Thanks to a dominant stretch to end the season, Earl Thomas and the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks have a first-round bye week in the postseason and won’t have to leave CenturyLink Field until the Super Bowl.

Home-field advantage is far more valuable to the Seahawks than it is to the average NFL team, as the Seattle crowd is known to be the most raucous and supportive in the league.

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The Seahawks have also not lost a playoff game at home since January 8, 2004, when the St. Louis Rams defeated them 27-20, and they’ve won seven straight home playoff games in that stretch.

Depending on how the weekend’s games play out, the Hawks will take on either the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals or Detroit Lions next Saturday evening, teams they had a combined 3-0 record against in the regular season. Still, those teams combined for a 29-18 record in the regular season, so Seattle has to be happy to have home field advantage and the extra week to prepare.

The entire team has come together over the past six weeks or so, with the offense stepping its game up, the defense coming together now that it’s finally healthy and the Legion Of Boom once again dominating games. The six-game win streak Seattle embarked on to close out the season was unquestionably a team effort that featured numerous heroes throughout.

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But before the streak began, one event could perhaps be traced to as the catalyst for the season turnaround: the sunflower seed incident.

During a walkthrough on Thursday, Nov. 20, Earl saw some of his teammates snacking on some sunflower seeds, which he perceived as a lack of focus on the practice. No. 29 lit into his teammates, challenging them to step up and take things seriously.

“It started with some remarks, and it turned into something beautiful, man,” Earl said of that day. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I kinda challenged some guys. Maybe it was a little harsh, but I apologized, and it led to something great—us understanding each other more, and love and togetherness and playing for our brothers.”

The Seahawks haven’t lost a game since, shooting up the standings from 6-4 to 12-4 in the process.

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It also helped that Seattle got some key players, such as linebacker Bobby Wagner and safety Kam Chancellor, back from injury during that stretch, but the Seahawks know it was more than that. Receiver Doug Baldwin mentioned a few things not going their way at the beginning of the season and the injuries, but he said the biggest reason for the mid-season turnaround was the team getting back to its roots.

“Just playing for each other and realizing that we just needed to trust each other and believe in each other and also trusting ourselves and go out there and play Seahawks football,” Baldwin said of the team’s second-half resurgence.

Fittingly, ET III also made the play that sealed the final win, capping the regular season with an exceptional goal-line chop that forced a fumble and touchback against the Rams.

Head Coach Pete Carroll realized the connection after the game Sunday, noting that Earl is one of the few players who wouldn’t give up on a play that close to the end zone.

“I don’t know if there’s a more fitting play for a guy than Earl knocks the ball out with a sliver of an inch from the goal line with a great effort to knock the thing out, and we get the turnover there as well. What a great play for that guy,” Carroll said. “It’s just a great way to make that statement of how hard he plays this game and how tough a competitor he is, and he never would ever let up. That was an incredible play for us.”

Thanks to that play, Earl and the Seahawks get a week to rest up and prepare for the final leg of their journey to defend their championship.

While they get an extended rest, their next opponent will be coming off a tough playoff game and less than a week of rest, something that the Seahawks value tremendously. Not worried about losing momentum or getting rusty, defensive end Michael Bennett said the break couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I think it’s the perfect timing for us to get a little bit of rest, obviously the schedule that we had last month was really tough, a lot of good teams,” Bennett said. “We had a very physical schedule at the end so it’s good to get some rest and recuperate from all the hits that we’re taking and getting some good players back like [center] Max [Unger] and the rest of the guys.”

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While the Seahawks watch from the comfort of warmth of their homes, several other teams will battle it out this weekend to keep their seasons going.

The New England Patriots grabbed the No. 1 seed in the AFC, followed by the Denver Broncos in second place in the other conference. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers rounded out the first-round bye club as the No. 2 seed behind Seattle in the NFC.

Rounding out the NFC are the No. 3 Dallas Cowboys, No. 4 Carolina Panthers, No. 5 Arizona Cardinals and No. 6 Detroit Lions.

The Cards and Panthers will meet Saturday at 4:20 p.m., while Dallas and Detroit will square off Sunday at 4:40 p.m. EST. Seattle will take on the lowest seeded team of the two that advance next Saturday, Jan. 10, at 8:15 p.m. EST at The Link.

RELATED LINKS

  • Earl Thomas remaining impactful despite injuries (King 5, January 1, 2015)
  • Teammates constantly surprised by Earl Thomas (Seahawks.com, January 1, 2015)
  • Earl Thomas continues to come through for Seahawks (The Seattle Times, December 31, 2015)
  • Earl Thomas is the ultimate last line of defense (710 ESPN Seattle, December 31, 2014)