Seahawks-Packers Opening Night Preview

The first game of the 2014 NFL regular season is a return to what many Green Bay Packers fans view as a return to a crime scene, as the outcome of the 2012 matchup at Century Link Field has been known as the “Fail Mary”.

On the final play of the game, down 12-7, then rookie quarterback Russell Wilson threw the ball in the endzone. Defensive back M.D. Jennings appeared to intercept Wilson, but Seahawks receiver Golden Tate, who signed with the Detroit Lions this offseason,  grabbed the ball after Jennings had it after committing what many saw as offensive pass interference.

Instead, Tate was ruled to have caught the ball legally. The symbolic image of the replacement referee issues of the 2012 season was illustrated, Seahawks 14, Packers 12.

Seattle getting the win in that game may not have been viewed as legitimate, but their rise to the top of the league has been. The league’s top defense from last season returns nearly everyone, although defensive linemen Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, and Clinton McDonald left in free agency, with Kevin Williams signed from Minnesota to replace some of their production.

But the offense has made some strides as well, with the first-teamers showing up big in preseason. In the final three games of August, Russell Wilson had 10 first-half drives, and led the Seahawks to eight touchdowns and two field goals, completing 27 of 33 for 372 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for another three scores.

A finally healthy Percy Harvin, a third-year Wilson appearing ready to break out, and rookie Justin Britt looking prepared to start at right tackle has made Seattle’s offense now a big part of the conversation as to why the team could repeat. On special teams, a member of the vaunted Legion of Boom secondary will be playing a key role (via ESPN’s Terry Blount):

After all the speculation in preseason about whether All-Pro free safety Earl Thomas really would be the punt returner for the Seahawks this season, and all the debate about whether he should be, Thomas said he’s ready to go.

“I get to play punt returner and free safety,” Thomas said Tuesday. “I get to play both ways. This is what I did in high school, so it just feels good to be on the ultimate stage like this and have that opportunity.”

His first official chance comes Thursday night in the season opener against theGreen Bay Packers at CenturyLink Field. Thomas was asked how many touchdowns he thinks he can score this season returning punts.

“I’m not putting a limit on anything,” he said. “I just want to be the best and have fun. I know when I get the ball in my hand I’ll make something happen, though.

With both Thomas and Richard Sherman performing and being paid like they are the best players at their position, Seattle’s defense looks like it can once again carry the team far. However, the road is tough, as Pete Carroll’s squad will have to navigate through arguably the league’s toughest division (NFC West), and an early schedule that includes three playoff teams to start the year (Green Bay, San Diego, and Denver) with three elite quarterbacks.

Rodgers-Bengals

The Packers, meanwhile, have won the NFC North the past three seasons, but have not come close to reaching the Super Bowl that they won in 2011. Aaron Rodgers is coming off a season in which he missed seven games with a broken collarbone, and will be facing off against a defense that sacked him eight times with some things to watch for on his offensive line.

One is a rookie center starting in Corey Linsley, who will have a tough mental challenge calling out signals in front of the loud 12th man crowd at Qwest Field, according to the Milwaukee Journey Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein:

There’s a pretty good chance that rookie center Corey Linsley won’t be overmatched physically when he makes his first career start Thursday night for the Green Bay Packers.

Linsley almost always was stronger than the guy across from him while at Ohio State, and while the competition he’ll face in the season opener against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field will be a big step up from there, people around the Packers facility don’t seem to doubt he can handle it.

The biggest challenge Linsley will face is maintaining his cool while declaring to his linemates which guy they’re supposed to block, a key part of the center’s job. It’s not that hard of an assignment if you’ve got all 35 seconds of the play clock to do it, but if you’re in the Packers’ fast-paced, no-huddle offense you need to be right and fast.

“Just get everybody on the same page as quickly as possible,” Linsley said of making his declarations right away. “Just going up to the line. If everybody knows where the starting point is and they don’t like the starting point, they can adjust.”

It’s best, however, if they don’t have to adjust, if they can just go with Linsley’s call.

Since this is the first game of the year, the challenge is enormous for a rookie like Linsley, who found himself in this position when JC Tretter suffered a knee injury against the Oakland Raiders on Aug. 22. Linsley had to step in right away knowing he would be the starter against Seattle.

Bruce Irvin 350x350

The front five for the Packers will also have a long-awaited return on the offensive line, as Bryan Bulaga will play his first game in nearly two years for Green Bay at the right tackle spot.

With Bulaga and second-year left tackle David Bakhtiari have to keep Rodgers upright against outside pass-rushers like Michael Bennett, Bruce Irvin, Cliff Avril, and O’Brien Schofield, one would think that it would not be the right place and time for Bulaga to return to the field. But head coach Mike McCarthy feels differently, writes ESPN’s Rob Demovsky:

The way Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy sees it, Seattle is the perfect place for Bryan Bulaga‘s first game in nearly 22 months.

And he might be right.

The last time Bulaga played against the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field, it was perhaps the low point of his career. The right tackle was responsible for two of the eight first-half sacks of quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the Packers’ 14-12 loss to Seattle in Week 3 of the 2012 season on Monday Night Football.

Bulaga had allowed just one sack in 12 starts the previous season and didn’t have another game in which he allowed more than one sack the rest of the 2012 season.

Several demons from that night in the Seattle still torment the Packers (see Mary, Fail), and Bulaga’s uncharacteristic performance remains one of them, in part because of what he went through in the two years that have followed.

“I think Bryan needs to go back to Seattle, just like we all do,” McCarthy said Tuesday, two days before the Packers open the season against the Seahawks.

Seemingly on the way to becoming one of the premier right tackles in the NFC, Bulaga’s career path changed significantly shortly thereafter. He has not played in a regular-season game since Nov. 4, 2012, when he sustained a season-ending hip injury that was followed by a knee blowout the following summer that cost him the entire 2013 season.

Although he insisted this week that he has not given the last Seattle game much thought, it’s hard to forget just what the Seahawks did to Bulaga and the rest of the Packers’ offense in the din of the boisterous crowd at CenturyLink Field. The problems started almost immediately. On the Packers’ third play from scrimmage, then-rookie Bruce Irvin tossed Bulaga aside like it was nothing and sacked Rodgers 2.5 seconds after the ball was snapped.

In 25 starts the past two seasons, Rodgers has been sacked 72 times, and while his play hasn’t dipped tremendously, counting on the now 30 year-old to avoid serious injury under the same conditions may be asking a lot. Facing off against a team that exposed him and his offense more than any in recent years could allow the three-time Pro Bowler to prove he will have no ill-effects from last season’s troubles.

The Seahawks, meanwhile, will begin their attempt to become the first team since the 2004-05 New England Patriots to repeat as the best in the NFL. With the pro football spotlight firmly pointed on them entering a season for the first time, Seattle will have a chance to make an early statement about how good the 2014-15 team can be compared to the squad that hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in February.

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