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Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks began the 2014 season with dreams of repeating as Super Bowl champions—and they came within one yard of realizing that incredible goal. But despite falling short of becoming back-to-back champs, the season brought plenty of terrific times for ET III and the Hawks.

The season began differently than any of Earl’s first four seasons. Coming off a 43-8 drubbing of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, Seattle had a target on their back. But they were still determined to make it back to Super Bowl XLIX and maintain their spot on the NFL’s throne.

A CHALLENGE FROM THE START

Not only was every team gunning for the Seahawks’ spot going into the season, but they also had to run the gauntlet in their schedule, starting with a brutal three-game stretch against playoff caliber opponents that ended the season with a combined record of 33-15.

The challenge began with the unenviable task of taking on eventual MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on a Thursday night in Week 1. From there, the Hawks traveled to San Diego to face the Chargers, who eventually finished 9-7 in the ultra-competitive AFC West in Week 2, then returned to home to Seattle for a Super Bowl rematch against the Broncos in Week 3.

Still, ET III and the Legion Of Boom were more than ready for the challenge of going up against three of the game’s top signal callers to kick off the season, and they responded by winning two of three with their only loss coming by way of a 30-21 defeat at the hands of the Chargers.

“We’re battle tested,” Earl said after the win over Denver. “It’s great to get those tough, hard-fought wins. It brings the team closer. It’s great when you can learn valuable lessons, and you still win the game.”

After their 2-1 start, the Hawks got the benefit of an early bye week, which came in Week 4. That allowed them Seattle to rest and recover from brutal start to the season. But it also had a downside, in the fact that they paid for the early reprieve by playing 13 consecutive games to end the season.

During the long journey through the season, Earl also had an added task, one similar to that which shutdown cornerback Richard Sherman faced: staying attentive while being avoided.

Seattle’s star duo learned that when you prove time and again that opposing quarterbacks would be better served not throwing at you, eventually, they stop throwing at you. When that happens, as Earl realized last year, it’s tough to actually find a way to get in the game.

“Everybody is so valuable to this defense,” Earl said early this season. “Last year, playing middle safety, I only got the ball thrown to me eight times out of the whole year. So you gotta find a way still to stay in the game and make an impact.”

HAWKS FACE ADVERSITY

ET and fellow members of the Legion of Boom had little trouble making an impact out of the bye as they traveled cross country for a Monday Night showdown with the Washington Redskins and left FedEx Field with a 27-17 victory over Washington.

Off to a 3-1 start, led by a lockdown defense reminiscent of Seattle’s historic 2013 squad the Seahawks seemed primed to continue to dominate the league on the path to another incredible year. But every season has its individual challenges, and for Seattle, their biggest ones came in Weeks 6 and 7, in the form of the Dallas Cowboys and St. Louis Rams.

In a Week 6 showdown, Dallas didn’t have much luck venturing into Area 29 and the LOB held Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo to just 250 yards. But the Dallas running attack, led by DeMarco Murray’s 115 yards, proved too much for Seattle to handle in a 30-23 loss to the Cowboys that dropped the Seahawks a to 3-2 on the season.

Following the loss to Dallas, the Hawks had to travel to St. Louis for a matchup with the division rival Rams, missing some key pieces including center Max Unger and middle linebacker Bobby Wagner. but Earl wouldn’t accept any excuses for the team’s Week 6 loss and instead focused on what the Hawks would need to improve before facing the Rams.

“To be totally honest, to me, it’s just character issues when it gets tough,” he said. “Maybe we took home-field advantage for granted. Sometimes when you lose, it opens your eyes.”

If the Seahawks’ eyes weren’t open before the Rams game, they certainly were after St. Louis pulled off a 28-26 upset victory, thanks in large part to their dominance on special teams, an area where the Hawks are generally very in-tune. Their lack of focus was exposed on a trick play executed by the Rams midway through the second quarter, when St. Louis already had a 14-3 lead.

The Rams sent a returner to the right side of the field to act as a decoy, pretending he was going to catch the ball. Meanwhile, the ball went left, where it was tracked down by St. Louis’ Tavon Austin, who was all alone in the open field. Austin caught the ball over his shoulder at the 11, turned around and took it 89 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams a commanding 21-3 lead, which they carried to a win.

The inexplicable error by Seattle’s coverage team made ET III look prophetic for his statements before the game.

“We have to understand who we are when situations get tough and not stray from the men we say we are. I think sometimes adverse situations bring you closer as a group. It makes you understand what you need to do to get better, because sometimes when you win you don’t look at the little bitty details that you really need to.”

The loss to St. Louis completed a rapid fall from grace for Seattle, as a once-promising 3-1 start against a handful of elite teams had suddenly turned into a 3-3 start, and questions began flying about the state of the Seahawks. But as Earl had said before the game, adverse situations can unify just as easily as they can fracture, and after the back-to-back defeats sent them spiraling, the Seahawks came together.

ONE MORE BUMP IN THE ROAD

ET III and Co. responded to the adversity by rattling off three consecutive victories, outscoring the Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders and New York Giants by a combined 91-50 margin. The trio of wins moved Seattle to 6-3 and put them back on track to defend their crown.

But there was one more bump in the road that Seattle had to overcome.

The Seahawks three-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt in Week 11 at Kansas City. In that game, it was the Chiefs defense, not Seattle’s, that came up big. Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks offense had numerous opportunities in the fourth quarter, but Andy Reid’s KC defense came up with the huge late-game stops and prevailed 24-20, handing Seattle  its fourth loss of the season.

“Every game we’ve lost this season it seems like it’s come down to the last play, whether it’s defense or offense,” Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett said after the game. “That’s the name of the game.”

The lapses by Seattle were uncharacteristic, but Earl considered them yet another warning sign of what the season could become if the Seahawks didn’t maintain the laser focus that has made them so successful. No. 29 believed that he and his teammates had worked too hard and been through too much to allow their championship opportunity fall by the wayside.

After the loss to KC, he noticed that while his focus had intensified, not everyone on the team was on the same page. ET III’s feelings came to a head during a walkthrough practice session when he noticed some of his teammates sharing sunflower seeds.

Earl is well known to be a fierce competitor and his preparation for games is rigorous, so when he felt his teammates weren’t giving the game plan the undivided attention it deserved, he spoke up.

“It started with some remarks, and it turned into something beautiful, man,” Earl said of his outburst 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.”

DOMINANT DEFENSE TAKES OVER

ET III’s emotional tirade, as well as some key players returning from injury, keyed the Seahawks’ turnaround, and the rest of the season played out like a montage in a classic sports movie.

Game after game went by, and the Seattle defense was nothing short of legendary. In the Seahawks’ final six games of the regular season, opponents combined for a paltry 39 points. Only the high-flying Philadelphia Eagles were able to scrape together more than seven points, and they were held to just 14 points in their worst offensive output of the Chip Kelly era.

The Seahawks won each of their final six games by at least 10 points, and they outscored their opponents by an almost unbelievable 95 points over that stretch.

With a 12-4 record, Seattle earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC, which granted the Hawks a first-round bye in the postseason and home-field advantage through to the Super Bowl.

They rode the momentum of their scalding end to the season and after their bye week they took advantage of the top seed en route to a 31-17 defeat of the Carolina Panthers in the divisional round.

The Panthers had finished the season with a 7-8-1 and backed into the playoffs by virtue of winning the lackluster NFC South, then won their first playoff game by defeating a depleted Arizona Cardinals club.

But the Seahawks refused to take the Panthers lightly and their steadfast preparation paid off because Carolin put up a tough fight. However, they were ultimately no match for the powerhouse Seahawks with the 12s behind them.

THE ULTIMATE TEST OF RESILIENCE

Once Earl and the Hawks got past the Panthers, granting them their second straight NFC Championship game berth, that’s when the pressure turned up on Seattle.

Just as they had to in Week 1, the LOB was tasked with stopping a Green Bay squad led by eventual league MVP Aaron Rodgers. Only this time, it was a much different challenge.

Like the Seahawks, Rodgers and the Pack struggled through first few games before the quarterback refocused his teammates and helped turn their season around. After a 1-2 start, the Packers won 11 of their final 13 games to finish with the same 12-4 record as the Hawks and earn the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

Then, after a first round bye, Green Bay beat the Dallas Cowboys in a thriller at Lambeau Field to set up the rematch with Seattle. The Hawks knew going in that they would be facing a much improved Green Bay team, however there was on thing set to slow the Packers down, a calf injury suffered by Rodgers late in the season, which affected him throughout the postseason. Despite that, Earl wasn’t about to take Rodgers lightly and he didn’t expect that the Green Bay star’s leg injury would hinder him.

“I’m not buying into this leg issue,” Earl told reporters before the game. “I’m not buying into it. I saw him scramble close to the goal line on the Cowboys, so he’s not fooling me with that.”

However, Rodgers was clearly hobbled by the injury and didn’t look himself in the game. Between the limited mobility and push off his leg and the Seahawks’ swarming defense, Rodgers was held in check for much of the game, finishing just 19-for-34 for 178 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Despite those issues, the Packers rolled out to a 16-0 lead in the game, thanks to some struggles from Seattle’s signal-caller Russell Wilson, who threw four interceptions and was sacked five times.

Though the Hawks were in a deep hole, the continued strong play of the defense, which had two incredible goal line stands in the first quarter to force field goals, kept Seattle just close enough for a comeback. But doing so wouldn’t come easy.

As they battled with Green Bay, Earl and Sherman both sustained injuries of their own. Earl dislocated his shoulder and tore his labrum while Sherman tore a ligament in his elbow. But with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line, the two Seahawks stars weren’t coming out of the game as long as they could stand.

With the defense keeping them in the game, the Seattle offense started to come alive, and those two units got some help from incredible special teams play that led the Seahawks to one of the most improbable comebacks in NFL history.

A 16-0 Green Bay lead was cut to 16-7 when Seattle head coach Pete Carroll made the gutsy call to fake a field goal late in the third quarter, resulting in a touchdown pass by punter Jon Ryan. Still, the Hawks couldn’t get any offensive rhythm going early in the fourth, and they soon found themselves trailing 19-7 with just less than four minutes remaining in the game, and potentially their season.

But the never-say-die attitude Earl brings to every practice and every game permeated the team, and soon the Hawks were driving down the field for a much-needed touchdown

On perhaps the worst day of his career, Wilson showed some of the trademark resilience and confidence that has come to personify the Seahawks. After a third down pass to Marshawn Lynch set the Hawks up in the red zone, Wilson snuck in for a one-yard score that brought Seattle to within 19-14. Then Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka nailed a perfect onside kick that was scooped up by rookie receiver Chris Matthews, giving Seattle a shot to take the lead.

With just more than two minutes left on the clock, Seattle drove down the field and took their first lead of the game when Lynch powered through the Packers defense for a 24-yard touchdown run. To add to the Packers’ disbelief, Wilson converted an enormous two-point conversion by chucking a desperation throw to evade a sack that landed in the hands of the Seahawks’ Luke Willson.

Green Bay then put together an impressive drive of their own and tied the game up just before the end of regulation, setting the table for a fitting overtime finish. But with all the momentum of the 12s behind them the Seahawks won the coin toss and drove down the field on two big pass plays, the second a touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse that earned Seattle another game and a shot to defend their title.

“We never gave up,” Earl said after the game. “We fought. Playing football, it’s awesome. God is so good. It don’t get no better than this.”

SUPER RUN COMES UP SHORT

The Super Bowl would have a tough time topping such an incredible NFC Championship game, but the Hawks and Pats gave the world a show it won’t soon forget.

With ET III and Sherman already playing through incredibly painful injuries, the LOB suffered yet another setback before the game even started. Earl’s partner in the secondary, hard-hitting safety Kam Chancellor, tore his MCL in the final minutes of the final practice before the big game, but he stuck it out and still played through the game.

Once the lights were on, cornerback Jeremy Lane fractured his arm during an interception return early in the game, adding himself to a long list of injured Seahawks.

But the resilient Hawks continued to endure.

A back and forth game throughout, neither team was able to gain separation until late, when the Hawks took a 24-14 lead into the fourth quarter. However, New England came back with consecutive scores to take a 28-24 lead with just more than two minutes remaining. Putting the Hawks’ backs against the wall once more.

With the season and their dreams of a championship repeat on the line, Wilson led the offense down the field with time winding down. An incredible juggling grab by a grounded Kearse inside the red zone put the Hawks on the doorstep of their destiny with under a minute left.

But a play that will go down in history flipped the script on Seattle and dashed their hopes. On 2nd-and-goal from New England’s one-yard line, Wilson threw a pass intended for Ricardo Lockette on a slant, but the route was jumped by Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler and instead of the game-winning touchdown, the play resulted in a game-clinching interception. In the blink of an eye, the Patriots had stolen the Super Bowl, the chance to repeat as champions and the season from Earl and the Seahawks.

BY THE NUMBERS

3 — Earl was named a First-Team All Pro this year for the third time in five NFL season. Including a second team selection in his second season, he is a four-time All-Pro.
4 — Playing in just his fifth season, ET III also made his fourth Pro Bowl, though he skipped it to play in the Super Bowl a week later.
5 — Earl made five game-changing plays this season, including three forced fumbles (a career-high), one recovery and one interception. He’s made 28 plays of that type in his career.
10 — No. 29 turned his game up starting in Week 10. He had 52 tackles, all three of his forced fumbles, his interception, a fumble recovery and three pass breakups in his final eight games of the season.
12 — Just 12 defensive backs recorded more tackles than Earl did this season, despite that Earl rarely sees offensive players make it as far as Area 29 due to the Seahawks’ staunch front seven.
16 — Earl played in all 16 games this season, as he has each year he’s been in the NFL.
97 — No. 29 recorded 97 tackles in the 2014 season, third-most on the Seahawks.
511 — Earl has recorded 511 tackles between the regular season and postseason in his five-year career.

GAME OF THE YEAR

The Seahawks’ 25-year-old All-Pro safety didn’t take a single game off in 2014, and in fact missed just a handful of plays on defense this season.

But there were a few games that stood out as especially strong efforts by ET III.

No. 29 recorded his lone interception, and gained 47 yards on the return in a 38-17 Week 10 victory over the New York Giants, a game in which he also logged six tackles and a pass breakup.

One week later in Kansas City, Earl had his best game of the season statistically, when he recorded 11 tackles, forced two fumbles and had a pass breakup against the Chiefs. It was probably his best all-around showing of the season, but an impressive individual performance means nothing to Earl if it doesn’t come with a victory, and the loss to KC was Seattle’s fourth and final defeat of the regular season.

That’s why Week 17’s win over the St. Louis Rams was Earl’s best of the year.

The final week of the season had it all for No. 29. Not only did he rack up 12 tackles in the season finale against the Rams, he also forced the game-clinching fumble with what can only be described as a karate chop to force the ball out of Benny Cunningham’s hands at the one-yard-line.

Cunningham was no more than a foot away from scoring the touchdown that would’ve made it just a one-possession game, but the chop forced the Rams’ running back to fumble and the ball trickled out of the end zone for a touchback that gave the Seahawks the ball.

That singular play ensured a Seattle victory and another NFC West crown, clinched the top seed in the NFC for Seattle, and granted the Hawks revenge over a division rival that dealt them a loss earlier in the season.

“That was a colossal play,” Sherman said of Earl’s incredible game-saving effort. “It just shows who he is as a person, as a player, his effort, his unwavering commitment, his unwavering effort every play to the last inch, till there’s only an inch left.”

Linebacker K.J. Wright, who didn’t see the play live, echoed Sherman’s sentiments about Earl never giving up on plays.

“I didn’t see it, but that just shows you how great Earl is,” Wright said. “He plays to the last minute, the last second of each and every play, and I can’t wait to see it on film.”

Though it’s one thing for Earl’s teammates to go out of their way to give ET III some recognition, it surely meant the most to him to hear his coach single his efforts out after the game.

“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 a turnover there as well. What a great play for that guy,” Carroll said. “It’s just a great way to make a 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.”

IN THEIR WORDS

Earl’s play all season long was once again a vital part of the Seahawks success and everyone involved, from the coaches, to his teammates, members of the Seattle media and of course the fans acknowledged as much. What they all had to say about No. 29 throughout the year spoke volumes about what he means to the city and the franchise.

Carroll often praised ET III for his game changing plays and after Earl helped the Hawks close out the Eagles with an early fumble recovery, then nearly forced another fumble, the Seattle head coach heaped a big helping of praise on his star safety for turning the tide of the game.

“Our defense came back again for the third week in a row and is just playing the way we hoped they would play, and they really set the stage for the game,” Carroll said. “We just settled down, made a couple real nice adjustments at halftime and everybody just played really good, solid football. Of course, the big turnover to start the things was a big boost, and almost the other one too on the kickoff which would have been really cool.”

It was far from the last time the wildly successful coach singled out his All-Pro safety for praise. After ET III came back from a shoulder injury in the NFC Championship and continued throwing his body around with reckless abandon as if nothing had ever happened, Carroll was dumbfounded by Earl’s character and determination.

“Earl hurt his shoulder and he comes back and hits Lacy on the sidelines with the harnessed shoulder as hard as you could possibly hit the guy and knocked him out of bounds,” he said after the game. “That’s just total guts.”

To close out the St. Louis Rams, Earl logged a clutch goal-line forced fumble—a play that was the epitome of ET III.

“With him a play is never over,” said defensive assistant Marquand Manuel. “The effort and enthusiasm and high energy and focus, it’s probably the best I’ve ever seen.”

The folks at SB Nation’s Seattle Seahawks arm, Field Gulls, always take notice of the fire ET brings to the field.

“Earl Thomas continues to trod the earth in a manner more ferocious and noble than anything we could ever attain to,” wrote Jacson Bevins. Watching him play is a gift, a glimpse into a world more perfect than our own. He is as close to ubiquitous as a defensive player gets.”

“Earl Thomas is so fast, he strikes lightning,” wrote John Fraley.

But it is Pete Carroll who knows ET III perhaps better than anyone in Seattle and his midseason thoughts when asked about No. 29 speak to the lasting legacy Earl intends to leave on the NFL with the Seahawks:

“He is the most competitive, gritty guy you could ever imagine,” Carroll said. “He is never not on.”