RENTON, Wash. – On the way in which to a stunning playoff berth few outdoors of the group noticed coming, the Seahawks relied on contributions from rookies as a lot as any crew within the NFL.

Over the course of the season, Seattle’s 2022 draft class has logged 4,868 snaps and 70 mixed begins, taking part in a pivotal position within the crew’s 9-8 end that culminated in a visit to the postseason. Solely the Houston Texans, who stumbled to a three-win season amid a seemingly power rebuild, had first-year gamers on the sector extra usually.

These numbers had been closely skewed in direction of the offense, with tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas in addition to working again Ken Walker III cemented into the lineup as full-time starters for many of the season. Per NFL Subsequent Gen Stats, rookies performed 22.9 p.c of their offensive snaps, the best fee within the league forward of the Titans.

With their first common season formally behind them, Walker, Cross, Lucas, and the remainder of the Seahawks heralded crop of rookies will face their stiffest check but within the type of a wild card rematch on the highway in opposition to the NFC West champion 49ers and their ferocious top-ranked scoring protection. Whereas gamers will say it is simply one other sport and attempt to deal with it accordingly, such circumstances can put an immense quantity of stress on younger gamers who have not handled the raised stakes of an NFL playoff sport.

Nevertheless, as evidenced by him rocketing across the facility on a scooter and sporting a backward hat in his closing press convention of the week, coach Pete Carroll has emphasised maintaining issues gentle and unfastened this week. Leaning on veterans who’ve performed within the playoffs earlier than to supply mentorship, he anticipates the large stage will not be an excessive amount of for any of Seattle’s rookies.

“Proper from the beginning of the week, we form of confronted it up,” Carroll defined after Thursday’s follow. “This was their likelihood and their shot and all that form of stuff and if they’ll make a whole lot of it aside from what it truly is. The older guys which were round and have been by it, I confirmed the blokes that haven’t been by it, and the blokes which were by it. They’ve a whole lot of guys to lean on. We tried to actually mentor our guys by to be comfy and belief and imagine in what we’re doing; not that they need to provide you with one thing completely different for this week. That’s actually what the main target is and seemingly, they’ve been effective. We’ve stored them unfastened and going.”

When Carroll’s Seahawks have gained playoff video games previously, rookies have sometimes performed assist roles. However again in 2012, quarterback Russell Wilson, linebacker Bobby Wagner, and a bunch of first-year gamers starred because the crew went to Washington and picked up a wild card victory on the highway.

Very similar to a decade in the past, with Wilson and Wagner each sitting at dwelling for the playoffs after their present groups didn’t qualify, Seattle will want rookies to equally step as much as have any shot at avenging a pair of standard season losses to San Francisco. Specifically, Walker, Cross, and Lucas should shoulder the load in opposition to the No. 1 scoring protection within the NFL.

With the forecast projecting heavy rain and gusty winds at Levis Stadium on Saturday, each groups probably will lean closely on their run video games. Driving a 3 sport streak speeding for a minimum of 100 yards that pushed him previous the century mark for the season, Walker comes into the playoffs red-hot and has re-emerged over the previous month behind a resurgent offensive line that hit a horrible stoop early within the second half of the schedule.

After solely working the ball 14 instances in losses to San Francisco in Week 2 and Week 15 with minimal success, Carroll hopes to see Seattle discover much better traction on the bottom with an enormous dose of the dynamic Walker in spherical three.

“It’s lucky, I do know on our finish of it, that we do be ok with the working sport, and we will go to it because the rain is usually a figuring out issue typically on how a lot you possibly can deal with the ball throwing and catching clever,” Carroll said. “We’ll see what occurs. I do know that we’re each in the best vein to be ready for this.”

When the Seahawks do preserve the ball in Geno Smith’s palms to cross on Saturday, the veteran quarterback will likely be maintaining tabs on celebrity rusher Nick Bosa with eyes at the back of his helmet. The All-Professional defensive finish racked up 18.5 sacks this season and the onus will fall on Cross and Lucas to attempt to preserve him and different proficient rushers out of the backfield much more successfully than they did final month after they mixed to permit three sacks and 7 pressures.

If there is a cause for optimism on that entrance, Lucas performed in Week 15 with a sore patellar tendon and the harm clearly hindered his motion expertise. After sitting out Week 17, he returned every week in the past wanting far more healthy and did not enable a single stress in opposition to the Rams, a optimistic signal heading into the playoffs.

So far as X-factors to observe, seventh-round choose Dareke Younger might additionally make an affect after progressively receiving elevated taking part in time within the closing month of the season. In opposition to the Rams, he caught his first two NFL passes, producing 24 yards and a pair of first down conversions and with each Marquise Goodwin and Dee Eskridge on injured reserve, Smith could possibly be throwing his route a couple of instances on Saturday and he may consider as a hybrid fullback on a couple of snaps as effectively.

Defensively, Seattle can have a number of different rookies taking part in vital roles aiming to decelerate a flexible San Francisco offense.

Within the trenches, linebacker Boye Mafe has continued to enhance by week and will likely be counted on to set the sting in opposition to a top-10 speeding assault led by Christian McCaffrey in addition to pressuring rookie quarterback Brock Purdy. Starring within the secondary, cornerbacks Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant will likely be tasked with protecting the deadly trio of Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and tight finish George Kittle.

Whereas it will not be simple for the Seahawks to tug an upset as 10-point underdogs, Carroll sees their proficient rookies as potential catalysts to make it occur. At worst, they are going to acquire invaluable expertise that can serve them effectively in 2023 and past and he is desirous to see how they reply to their first playoff publicity.

“This can be a nice alternative for these guys. It’s a nice alternative to see what that is like and are available to know it higher as you undergo the experiences. If we will get a pair extra video games, it is going to make them that a lot better. We’ll see if we will get this one.”

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