Coffee & Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Monday

Playoffs.

17 Power, A Seattle Seahawks Blog: Seahawks Come Back to Earth in a Winning Way, 20-13
I usually like to go against the grain, but today I'm just gonna go along with the general narrative. It's fully true - Seattle needed this game. They needed a "humility check", in Tim Ryan's words, before heading into the playoffs. Not because they were cocky or arrogant, exactly, but because there's nothing like experience to undergird a truth. Seattle isn't invincible and they're not going to be scoring 40-burgers all the time.

Perfect at home, Seahawks primed to hit the road for playoffs
Rookie QB Russell Wilson passed for one touchdown and ran for another in leading the playoff-bound Seahawks to a 20-13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, securing their eighth home victory.

Seahawks go 8-0 at home, head into postseason
Rookie quarterback Russell Wilson passed and ran the Seahawks to a 20-13 victory over the St. Louis Rams in their regular season finale Sunday at CenturyLink Field.

Instant reaction: Seahawks beat Rams, finish 11-5 " Seahawks Draft Blog
St. Louis came agonisingly close to ending Seattle’s unbeaten home record today. It was a gritty, hard fought rivalry game – the type you’re going to have to get used to in the new NFC West. A 20-13 win is only worth as much as a 42-13 win, but there were some familiar issues that cropped up this afternoon.

Quick hits: Seahawks beat Rams 20-13 - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
The lead. After scoring 150 points during three consecutive blowout wins, the Seahawks beat St. Louis in a more familiar fashion on Sunday. Russell Wilson's 2-yard touchdown run with 1:45 left broke a 13-13 tie and gave the Seahawks the lead for good. Because San Francisco beat Arizona, Seattle heads to the playoffs as the fifth seed and will be the road team against the winner of tonight's de facto NFC East title game between the Redskins and Cowboys. The Seahawks finish 8-0 at home for the first time since 2005.

Rapid Reaction: Seahawks 20, Rams 13 - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Thoughts on the St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks following Seattle's 20-13 victory Sunday at CenturyLink Field:

New York Giants 9-7 again but miss playoffs this time - NFL.com
Eli Manning and the New York Giants beat up on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, but ultimately it didn't matter. The Giants were eliminated from playoff contention, ending their Super Bowl title defense.

Arizona Cardinals fall to San Francisco 49ers; Colin Kaepernick has best outing - NFL.com
With an assist from the Minnesota Vikings, the San Francisco 49ers take the NFC West

Wrap-up: 49ers 27, Cardinals 13 - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Thoughts on the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals following the 49ers' 27-13 victory Sunday at Candlestick Park:

Russell Wilson leads Seattle Seahawks past St. Louis Rams, ties Manning in TDs - NFL.com
"To tie that record is really something special," Wilson said. "It's a tribute to my faith and all God has put me through, but also to my team and what they've done."

Two-minute drill: Seahawks 20, St. Louis 13 | Seahawks Blog | Seattle Times
Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch rushed 18 times for 100 yards, his fourth consecutive game with a triple-digit rushing total. He ran for 1,590 yards in 16 games this season, third-highest total in franchise history.

Rams leave Seattle with pride and a couple regrets | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
St. Louis' defense was proud of how it contained Russell Wilson and the Seahawks — aside from two plays on Seattle's final drive.

Seahawks' offense finally finds gear to beat Rams | Seahawks | The Seattle Times
Russell Wilson throws for one score, runs for another

NFP Sunday Blitz | National Football Post
Quarterback--Russell Wilson, Seahawks. He should have been behind Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan and RGIII in NFC voting, and he was. But the little rookie played more efficient football than the large majority of quarterbacks in the NFL.

The Rookie Scouting Portfolio Publication: A Q&A | The Rookie Scouting Portfolio
New to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog? Haven’t heard of the RSP publication? Heard of it, but haven’t given it a try? Learn more about this annual publication that has been available for download every April 1 for the past seven years and why it has become a fave among draftniks and fantasy football owners.

ProFootballWeekly.com - Smith's return for 49ers is far from a given
Even though they don’t make football players any tougher than Justin Smith, our 49ers sources are not about to bet their mortgages that the defense’s emotional leader and anchor of the D-line will be recovered sufficiently enough from the partial tear of the left triceps tendon he suffered in the Week 15 win over New England to participate in the playoffs.

Full transcript of Pete Carroll’s postgame press conference | Seahawks Insider - The News Tribune
It was a good, hard-fought win, and it was nice to finish like that in a tough situation, and actually come from behind to get it done.

Hawks don’t care who they play | Seahawks Insider - The News Tribune
"It doesn’t matter who we play I don’t think," Seattle offensive tackle Breno Giacomini said. "We’ve just got to take care of ourselves. Get on the right page as an O-line, and just get better. That’s all we can do."

Plenty of General Managers could be in jeopardy, too | ProFootballTalk
With all the focus on head coaches whose hot seats could soon convert to a full-blown conflagration, it’s easy to forget that a fairly large number of General Managers could be getting the boot, too.

49ers will "evaluate" after two more David Akers misses | ProFootballTalk
The 49ers have two weeks before their next game, which gives them ample time to figure out what to do about their kicker.

Cardinals vs. 49ers: Michael Crabtree Has Career Day En Route to NFC West Title | Bleacher Report
After one quarter of play, the Cardinals made it seem like the 49ers would have a dog fight on their hands for the next 45 minutes. But all it took was a 49-yard touchdown reception from Michael Crabtree to get the 49ers' offense kick-started.

Checkdowns: Broncos complete 4th largest improvement ever
In 2011, the Broncos scored 309 points and allowed 390 points. Despite being outscored by 81 points, the Tim Tebow express still made it into the post-season. In June, I speculated that the 2012 Broncos might set the record for the largest increase in pass completions in one year, and they did just that on Sunday. They also moved into fourth place on another list.