The Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings will be playing in extremely cold weather as the temperature is expected to be zero degrees.
Seattle has already beaten the Vikings in their December 6th matchup and they did it in convincing style. They beat the Vikings at home by 31 points and held Adrian Peterson to 18 yards and he only averaged 2.2 yards per carry. That's right the Seahawks held the NFL 2015 rushing champion to 18 yards.
The Seattle Seahawks offense will see someone they have not seen in quite a while, Marshawn Lynch. Lynch is reportedly expected to start in this Wild Card matchup and this means major changes for the Seahawks offense and how the Minnesota Vikings plan to stop them. With Lynch returning will we see the run first style of offense the Seahawks have moved away from or will they stick too airing the ball out with Russell Wilson.
In their last matchup Wilson had 3 touchdowns through the air and 1 on the ground so this Vikings defenses has not been good enough to disrupt the Seattle offense so far this season. The Seahawks running back at the time Thomas Rawls had 19 carries and ran for 101 yards and a touchdown which showed great run blocking and production from the Seahawks offensive line.
On the Minnesota side of the ball, Bridgewater was held to 118 yards through the air with no touchdowns. The Legion of Boom seemed to catch fire with this win so there is no reason why a repeat performance is not entirely out of the question. Adrian Peterson is already sidelined at practice this week but will be playing in this Wild Card matchup the main question is how effective will he be?
Peterson being held to only 18 yards in their last meeting, and this being a playoff game may spark a fire inside of the rushing champion. But this game is bigger than just one or 2 superstars, this is about a dominant defense versus a dynamic but unpredictable offense. Sure Stefon Diggs has been incredible at some points this season but passing the ball against the Seahawks is a tough job for teams stacked at wide receiver, the Seahawks blanket style of coverage will likely keep Teddy Bridgewater quiet just like it did in their first meeting.
The Seahawks have more weapons on both sides of the ball and have been in huge playoff games in recent memory. The Vikings may have home field advantage however they also did December 6th and that did not make a difference what so ever. If the Vikings do upset the Seahawks, both teams will find themselves in uncharted territory.