Seahawks playoff road history not a pretty view
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — While they are one of the hottest teams going into the postseason, there's a lot of past playoff futility for the Seattle Seahawks to overcome — nearly three decades worth.
Seemingly unbeatable at home, the road — especially in the postseason — has been a different tale for the Seahawks. It's been 29 years since Seattle last won a playoff game on the road. They've lost eight straight road playoff games since winning at Miami on Dec. 31, 1983, when only nine players on their current 53-man roster were even born.
On Sunday, Seattle (11-5) travels to the East Coast to take on another hot team, the Washington Redskins (10-6). The Seahawks have won five in a row, and seven of their last eight; Washington brings a seven-game winning streak into the game.
"If you want to be a good team you definitely got to be able to win on the road," Seattle defensive end Red Bryant said. "You never get a scenario exactly how you want it unless you fortunate enough to be like Atlanta."
The Falcons earned home field throughout the NFC playoffs by finishing 13-3. After being the only team to go 8-0 at home, the only way Seattle can return home for a postseason is if it somehow ends up playing Minnesota for the NFC title.
"In terms of us going forward, we've got to go on the road and we're looking forward to it," Bryant said.
There was a reason Seattle coach Pete Carroll hoped his team could get at least one home playoff game — the Seahawks have some forgettable road playoff losses.
After beating Miami in the '83 playoffs, the Seahawks were routed 30-14 by the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC championship game despite beating the Raiders twice in the regular season.
Seattle was routed at Miami in 1984 and in 1987 fell 23-20 at Houston in overtime after rallying to tie the game in the final minute of regulation. Seattle won the AFC West for the first time in 1988, only to get top-seeded Cincinnati in the playoff opener and a 21-13 loss.
After a lengthy drought with just one playoff appearance, the Seahawks started their run of success in the middle of 2000s with a wild-card berth and a trip to Green Bay in 2003. Shaun Alexander scored with 51 seconds left to pull Seattle even at 27 and force overtime where, after winning the coin toss, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck told referee Bernie Kukar, "We want the ball and we're going to score," as a playful jab to former teammate Brett Favre.
Hasselbeck then threw an interception on the first possession of overtime that Al Harris returned it 52 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
There was another overtime loss in 2006, this time at Chicago, and losses to Green Bay (2007) and again to the Bears (2010) to complete the eight-pack of road woes.
Carroll said the challenge this week is not getting wrapped up in playing on the road.
"There will be a feel about the playoffs, there's always a kind of air about it that you can sense it's different, but the key is not allowing that to factor in to what it really takes to prepare well and not miss the message," Carroll said. "They will be as excited to play, and I think everybody is going to have great focus this week just because it is the playoffs, but that's something we're trying to create on a regular basis so that when we get to this time we've already been there done that."
Seattle got a significant break in the schedule by landing the late afternoon Sunday game on the opening weekend. The Seahawks are following their normal regular season practice schedule and continuing with a trend of flying to the East Coast two days before kickoff that Carroll started in his first season.
Washington cornerback Josh Wilson knows the difficulty of making that West-to-East trip. He played for the Seahawks from 2007-09 and will now face his former team on Sunday.
"This game being at 4:30 actually may help them a little bit," Wilson said. "It's definitely tough when you have that 1 o'clock game. It feels like about 10 o'clock to you. You wake up three hours before the game, so it's about 7 o'clock in your mind. It's tough to travel that long distance."
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Seemingly unbeatable at home, the road — especially in the postseason — has been a different tale for the Seahawks. It's been 29 years since Seattle last won a playoff game on the road. They've lost eight straight road playoff games since winning at Miami on Dec. 31, 1983, when only nine players on their current 53-man roster were even born.
On Sunday, Seattle (11-5) travels to the East Coast to take on another hot team, the Washington Redskins (10-6). The Seahawks have won five in a row, and seven of their last eight; Washington brings a seven-game winning streak into the game.
"If you want to be a good team you definitely got to be able to win on the road," Seattle defensive end Red Bryant said. "You never get a scenario exactly how you want it unless you fortunate enough to be like Atlanta."
The Falcons earned home field throughout the NFC playoffs by finishing 13-3. After being the only team to go 8-0 at home, the only way Seattle can return home for a postseason is if it somehow ends up playing Minnesota for the NFC title.
"In terms of us going forward, we've got to go on the road and we're looking forward to it," Bryant said.
There was a reason Seattle coach Pete Carroll hoped his team could get at least one home playoff game — the Seahawks have some forgettable road playoff losses.
After beating Miami in the '83 playoffs, the Seahawks were routed 30-14 by the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC championship game despite beating the Raiders twice in the regular season.
Seattle was routed at Miami in 1984 and in 1987 fell 23-20 at Houston in overtime after rallying to tie the game in the final minute of regulation. Seattle won the AFC West for the first time in 1988, only to get top-seeded Cincinnati in the playoff opener and a 21-13 loss.
After a lengthy drought with just one playoff appearance, the Seahawks started their run of success in the middle of 2000s with a wild-card berth and a trip to Green Bay in 2003. Shaun Alexander scored with 51 seconds left to pull Seattle even at 27 and force overtime where, after winning the coin toss, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck told referee Bernie Kukar, "We want the ball and we're going to score," as a playful jab to former teammate Brett Favre.
Hasselbeck then threw an interception on the first possession of overtime that Al Harris returned it 52 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
There was another overtime loss in 2006, this time at Chicago, and losses to Green Bay (2007) and again to the Bears (2010) to complete the eight-pack of road woes.
Carroll said the challenge this week is not getting wrapped up in playing on the road.
"There will be a feel about the playoffs, there's always a kind of air about it that you can sense it's different, but the key is not allowing that to factor in to what it really takes to prepare well and not miss the message," Carroll said. "They will be as excited to play, and I think everybody is going to have great focus this week just because it is the playoffs, but that's something we're trying to create on a regular basis so that when we get to this time we've already been there done that."
Seattle got a significant break in the schedule by landing the late afternoon Sunday game on the opening weekend. The Seahawks are following their normal regular season practice schedule and continuing with a trend of flying to the East Coast two days before kickoff that Carroll started in his first season.
Washington cornerback Josh Wilson knows the difficulty of making that West-to-East trip. He played for the Seahawks from 2007-09 and will now face his former team on Sunday.
"This game being at 4:30 actually may help them a little bit," Wilson said. "It's definitely tough when you have that 1 o'clock game. It feels like about 10 o'clock to you. You wake up three hours before the game, so it's about 7 o'clock in your mind. It's tough to travel that long distance."
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Yes, a game that was played 5 or 10 or 20 years ago means absolutely nothing this season. But the fact remains that the Seahawks are still a very bad road team. Better than 2010, better than 2011, but still bad. They beat a below-.500 Panther team when their QB threw a game-winning TD pass at the feet of his open receiver. They beat an injury-ravaged and free-falling Bears team. And the Bills game wasn't even a road game, really.
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The Hawks aren't favored because the wise guys in Vegas think they will win. They are favored because their objective is to get half the money on each side. That's where lines are set. All it means is that there's a lot of Hawk money, although I'm having trouble understanding why, unless it's RGIII's health.
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I believe Tim Booth writes these genius stories from his home in Washington DC.
"the only way Seattle can return home for a postseason is if it somehow ends up playing Minnesota for the NFC title" WHAT ABOUT GREEN BAY? We have the same regular season record plus hold the tie breaker based on head to head........or does playoff seeding take precidense? GO HAWKS
 @robert eisen Ummm, no. Wild card teams play on the road against division winners. Always. Or did you forget the Saints-Seahawk game two years ago? Besides, would you really want to get a home game as tainted as that would be, given the fiasco that was the Pack-Hawk result earlier this year? Are you that desperate?
 @MVDad Is that really a question, HELL YEAH I would take a home game over a road game with this team regardless of the situation or opponent.
Seahawks will have to score more td passing than Skins rushing. I don't think it will be done. Skin's are a team with strengths that can exploit Seattle's weaknesses.
Go HeeeeeeeHawks.
This kind of history is only relevant if the players some how make it relevant in their minds and psyche themselves out. Â
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'hawks impressed me with the San Fran win, but the REALLY impressed me with the St. Louis win, where they struggled at first, and were challenged mentally and came back with a strong finish.
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I think this Seahawks team believe in themselves, that they are not "lucky", that they are no fluke, that they're the real deal. they overcame some losses earlier in the season, and are a stronger, smarter team for it.
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I want them to win, but I also believe they likely will.
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@deadcandance  tired old joke
Seattle has no chance to win on Sunday,Seahawks do not have the strength to win on Sunday, but  if they win, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
 @Dozen 123 You are in the minority with that one pal.  Favored on the road, it won't surprise many in they win.
@Dozen 123 No chance to win? You must not follow football very much!
 @Andrew Webster I follow American football very often, Washington is not Arizona or Buffalo plus the Seahawks play game away.I would like to see the Seahawks win on Sunday, but I do not believe
 @Dozen 123  @Andrew Webster They just haven't showed it. 2-5, c'mon!
Tim Booth, typical sports writer based in Seattle. So Tim, are the players all the same as the past 3 decades? Is the coaching staff the same as 30 years ago? By making commentary based on past records all you are doing is reducing your credibility as a writer of any kind. Make some predictions on the present team, the present coaching, trends you have seen for this season and maybe last season, the impact of Russell Wilson, something original and thought provoking instead of just re-hashing past records over 30 years that are irrelevant and meaningless.
@Original Coyote He kind of rained on everyone's parade.
Unfortunately, the Seahawks will keep this dark cloud until they go win a Super Bowl. Hopefully they can do that this year and several times with Wilson as the QB. Seattle needs a team with that kind of prestige.
Keep looking back and you will run into $%#@. Seahawks are playing great and no reason for that to change.
The Seahawks will do just fine on the road. I have faith that Russell Wilson and the boys will take us to New Orleans. Go Seahawks!!
I still like our chances. I'll stick with Wilson and his boys.
Winner of the game will probably decide the rookie of the year award between two of the three QB's...
 @Windowseat RG3 will win. #NoDoubt. Take a look at the rookie of the week for all of the season.
 @Windowseat No it won't.  Voting takes place tomorrow and the awards will be presented the week before the Superbowl.
Good Luck Hawks, take it to them all !!
"Seattle's playoff road history not a pretty view"
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for any of our sports teams...
 @what? That is true and needs to change!
The past is the past. Â These ain't your Daddy's Seahawks. Â GO HAWKS!!
@Aros You're right, those guys are all retired now...