Seahawk receiver Doug Baldwin was up at 3:30 a.m. Sunday playing Madden after the team's divisional playoff loss to Atlanta Saturday.
A few hours before the Green Bay Packers delivered a final dagger in their season — a win over Dallas that meant the Seahawks could have hosted the NFC Championship game had they beaten Atlanta Saturday — Seattle players cleaned out their lockers, looking pained enough.
Following a final team meeting in which the players were then dismissed until beginning the team’s official off-season program in April, receiver Doug Baldwin stood in front of his locker, his face telling the story of a tough season and a long night following the 36-20 divisional round playoff loss at Atlanta on Saturday.
“I was up at 3:30 this morning playing Madden,’’ Baldwin said barely seven hours later. “The reason why I play Madden is because in Madden I can control everything and in the game of life and the game of football you can’t. It’s kind of like an outlet. When I was sitting there visualizing about all that we’ve been through, it is hard.
“I don’t want to take away from anything anybody else does in this world or in this life, but to get to where we got to this year, it was difficult. It was extremely hard. It was exhausting, and then to now know everything ended so abruptly, now we have to start all over again. There’s some happiness in that because there were a lot of things we couldn’t fix during the course of the season that we can now work on because it’s the offseason. But it’s hard and it takes a toll on you, mentally and physically.’’
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What also raced through Baldwin’s mind was the increasing knowledge of how difficult it can be just to get to where the Seahawks did this season.
“It’s just the fact that this is my sixth season,’’ Baldwin said. “I’m getting older and realizing that this is not forever. These opportunities that you get are few and far between. I’ve been blessed enough to be on a great team, gone to the divisional round five years in a row or whatever it was. That’s special. Not everybody gets an opportunity to do that. You’ve got to cherish these moments when you get them. I’m realizing that we are done now and we have to start all over. That was the more difficult part this late in my career.’’
But if his career is beginning to reel in the years, Baldwin echoed a theme in the Seahawks locker room that this is not yet the twilight of their lives.
Seattle won 10 games in 2016 despite suffering as many injuries to key players as at any time in the Pete Carroll, notably the loss of free safety Earl Thomas for the last four games of the regular season and the playoffs. Quarterback Russell Wilson played all season despite suffering three different injuries, playing behind an offensive line that featured three first-year starters.
Saturday, Seattle’s degree of difficulty increased with another pair of injuries to starting right guard Germain Ifedi on the first series and then cornerback DeShawn Shead in the third quarter.
Ifedi was replaced by fellow rookie Rees Odhiambo, who stepped on Russell Wilson’s foot forcing a safety during a sequence that turned the game.
Shead suffered what Carroll said is likely an ACL tear, and given the usual nine-month recovery time that could mean he won’t be ready for the start of the 2017 season and might mean the team has to add to its cornerback depth.
Other injured players such as Thomas and receiver Tyler Lockett are expected to be ready for next season.
And the Seahawks have essentially all of the core of their team under contractual control for 2017 — the most notable free agents are kicker Steven Hauschka, tight end Luke Willson and linebacker Mike Morgan.
A few other players are entering the final year of their contracts, and the team could look to extend the three players — safety Kam Chancellor, tight end Jimmy Graham and center Justin Britt. Both Chancellor and Graham have significant salary cap hits in 2017 (Graham $10 million and Chancellor $8.125 million) and the Seahawks could look to give new deals to each that could also provide the team some immediate salary cap relief. Graham has no dead money in his deal, meaning the team could save all $10 million by releasing him (not that the team is considering that, but his contract offers the easiest way the Seahawks could clear significant salary cap space if they need to).
Sunday, though, was, as Baldwin said was “kind of like mourning’’ right now of a season that had just passed.
Three years removed from a Super Bowl title and two years from being a play away from winning it, the Seahawks had to ponder a second straight divisional road playoff loss that seemed to get away with surprising ease.
Baldwin, though, said he has no doubts the Seahawks will get another chance.
“I might be biased, but I think we are legitimately really close,’’ he said. “It’s going to come down to us, again, buying into the program, buying into our beliefs and ultimately buying into each other and loving each other and playing at a high level for each other.’’