SEATTLE – A lot of Seahawks fans may not want to watch this Sunday’s NFL conference championship games after their team was eliminated last week. It’s too soon. It’s too painful.
Count Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett as one of them.
“No. Probably not. I’m a sore loser so probably not,” Bennett said on ESPN’s Mike & Mike radio show Friday morning.
The Seahawks are sitting at home for the conference championship weekend for the first time since 2012. They represented the NFC in the Super Bowl the past two seasons.
After being down 31-0 at halftime at Carolina last Sunday, the Seahawks rallied back in the second half but fell short, losing 31-24.
A lot has been made about the Seahawks having to play two straight weeks at 10 a.m. Pacific time to open the postseason, first in below-zero temperatures in Minnesota then in Carolina. Since 1981, no west coast team has won a Super Bowl when having to play that early during the playoffs. But Bennett says the early start had nothing to do with what happened last weekend.
“We have no excuses. We just didn’t play good the first half. If you seen the way we played the second half, we could have won that game. We made so many mistakes early in the game, we could have won that game,” said Bennett.
You can always rely on Bennett to find a colorful way to describe just about anything. So how cold was it when the Seahawks played the Vikings in minus-6 degree temperatures?
“I think it was like being at divorce court with your ex-wife and she wants half and you’re just sitting there. It’s really cold,” said Bennett. “It was super cold out there. It was really hard to play because it was to the point where when you were sweating it turned into ice. I bet it was hard to catch the ball. I told Russell Wilson, ‘Man. You a beast for coming out there with no gloves on.’”
Bennett said he thought about playing without sleeves to be a tough guy. That changed after warm-ups.
“Oh, hell no. This is just too much for me right now,” said Bennett.
At the end of the interview, NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter asked Bennett to send a message to receiver Doug Baldwin.
“Tell Doug Baldwin I said relax, man. Relax, man. Everything’s alright,” said Carter.
Carter notoriously called the Seahawks receivers “pedestrian” and “appetizers” during their first Super Bowl run. That brought the public ire of Baldwin who was also tagged with the nickname “Angry” Doug Baldwin.
Bennett used Carter’s request to poke fun at his teammate.
“You know Doug, man. He’s one of those guys, man. He’s got Napoleon Syndrome,” said Bennett.
Napoleon Syndrome, often referred to as Napoleon Complex, is a theoretical condition in which shorter people are overly-aggressive or domineering. Baldwin is listed at 5’10” tall.
Bennett predicts the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots will advance to the Super Bowl.
Bennett was voted to his first Pro Bowl this year after a career-high ten sacks
