SEATTLE — Thursday started by celebrating Super Bowl rings on fingers.
It ended, as usual, with ears ringing.
The festivities at CenturyLink Field began with Soundgarden playing songs that were hits when Russell Wilson was in elementary school.
But it was the Seattle Seahawks who haven’t missed a beat.
As busy as it was, the Seahawks’ shortest offseason felt like an eternity for players eager to hit somebody.
Now the parades and accolades are done. Thursday’s 36-16 win over Green Bay showed the Seahawks are serious about this title-defense business.
The defense? It was relentless as ever. They smelled blood and eventually engulfed Green Bay’s banged up offensive line in a feeding frenzy.
But with the eyes of the football world on them, the Seahawks showed something that will have defensive coordinators chewing their nails.
With a healthy Percy Harvin and Marshawn Lynch being his usually beastly self, Seattle has exactly what it envisioned for this offense.
Eleven times, Seattle put the ball in Harvin’s hands, most often with quick passes designed to put him in space. He gained an even 100 yards of lightning jabs.
Twenty times, Seattle put the ball in Lynch’s hands. He gained 110 yards of body blows.
By the final round, Seattle was in perfect position to mount a 13-play, 80-yard, seven-minute drive that delivered the knockout blow.
The NFL’s best secondary, the Legion of Boom, has defined the Seahawks defense with attitude as much as play.
Thursday’s Seahawks offense might have found its identity – a combustible mix of dynamic playmaker and a bruising back.
Now they just need a nickname — Burner and the Beast, anyone?
“We’re just finding different ways to get all our playmakers the ball,” Harvin said. “Every chance we get, we’re definitely looking to make the most of it. But it starts with the running game.”
It also starts with Wilson. Thursday, the quarterback took the helm of an offense more nuanced and multi-faceted than in his previous two years.
There are more fly-sweeps. There were more zone reads. There was even an extra read in a “pop pass” play that resulted in Seattle’s first touchdown, a 33-yard reception by Ricardo Lockette.
“This offense is expanding,” Harvin said. “With (Wilson) being able to run the ball, it’s much more dangerous.”
Seattle’s offense thrived even without big contributions from receivers Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse.
“I kept telling the guys on the sideline ‘we’re just getting better,” Wilson said.
Those are scary words for the rest of the NFL.
