by Peter King
Seattle 31, Carolina 17
I didn’t see a lot of the Seattle-Carolina game, but what seemed to be the most impressive thing about it was the play of strong safety Kam Chancellor. The breadth of his talent was on display throughout, and it’s easy to see why the Seahawks feel they have the best pair of safeties in football and no other team is close for second place. (Earl Thomas being the other, of course.)
“I’ve had front row tickets to the Kam Chancellor Show for a while now,” Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith told The MMQB’s Robert Klemko after a game that was tougher than the 14-point margin indicated. “Even if you don’t see it, you definitely hear it and feel it when he’s out there smacking fools. Sometimes I’m so in awe I don’t even celebrate. I’m like, is he alright?”
In this game, Chancellor covered, he hurdled the line trying to block kicks (twice), he tackled, he dove for fumbles. And the most impressive play may have been his not-so-chance meeting with a 250-pound bowling ball for Carolina, running back Mike Tolbert. With Seattle leading 14-7 but Carolina driving in the second quarter, Chancellor, at 6-3 and 230, met Tolbert with violence, full-speed with a shoulder to the ribs, a yard short of the first down. A guttural scream followed, as it often does. Said Smith: “He was just screaming after that. No real words.”
Klemko made a great point to me: “That Chancellor is the third-biggest name in the Seattle secondary behind Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas says more about Seattle’s roster than it does about the fourth-year safety, who turned in perhaps the game of his career here. Eleven tackles and an interception returned 90 yards for a touchdown were enough to fill a stat sheet, but he also did things that don’t show up in the boxscore that make you go wow. Chancellor hurdled the Carolina line twice on field goal block attempts, and he somehow made Mike Tolbert go backwards.’’
One of the members of the Chancellor fan club, cornerback Richard Sherman, said: “I think every year he gets snubbed more than anybody else. I think this year he should have been first team All-Pro, and it should have been easy.”
Chancellor is a mild-mannered guy who is good buddies with Sherman but will never be confused with him in the press conference standings. In his postgame interview, he calmly assigned “all glory to God” … and to his defensive line. He’ll be a tough assignment, along with his defensive mates, for Aaron Rodgers Sunday at noon Pacific Time in Seattle.
THE FINE FIFTEEN
1. Seattle (13-4). Seattle safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor had 22 tackles, a pick, a forced fumbled and three passes defensed Saturday night. They dominated, particularly Chancellor. The Packers will want to watch tape of Seattle’s Oct. 12 meeting with the Cowboys for a clue as to how to limit the impact of the safeties. In a combined 150 defensive snaps three months ago, Thomas and Chancellor had a combined 12 tackles with no sacks, picks, forced fumbles or fumble recoveries.
2. New England (13-4). Smart coaching and a great quarterback are pretty tough to beat in the playoffs. (See number 7.)
3. Green Bay (13-4). One-legged Aaron Rodgers. Pretty good.
4. Dallas (13-5). Just a guess, but I’m thinking Dean Blandino won’t be getting any more rides on the Dallas party bus.
5. Indianapolis (12-6). Andrew Luck in the Final Four. It was a matter of time, and Year 3 seems just right.
6. Baltimore (11-7). Smart coaching and a great quarterback are pretty tough to beat in the playoffs … and Baltimore almost did. I know January Joe Flacco threw the late pick to quash Raven hopes, but he is one great postseason quarterback.
7. Denver (12-5). One month ago today, who would have thought we’d be talking about a total reconstruction job of the team that John Elway so masterfully built?
8. Detroit (11-6). Mike Florio made a good point the other day: If the Lions franchise Ndamukong Suh, that’s $63 million in 2015 cap money tied up in Suh, Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. That’s 45 percent of Detroit’s cap tied up in three players. As George Constanza would say, “Is that wrong?”
9. Carolina (8-9-1). Nothing to be ashamed of. The Panthers put up a good fight, and they should be well-prepared, with a rebuilt line and receiver corps, to make a run in the NFC South next year. 2015 will be a big year for Ron Rivera, who is 33-33-1 after four seasons as Jerry Richardson’s coach.
10. Pittsburgh (11-6). Ben Roethlisberger to miss Pro Bowl. The reason was undisclosed. I’ll give you one: Who, while trying to get a new contract to run the rest of his career, would want to take one scintilla of a risk that some lug falls into his knee in a meaningless game?
11. Cincinnati (10-6-1). Most important question the Bengals will answer this offseason for the future of the franchise: Who will be brought in to challenge Andy Dalton for the quarterback job? I’ll be clear here. Dalton shouldn’t lose his job because of the four straight wild-card losses. He has done a tremendous amount to help this team be a consistent contender. But it’s irresponsible for the team to not set up some competition at the quarterback position. Cincinnati is in a Groundhog Day situation. The very least the Bengals owe to their fan base is to have legitimate competition, and soon, at quarterback, with either a veteran with some possible upside—maybe Brian Hoyer—or a highly drafted rookie. Maybe it makes Dalton better. Maybe it results in him losing his job. But it’s a slap to the fans to do business as usual this offseason.
12. Houston (9-7). I’d be doing a ton of homework on Jameis Winston if I were the Texans.
13. Arizona (11-6). I’d buttress the quarterback position by overpaying a third playable one if I were the Cardinals.
14. Kansas City (9-7). I’d keep Tamba Hali if I were the Chiefs.
15. Buffalo (9-7). Rex Ryan is the answer for excitement, for a rebirth after the Doug Marrone jilting, and for having a legitimate chance to occasionally beat the big, bad Patriots. (Week 17, with nothing on the line for New England, doesn’t count.) And I like Greg Roman as an offensive coordinator. So … I just wonder about the fate of Jim Schwartz, who, by the end of this season, had built a top-three defense in Buffalo. What of Schwartz? What of his effective scheme? Why a defensive guy as head coach instead of the best available quarterback-whisperer? And who is the quarterback, while we’re on the subject?
