RENTON – The Seahawks reconvened for meetings and the typical day-after-game work Monday, then they put the regular season to bed.
What comes next is something of a trip into the unknown as the Seahawks have to wait until the weekend to find out who they will be playing in the divisional round of the playoffs on Jan. 17 or 18.
What they do know is there will be no trip involved, with the game being held at Lumen Field thanks to Seattle clinching the NFC West and home-field advantage in the playoffs with Saturday’s 13-3 win over the 49ers.
With no game this weekend, coach Mike Macdonald said the Seahawks will hit the field for practices Wednesday and Thursday, then take a few days off before reconvening Monday to begin the work of specifically preparing for their playoff opponent.
“It’s a little tricky because you don’t know what day you’re gonna play and not sure who you are going to play yet,’’ Macdonald said. “So there’s a balance of trying to stay ready, stay sharp, but also be able to take advantage of the opportunity we have to take care of our bodies and get as fresh as possible.’’
That doesn’t mean there aren’t some specific areas of focus in the practices that will be held this week.
“(It’s) a combination of some things we need to see, some ways we’ve been attacked, and then really just try to go out and play really great, clean Seahawk football,’’ he said. “Just executing and running our stuff and trying to stay sharp.’’
Behind the scenes, Seahawks coaches will do what they can to begin preparing for the four teams they could play in the first round – the Rams (No. 5), 49ers (No. 6), Panthers (No. 4) or Packers (No. 7).
Seattle will play the lowest remaining seed that advances.
Seattle could know its opponent as soon as Saturday if Green Bay beats the Bears. Otherwise the Seahawks will have to wait until Sunday.
It helps that Seattle has fresh intel on the Panthers, Rams and 49ers, who were the last three teams the Seahawks played (and beat) in the regular season.
Seattle also played Green Bay in the preseason and held a joint practice with the Packers.
“We’ll be working on those teams throughout the week … we have those recent games with three of those teams, so we’ll spend a good amount of time working on Green Bay as well, Macdonald said. So, however the weekend ends up shaking out, we should feel really great going into Monday.”
Macdonald has second thoughts on goal-line play
Seattle’s dominating defense ended up making a moot point of what would have been hotly debated decisions had the game turned out differently, specifically the sequence of plays at the end of the first series of the game.
After getting the opening kickoff, Seattle moved to the 1-yard line with a first-and-goal thanks to a pass interference penalty drawn by receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
On first down, the Seahawks called a pass that resulted in quarterback Sam Darnold being sacked for a loss of 11 yards.
Seattle then used two Zach Charbonnet runs to get to the 4 before deciding to go for it where a fourth-down pass to Cooper Kupp fell incomplete.
On the first-down pass, it appeared Charbonnet was open in the right flat for what could have been an easy touchdown.
Darnold later acknowledged as much.
“I feel like I had Charbs open on that first drive in the end zone,’’ Darnold said. “I feel like I could have just put the ball on him and let him score.’’
Despite that, some wondered why the Seahawks went with a pass play to begin with and incur the risk of a sack or worse, especially since they’d had a good short-yardage weapon all season in the Tush Push style plays run by tight end AJ Barner.
Macdonald said in hindsight the team might have done things differently and potentially gone with the Barner run.
“That’s something we probably should have done in that situation,’’ Macdonald said. “We go over our goal-line plan every week and all those plays, ultimately, I sign off on (them), and I thought we had a great plan. It was a good play. We just didn’t get it done, so maybe we save that play for another situation, or who knows. But definitely the sneak is under consideration in that moment.”
Still, the sequence helped set up Seattle’s first score as the defense forced a three-and-out and the Seahawks got the ball back at the 49ers’ 35-yard line, leading to a 27-yard Charbonnet touchdown run that put Seattle ahead for good.
Macdonald ‘excited’ to keep Cross in Seattle
As of Monday afternoon the team had yet to officially announce the signing of left tackle Charles Cross to a four-year extension that is expected to make him the fourth-highest-paid player at his position on a per-year average basis at $21.6 million. A source confirmed Sunday the new contract has been agreed to and is expected to become official soon.
But Macdonald essentially confirmed it when he said he was “excited’’ that Cross will be remaining with the Seahawks during his radio show on Seattle Sports 710 earlier Monday.
“It’s big time for our team and excited for Charles,’’ Macdonald said. “He’s really earned it and he deserves it. It’s awesome.’’
Notes
• Macdonald said he had no specific updates on injuries other than to reiterate hope that Cross and safety Coby Bryant will be able to return at some point before the playoff game. Cross has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury and Bryant the last two with a knee injury.
“The timetable is still the way we said it at the end of last week, where we’re still optimistic to have them back either during practice this week or sometime next week,’’ he said.
There are also some players on injured reserve who are eligible to return to practice such as tight end Elijah Arroyo, running back George Holani and linebacker Chazz Surratt. But Seattle made no roster moves Monday. Macdonald said Friday that rookie receiver Tory Horton, on IR with a shin injury but eligible to return, is not expected to be healthy enough to play again this season.
• Asked if he’d gotten any specifically memorable texts or calls after winning the NFC West title, Macdonald noted that maybe his favorite moment was coming home after the game and greeting his wife, Stephanie, who does not typically travel to away games. “I gave her a (championship) hat and T-shirt when we got home and that was pretty great,’’ he said.