Over the past two seasons, the Seattle Seahawks found themselves on the road in Week 1 and proceeded to lose. They have been one of the worst September road teams in the NFL for more than a decade.
But at home, more specifically the fortress we now know as CenturyLink Field? It’s been as dominant as you might expect.
Dating back to 2002, when “Seahawks Stadium” first opened for business, Seattle is a staggering 26-3 in the opening month of the regular season. That’s the second-most wins in the league during that span, and the .897 win percentage edges out the Denver Broncos (who are 29-4).
Those three losses came against the Arizona Cardinals in 2002 (in the team’s first home game at CLink), the San Francisco 49ers in 2008 (which doubles as Seattle’s last defeat in a home opener), and the Chicago Bears in the ill-fated green jersey game in 2009. The common theme is that the 2002, 2008, and 2009 teams all didn’t come remotely close to making the playoffs.
Of their 29 wins, 17 were by double-digits and three of them were shutouts. In the Pete Carroll era, they are perfect in September home games, even with close calls against the San Diego Chargers (2010), Arizona Cardinals (2011), Green Bay Packers (2012), Denver Broncos (2014), Miami Dolphins (2016), San Francisco 49ers (2017).
This year, the Seahawks open the 2019 regular season against the Cincinnati Bengals, whose last CenturyLink Field appearance was a 34-12 victory in 2011. One of those September home wins did come vs. Cincy, when Seattle rallied to beat the Bengals 24-21 in the 2007 season on a Matt Hasselbeck strike to Nate Burleson. The other September game is vs. Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, who’ve not been to Seattle since the 2013-14 NFC Divisional Round, which Seattle won 23-15. We all remember the 34-7 Monday Night Football beatdown, one of the finest regular season wins in franchise history.
Based on the historical form guide that has held true from bad Seahawks teams to great ones, we should expect Seattle to be at least 2-2 at the end of this September.
(Stats via Pro Football Reference)
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