Countdown to training camp: Arizona desert claims final LOB member in Week 4

The weekend has arrived, and it is time for excitement as this is the final weekend of 2019 before the Seattle Seahawks open training camp on Thursday. In counting down the days until the Hawks gather at the VMAC in preparation for the upcoming season, I’m counting down through each of the team’s 2018 games in reverse order, and today brings fans to the graveyard in Glendale known as State Farm Stadium.

Before jumping in to read about how the Legion of Boom is buried in the desert outside Phoenix, take the time to check in on the parts of the countdown you may have missed.

Wild Card playoff loss against the Dallas Cowboys

Last second field goal to defeat the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17

Primetime upset over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 16

Trap game loss on the road to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 15

Ugly slugfest win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14

Total and complete destruction of the Niners in Week 13

Come from behind victory over the Carolina Panthers in Week 12

Come from behind victory over the Green Bay Packers in Week 11

Come from ahead loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 10

A pick-6 aided loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 9

A thorough thrashing of the Detroit Lions in Week 8

The leveling of the Oakland Raiders in London in Week 6

A close home loss to the Rams in Week 5.

And now it’s on to Week 4, when the Hawks traveled down to Phoenix to take on the Cardinals in the first of two games that would be decided on a game ending field goal by Sebastian Janikowski.

However, before it got to the point where that last kick was needed from Seabass, the Seahawks saw the lone remaining member of the Legion of Boom go down untouched with an injury.

It seems somewhat strange to consider that this is the exact same field on which both Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor played their final snaps for the Seahawks in 2017, and the same field on which the careers of Jeremy Lane and Byron Maxwell saw their last hurrahs.

Sherman, of course, was lost for the year in 2017 when he tore his Achilles in the Week 10 2017 victory over Arizona on Thursday Night Football. That was the same game in which Chancellor went into the blue medical tent in the final two minutes after a tackle of Andre Ellington left Chancellor with a stinger and sent Lano Hill into the game for the final two minutes.

As for Maxwell and Lane, both were key contributors on the 2013 team, but Lane was never the same after the hit by Julian Edelman in Super Bowl XLIX that both tore Lane’s ACL and broke his arm. Maxwell also never performed at the same level after leaving Seattle for the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent following the 2014 season, and even in his return to Seattle during the 2017 was little more than a shadow of his former self.

In any case, when the Hawks travel to Arizona in Week 4 this upcoming season, it will mark the first Seahawks-Cardinals game at State Farm Stadium without any of Thomas, Sherman, Chancellor, Lane or Maxwell since Jim Mora was head coach.