Injury update points to Seahawks' defense being even better in playoffs

After a dominating performance to put an exclamation point on an almost flawless regular season, there is only one pressing question on the minds of the 12s these days: Did the Seattle Seahawks peak too soon?

Seattle lost only three games, by margins of two, three and four points. in each of the games, they had the ball in the final two minutes with a chance to win. And then there's the defense.

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Coach Mike Macdonald's unit doesn't miss tackles. Pressures the quarterback. Rarely blows coverage. Even the No. 1 target of criticism throughout the season - cornerback Riq Woolen - has drastically improved into a consistent playmaker.

The NFC's road to Super Bowl LX goes through Lumen Field and the 12s because in Week 18 the Seahawks suffocated what had been the NFL's hottest offense. The San Francisco 49ers entered the showdown off games scoring 37, 48 and 42 points. In December, they scored 16 touchdowns and punted only twice.

But the Seahawks held them out of the end zone, and to only nine first downs on eight possessions.

The performance left a legitimate question: Can Seattle play any better? Indeed it can.

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Starting safety Coby Bryant, who missed the two games, will be back for the Divisionala Round home game. Not that backup Ty Okada didn't do a great job, but Bryant's return will simply add more firepower to the NFL's best defense.

Scary fact: The Seahawks' starting safety tandem of Bryant and Julian Love played together only six games.

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