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The NFL season kicks off Friday morning for yet another season of big hits, spectacular catches and incredible athleticism in one of sports most popular leagues. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 10:30am (AEST).
What a game to kick it off with when the reigning Superbowl champions the Seattle Seahawks host the Green Bay Packers at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field.
The Packers are coming off an injury riddled 2013 that saw them lose key players in quarterback Aaron Rodgers, linebacker Clay Matthews and wide receiver Randall Cobb for a huge chunk of the season.
But the biggest problem last season for the Packers was their defence, which ranked a lowly 25th in yards allowed last season. It’s the second time in three years they have ranked in the lower quarter of the league.
The Packers addressed this weakness in the off season by signing veteran linebacker Julius Peppers from the Bears and drafting safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the first round of the draft. But Peppers is 34 and his best is probably behind him.
One area the Packers really need to improve on defence is stopping the running game. The second half of last season teams were running all over them.
Against the reigning Superbowl champions this could prove fatal. The Seahawks were the 4th ranked running team last season led by running back Marshawn Lynch who rushed for over 1200 yards and 12 touchdowns. Lynch is not nicknamed ‘Beast Mode’ for nothing.
He is one of the hardest running backs to bring down and has filled many highlight reels with astonishing runs.
The Seahawks are hoping to help him out a bit more this season as they intend to pass the ball more. They used their first draft pick on a speed burner in receiver Paul Richardson.
They also will have one of the most exciting and explosive players in the NFL, Percy Harvin back from a hip injury that kept him out from all but one regular season game. Harvin is injury prone and the Seahawks will be hoping that his luck will turn around and he can show Seahawks fans why their team traded three draft picks and gave Harvin a six year contract that could see him earn as much as $65 million.
The real strength of the Seahawks though, and what ultimately won them the Superbowl was their defence. They ranked No 1 in total defence (total yards conceded), points allowed, interceptions and passing yards allowed. In three playoff games last season they did not concede more than 17 points in any game. This was against powerful offences such as the Saints and the Peyton Manning-led Broncos in the Superbowl. The Broncos No 1 ranked offence was decimated and kept to just eight points.
The Seahawks defence is star studded. They have the best secondary in the league led by safety Earl Thomas and outspoken cornerback Richard Sherman who has more than backed up all his trash talking by now being considered the best cornerback in the league. Thomas and Sherman were rewarded with big four year contract extensions.
The Seahawks also have one of the best young linebacking corp in the league with Bobby Wagner, K J Wright, Bruce Irvin and last year’s Superbowl MVP Malcolm Smith in their third and fourth years in the league and about to hit their peak.
The Packers’ offensive line will need to be at its best to protect Rodgers and give last year’s excellent rookie running back Eddie Lacy time to make plays.
For the Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson did what was asked of him last season, not to force plays and keep turnovers down which Wilson did, throwing only nine interceptions.
PREDICTION
The Packers have the weapons offensively in Rodgers, Cobb, Nelson and Lacy to take it up to the Seahawks. But at home in front of the noisiest home crowd in the league and against one of the best defences in recent years, it’s hard to go past the Seahawks.
Seahawks to win 24-17
INTERESTING FACTS
– The opening kickoff game of the season has been hosted by the Superbowl champion since 2004. In ten games the Superbowl has won eight.
– These two teams have met 16 times since the Seahawks joined the league in 1976 with the Packers holding a 10-6 advantage.
– The last time these two teams met was in September 2012 in a now famous controversial game. The 2012 season started with NFL referees on strike and the NFL using replacement referees that had never officiated in NFL games. The first few weeks of the season saw the replacement referees come under widespread criticism for poor decisions.
This Packers-Seahawks ended controversially when Seahawks receiver Golden Tate caught a hail mary pass in the endzone on the final play of the game that resulted in a 14-12 Seahawks victory. Tate clearly pushed a defender in the back just before he caught the pass but the push was missed of officials.
Two days after the game, the NFL and Referees Association announced they had reached an agreement to end the strike. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell later acknowledged that the negative attention the game drew helped ending the strike.
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