The best two teams in the NFC West also could be the best two teams in the NFL. And it’ll be fun to see the 49ers and Seahawks resolve both questions on the field this year.
But what once was an arms race could become a war of attrition, amid injuries and (for the Seahawks) a rash of suspensions.
Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner joined Pro Football Talk on NBCSN to discuss the team’s effort to put an end to an outbreak of four-game suspensions that stretched to five since 2011, with the recent suspension of defensive end Bruce Irvin. Specifically, and as safety Kam Chancellor explained earlier this week, the team’s veterans called a meeting.
“The meeting lasted for a little bit of time but I think it was just a meeting just to go over and let everybody know we have a great opportunity in front of us you know, and not to let anything distracts us anything to kick us off course from that great opportunity,” Wagner told Erik Kuselias. “Just one of those meetings that just kind of get everybody together to get back on focus and focus on what we need to do which is win.”
The meeting involved no yelling or screaming or throwing of chairs.
"[D]efinitely a calm meeting,” Wagner said. “I mean, everybody knew what it was, everybody makes mistakes but it’s in the past but we’re moving on from it and we’re just going to continue to make the best of this opportunity.”
If the meeting was calm, the rivalry with the 49ers isn’t. Wagner explained that, during last year’s Sunday night game against San Francisco, it was so loud at CenturyLink Field that he couldn’t hear NBC’s Michele Tafoya, even though she was standing right next to him. And Wagner knows when the 49ers and Seahawks get together in 2013, starting early in the year with another date on Sunday Night Football.
“Yeah, definitely because they’re one of the top dogs in the league so you know, if we want to be a top dog we got to take down the top dog,” Wagner said. “So, we definitely look forward to playing them.”
We look forward to watching them play.