The Seattle Seahawks lost one of their most valuable players last Sunday when Earl Thomas’s season ended with a broken leg. Can Aaron Rodgers and a struggling Green Bay Packers offense take advantage and keep their playoff hopes alive?
Seahawks vs. Packers: Start time, TV schedule for NFL Week 14 matchup
The Seahawks have a chance to clinch a playoff berth, but first they need to escape frigid Lambeau Field with a win.
The Seahawks have long relied on Thomas as the linchpin of their dynamic and explosive secondary. The five-time All-Pro has teamed with Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor to give Seattle one of the league’s most dynamic defensive backfields. However, the team struggles when the “Legion of Boom” isn’t fully intact.
Head coach Pete Carroll will have to get creative with his defense against an underwhelming but ever-dangerous Packers offense. Green Bay has struggled to 6-6 this fall, but two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers has started to hit his stride in recent weeks. Since an Oct. 20 win over the Bears, he’s thrown 19 touchdown passes and three interceptions — but his team is 3-4 over that stretch.
The Packers looked dead in the water a few weeks ago after they dropped four straight games. Since then, they’ve won two straight and can’t be counted out of the playoff race. Still, the Packers may be in must-win territory with only four weeks left in the season. They trail NFC North leader Detroit by two games, and while a Week 17 showdown with the Lions will give them the chance to close that gap, they’ll need some help to keep a seven-year playoff streak alive.
Green Bay is only a game out of the conference’s second wild card spot, but it would have to leapfrog Washington and Minnesota to get there.
Seattle’s playoff spot is much more secure. The Seahawks’ closest competition in the NFC West is Arizona, which sits three games behind them. A win and a Cardinals loss would clinch the divisional crown, but like the Packers, they’ll still have to worry about the Lions. Detroit, at 8-4, is Seattle’s closest competition for the conference’s second postseason bye.
Russell Wilson shouldn’t have too much trouble picking apart a patchwork Packers secondary on Sunday. The MVP candidate will face a Green Bay defense that’s allowed quarterbacks to post a passer rating of 102.1 this season. If he lives up to that standard, he’ll walk off the field looking like a top-five QB. The Packers lost veteran cornerback Sam Shields early in the season and have been unable to recover, inserting a mix of oft-injured, inexperienced defensive backs in his place.
The Seahawks will also be intimately familiar to at least one member of the Green Bay roster. Christine Michael was waived by Seattle on Nov. 15, then claimed by the Packers one day later. The tailback-needy team has put its addition to work, but the former Texas A&M standout has yet to produce for his new team. Michael has gained just 23 yards on 10 carries with Green Bay.
How to watch
Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay
TV: FOX
Announcers: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews
Online: Sunday Ticket, Fox Sports Go
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