round selection (No. 40 overall) that they received from Minnesota, and their fifth-round selection (No. 146 overall) to Detroit in exchange for their second-, fourth-, and seventh-round selection (Nos. 45, 111, and 227 overall).

^{^[c]} The Seahawks traded their third-round selection (No. 96 overall), along with their 2013 first- and seventh-round selections to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for wide receiver Percy Harvin.

^{^[d]} The Seahawks traded the fourth-round selection (No. 111 overall) that they received from Detroit, to Cincinnati in exchange for their fourth- and sixth-round selection (Nos. 123 and 199 overall).

^{^[e]} The Seahawks acquired an additional fifth-round selection (No. 146 overall) in a trade that sent quarterback Matt Flynn to the Oakland Raiders.

^{^[f]} The Seahawks traded their seventh-round selection (No. 247 overall) to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

Undrafted free agents

Position	Player	College
S	Dion Bailey	USC
LB	Brock Coyle	Montana
TE	Chase Dixon	UCA
OT	Garry Gilliam	Penn State
OG	Bronson Irwin	Oklahoma
DE	Jackson Jeffcoat	Texas
CB	Jimmy Legree	South Carolina
DT	Andru Pulu	EWU

Staff

2014 Seattle Seahawks staff
	Front office Chairman – Paul Allen President – Peter McLoughlin Executive Vice President/General Manager – John Schneider Senior Vice President of Football Administration – Matt Thomas Director of Team Operations– Tag Ribary Director of College Scouting – Scott Fitterer Director of Pro Personnel – Trent Kirchner Assistant Director of Pro Personnel – Dan Morgan Director of Football Communications – Lane Gammel Head coaches Executive Vice President of Football Operations/Head Coach – Pete Carroll Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line – Tom Cable Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Darrell Bevell Quarterbacks – Carl Smith Assistant Quarterbacks/Offensive Quality Control – Dave Canales Running Backs – Sherman Smith Wide Receivers – Kippy Brown Assistant Wide Receivers – Nate Carroll Tight Ends – Pat McPherson Assistant Offensive Line – Chris Morgan Assistant Offensive Line – Pat Ruel Offensive Assistant – Will Harriger Quality Control/Offense – Keith Carter			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Dan Quinn Defensive Passing Game Coordinator – Rocky Seto Defensive Line – Travis Jones Linebackers – Ken Norton, Jr. Defensive Backs – Kris Richard Quality Control/Defense – John Glenn Defensive Assistant – Marquand Manuel Special teams coaches Special Teams Coordinator – Brian Schneider Assistant Special Teams – Nick Sorensen & Chad Morton Strength and conditioning Head Strength and Conditioning – Chris Carlisle Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Mondray Gee Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Jamie Yancher

Final roster

2014 Seattle Seahawks final roster
	Quarterbacks  3 Russell Wilson  7 Tarvaris Jackson  5 B. J. Daniels Running backs 24 Marshawn Lynch * 33 Christine Michael 22 Robert Turbin 46 Will Tukuafu FB Wide receivers 89 Doug Baldwin 15 Jermaine Kearse 83 Ricardo Lockette 13 Chris Matthews 81 Kevin Norwood 19 Bryan Walters RS Tight ends 84 Cooper Helfet 88 Tony Moeaki 82 Luke Willson		Offensive linemen 78 Alvin Bailey T 68 Justin Britt T 77 James Carpenter G 79 Garry Gilliam T 61 Lemuel Jeanpierre C 65 Patrick Lewis C 66 Keavon Milton T 76 Russell Okung T 64 J. R. Sweezy G 60 Max Unger C Defensive linemen 56 Cliff Avril DE 72 Michael Bennett DE 67 Landon Cohen DT 95 Demarcus Dobbs DE 70 David King DE 99 Tony McDaniel DT 93 O'Brien Schofield DE 94 Kevin Williams DT		Linebackers 52 Brock Coyle MLB 51 Bruce Irvin OLB 57 Mike Morgan OLB 53 Malcolm Smith OLB 54 Bobby Wagner MLB * 50 K. J. Wright OLB Defensive backs 28 Marcus Burley CB 31 Kam Chancellor SS * 23 Jeron Johnson SS 20 Jeremy Lane CB 41 Byron Maxwell CB 35 DeShawn Shead CB 25 Richard Sherman CB * 27 Tharold Simon CB 29 Earl Thomas FS * 26 Steven Terrell FS Special teams 49 Clint Gresham LS  4 Steven Hauschka K  9 Jon Ryan P		Reserve lists 40 Derrick Coleman FB (IR) 55 Heath Farwell LB (IR)  6 David Gilreath WR (IR) 97 Jordan Hill DT (IR) 91 Cassius Marsh DE (IR) 85 Anthony McCoy TE (IR) 92 Brandon Mebane DT (IR) 86 Zach Miller TE (IR) 58 Kevin Pierre-Louis OLB (IR) 39 Eric Pinkins S (NF-Inj.) 10 Paul Richardson WR (IR) 63 Stephen Schilling G (IR) 75 Garrett Scott OT (NF-Inj.) 98 Greg Scruggs DE (IR) 75 De'Anthony Smith DT (IR) 46 Mike Taylor LB (IR) 90 Jesse Williams DT (IR) Practice squad 87 RaShaun Allen TE 37 Dion Bailey SS 59 Allen Bradford LB 30 Demitrius Bronson RB (IR) 69 Nate Isles G 16 Douglas McNeil WR 62 Drew Nowak G 44 Ryan Robinson DE 67 Jimmy Staten DT 74 Julius Warmsley DE (IR) Rookies in italics 53 Active, 19 Inactive, 8 Practice squad

• Starters in bold.
• (*) Denotes players that were selected for the 2015 Pro Bowl.

Schedule

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	Attendance	NFL.com recap
1	August 7	at Denver Broncos	L 16–21	0–1	Sports Authority Field at Mile High	75,593	Recap
2	August 15	San Diego Chargers	W 41–14	1–1	CenturyLink Field	67,615	Recap
3	August 22	Chicago Bears	W 34–6	2–1	CenturyLink Field	67,608	Recap
4	August 28	at Oakland Raiders	L 31–41	2–2	O.co Coliseum	50,831	Recap

Regular season

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	Attendance	NFL.com recap
1	September 4	Green Bay Packers	W 36–16	1–0	CenturyLink Field	68,424	Recap
2	September 14	at San Diego Chargers	L 21–30	1–1	Qualcomm Stadium	67,916	Recap
3	September 21	Denver Broncos	W 26–20 (OT)	2–1	CenturyLink Field	68,447	Recap
4	Bye
5	October 6	at Washington Redskins	W 27–17	3–1	FedEx Field	79,522	Recap
6	October 12	Dallas Cowboys	L 23–30	3–2	CenturyLink Field	68,432	Recap
7	October 19	at St. Louis Rams	L 26–28	3–3	Edward Jones Dome	57,855	Recap
8	October 26	at Carolina Panthers	W 13–9	4–3	Bank of America Stadium	74,042	Recap
9	November 2	Oakland Raiders	W 30–24	5–3	CenturyLink Field	68,337	Recap
10	November 9	New York Giants	W 38–17	6–3	CenturyLink Field	68,352	Recap
11	November 16	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 20–24	6–4	Arrowhead Stadium	76,463	Recap
12	November 23	Arizona Cardinals	W 19–3	7–4	CenturyLink Field	68,327	Recap
13	November 27	at San Francisco 49ers	W 19–3	8–4	Levi's Stadium	70,799	Recap
14	December 7	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 24–14	9–4	Lincoln Financial Field	69,596	Recap
15	December 14	San Francisco 49ers	W 17–7	10–4	CenturyLink Field	68,526	Recap
16	December 21	at Arizona Cardinals	W 35–6	11–4	University of Phoenix Stadium	63,806	Recap
17	December 28	St. Louis Rams	W 20–6	12–4	CenturyLink Field	68,453	Recap

Bold indicates division opponents.

Source: 2014 NFL season results ^[2]

Postseason

Playoff round	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	Attendance	NFL.com recap
Wild Card	First-round bye
Divisional	January 10	Carolina Panthers (4)	W 31–17	1–0	CenturyLink Field	68,524	Recap
NFC Championship	January 18	Green Bay Packers (2)	W 28–22 (OT)	2–0	CenturyLink Field	68,538	Recap
Super Bowl XLIX	February 1	vs. New England Patriots (A1)	L 24–28	2–1	University of Phoenix Stadium	70,288	Recap

Standings

NFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
(1) Seattle Seahawks	12	4	0	.750	5–1	10–2	394	254	W6
(5) Arizona Cardinals	11	5	0	.688	3–3	8–4	310	299	L2
San Francisco 49ers	8	8	0	.500	2–4	7–5	306	340	W1
St. Louis Rams	6	10	0	.375	2–4	4–8	324	354	L3

Game summaries

Preseason

Week P1: at Denver Broncos

Week P2: vs. San Diego Chargers

Week P3: vs. Chicago Bears

Week P4: at Oakland Raiders

Regular Season

Week 1: vs. Green Bay Packers

NFL Kickoff game

The Seahawks started their 2014 season at home against the Packers, the first meeting since the controversial 'Fail Mary' game in 2012. With the win, they became the first defending Super Bowl champion team since 2011 (also Packers) to win their regular season opening game for a 1-0 start.

This is the first game in NFL history to end in a score of 36-16. In all five years that Pete Carroll was head coach of the Seahawks, so far, he has had at least one game end in a score never before achieved.^[3]

Week 2: at San Diego Chargers

This would be their largest margin of defeat since their 13-23 loss to the Cowboys in 2011.

Week 3: vs. Denver Broncos

This would be the first Super Bowl rematch (Super Bowl opponents in the previous year who face each other again in the current year) since 1997.^[4] Although the Broncos would rally in the 4th quarter to send the game into overtime, the Seahawks scored a touchdown in overtime to win. They entered their bye week at 2–1.

Week 5: at Washington Redskins

Percy Harvin had three touchdowns in this game negated by penalties. This was his penultimate game with the Seahawks.^[5]

Week 6: vs. Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys defeated the Seahawks 30-23. The Seahawks suffered only their second home loss since Russell Wilson became the starting quarterback at the start of the 2012 season (the other loss was to the Cardinals in Week 16 of the 2013 season). Wilson struggled mightily, going 14/28 for only 126 yards with 1 rushing touchdown, 0 touchdown passes, and a game sealing interception. The defense also gave up several big plays, including a 3rd and 20 first down conversion in the 4th quarter. The conversion eventually led to a touchdown that put the Cowboys up 27-23. The 30 points that were allowed by the Seahawks were the most they allowed in any home game in the Wilson era. With the loss, the Seahawks fell to 3-2 on the season.

Week 7: at St. Louis Rams

Week 8: at Carolina Panthers

This was the first Seahawks road game to be televised by CBS since 2001, their last year in the AFC West.

Week 9: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 10: vs. New York Giants

Week 11: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 12: vs. Arizona Cardinals

Week 13: at San Francisco 49ers

Thanksgiving Day game

Week 14: at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 15: vs. San Francisco 49ers

With the win, not only did the Seahawks knock the 49ers out of the playoffs, but they also swept the 49ers for the first time since 2007.

Week 16: at Arizona Cardinals

With this win, the Seahawks completed a comeback against the Cardinals they started in week 12 from 3 games back in the division with 6 to play.

Week 17: vs. St. Louis Rams

With this win, Seattle clinched the NFC West, a first round bye, and home field advantage throughout the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Postseason

Seattle entered the postseason as the #1 seed in the NFC.

NFC Divisional Playoff: vs. #4 Carolina Panthers

The Seahawks defeated the Panthers 31-17, becoming the first defending Super Bowl champion to win a playoff game since the 2005 Patriots, and advanced to their second consecutive NFC Championship game. They will host the Green Bay Packers, who defeated the Dallas Cowboys 26-21.

NFC Championship Game: vs. #2 Green Bay Packers

After trailing 16-0 in the 3rd quarter and 19-7 with just over 2 minutes remaining, Russell Wilson, who threw 4 interceptions in the game, rallied Seattle to a much needed touchdown to bring the score to 19-14 with 2:09 left in regulation. The Seahawks then recovered an onside kick to re-gain possession of the football. After a relatively quick drive, Marshawn Lynch scored on a 24-yard touchdown run, making the score 22-19 after a successful 2-point conversion with 1:25 left. Aaron Rodgers then drove the Packers to the Seattle 30 yard line, where Mason Crosby kicked a 48-yard field goal to tie and send the game into overtime. Seattle then won the coin toss and drove 87 yards in 6 plays, capped by consecutive 35 yard completions, the first on 3rd-and-6 from the Seahawks own 30 yard line to Doug Baldwin, and the second a TD pass from Wilson to Jermaine Kearse to win the game 28-22. With the win, the Seahawks became the first defending champion to return to the Super Bowl since the 2004 Patriots.

Super Bowl XLIX: vs. #A1 New England Patriots

References

External links

• Official website