Seattle Seahawks Mystery Cache

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The Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football franchise based in Seattle, Washington. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Seahawks joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks are owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and are currently coached by Pete Carroll. Since 2002, the Seahawks have played their home games at CenturyLink Field (formerly Qwest Field), located south of downtown Seattle. The Seahawks previously played home games in the Kingdome (1976–1999) and Husky Stadium (1994, 2000–2001).

The Seahawks are the only NFL franchise based in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, and thus attract support from a wide geographical area, including some parts of Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska, as well as Canadian fans in British Columbia and Alberta.

Seahawks fans have been referred to collectively as the "12th Man", "12th Fan", or "12s". The Seahawks' fans have twice set the Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd noise at a sporting event, first on September 15, 2013, registering 136.6 dB during a game against the San Francisco 49ers and again on December 2, 2013, during a Monday Night Football game against the New Orleans Saints, with a then record-setting 137.6 dB.

Over the years several notable players have been Seahawks, including Shaun Alexander, Brian Blades, Dave Brown, Kenny Easley, Joey Galloway, Jacob Green, Matt Hasselbeck, Steve Hutchinson, Walter Jones, Cortez Kennedy, Dave Krieg, Steve Largent, Joe Nash, Marcus Trufant, Curt Warner, Jim Zorn, and Marshawn Lynch, as well as, for a brief time, Hall of Famers Carl Eller, Franco Harris, Warren Moon, John Randle, and Jerry Rice. Largent (1995), Kennedy (2012), Jones (2014), and Easley (2017) have been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame primarily or wholly for their accomplishments as Seahawks. Brown, Easley, Green, Jones, Kennedy, Krieg, Largent, Warner, and Zorn have been inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor along with Pete Gross (radio announcer) and Chuck Knox (head coach).

The Seahawks have won ten division titles and three conference championships. They are the only team to have played in both the AFC and NFC Championship Games. They have appeared in three Super Bowls, including Super Bowl XLVIII, where they defeated the Denver Broncos 43–8, winning their first championship. However, the Seahawks went on to lose Super Bowl XLIX to the New England Patriots, 28–24. They are also the first, and to date only, post-merger expansion team in NFL history to play in consecutive Super Bowls.

2010-present: Pete Carroll Era

In the 2010 NFL season, the Seahawks made history by making it into the playoffs despite having a 7–9 record. They had the best record in a division full of teams with losing seasons (Seahawks 7–9, Rams 7–9, 49ers 6–10, Cardinals 5–11) and won the decisive season finale against the Rams (not only by overall record, but by division record, as both teams coming into the game had a 3–2 division record). In the playoffs, the Seahawks won in their first game against the defending Super Bowl XLIV champs, the New Orleans Saints, 41–36. The Seahawks made even more history during the game with Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard run, breaking 7 or more tackles, to clinch the victory. After the run the fans reacted so loudly that a small earthquake (a bit above 2 on the Richter Scale) was recorded by seismic equipment around Seattle. The Seahawks lost to the Bears in their second game, 35–24.

The 2012 NFL season started with doubt, as the Seahawks lost their season opener against the Arizona Cardinals, after the highly touted Seattle defense gave up a go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter, and rookie quarterback Russell Wilson failed to throw the game winning touchdown after multiple attempts in the red-zone. However, Russell Wilson and the Seahawks went 4–1 in their next five games en route to an 11–5 overall record (their first winning record since 2007). Their 2012 campaign included big wins over the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, and San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks went into the playoffs as the #5 seed and the only team that season to go undefeated at home. In the Wild Card Round, the Seahawks overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat the Washington Redskins. This was the first time since the 1983 Divisional Round that the Seahawks won a playoff game on the road. However, in the 2013 Divisional Round, overcoming a 20-point, fourth quarter deficit wouldn't be enough to defeat the #1 seed Atlanta Falcons. An ill-advised timeout and a defensive breakdown late in the game cost the Seahawks their season, as they lost, 30–28. QB Russell Wilson won the 2012 Pepsi Max Rookie of the Year award.

2013: First Super Bowl Championship

In the 2013 NFL season, the Seahawks continued their momentum from the previous season, finishing tied with the Denver Broncos for an NFL-best regular season record of 13–3, while earning the NFC's #1 playoff seed. Their 2013 campaign included big wins over the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and the San Francisco 49ers. Six Seahawks players were named to the Pro Bowl: Quarterback Russell Wilson, center Max Unger, running back Marshawn Lynch, cornerback Richard Sherman, free safety Earl Thomas, and strong safety Kam Chancellor. However, none of them were able to play in the Pro Bowl, as the Seahawks defeated the New Orleans Saints, 23–15, and the San Francisco 49ers, 23–17, in the playoffs to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII against the Denver Broncos. On February 2, 2014, the Seahawks won their first Super Bowl Championship, defeating Denver 43–8. The Seahawks' defense performance in 2013 was acclaimed as one of the best in the Super Bowl era.

The following season, Seattle advanced to Super Bowl XLIX, their second consecutive Super Bowl, but they were dethroned of their title by the New England Patriots by a score of 28–24.

They got off to a slow start the next year starting 0-2 and 2-4 through 6 games but finished 10-6 on the year clinching a wild card berth. They beat the Minnesota Vikings 10-9 to advance to the divisional round. Against Carolina, they were down 31-0 at halftime before scoring 24 unanswered points. Their comeback attempt fell short and they failed to make the Super Bowl.

Since moving into the NFC West, the Seahawks have had considerably more success, having won 8 of 15 division titles, and making the playoffs in 11 out of 15 seasons.

For more information about the Seattle Seahawks, you can visit this page.

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Congratulations to MeToo1865 and crazymonkey1854 for the FTF!

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This series was inspired by JLO84's NFL Series in Eastern Illinois. Thank you to JLO84 for permission to use the idea! If you are ever in Eastern Illinois, take some time to do her outstanding series. You can visit the final to her series by clicking here!