A healthy Percy Harvin shows he's key to Seahawks' quest for a repeat

SEATTLE – Sometimes, Percy Harvin lined up at receiver, and sometimes he lined up in the backfield, and other times he returned kickoffs on Thursday night. He

Greg Bishop | Sep 5, 2014

A healthy Percy Harvin shows he's key to Seahawks' quest for a repeat /

SEATTLE – Sometimes, Percy Harvin lined up at receiver, and sometimes he lined up in the backfield, and other times he returned kickoffs on Thursday night. He played, as Harvin does when healthy, multiple positions, and he played them all well enough to remind the NFL that he should not be classified as a receiver.

His position should read: SPEED. Or, simply: THREAT.

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In the Seattle Seahawks’ 36-16 victory over the Green Bay Packers at CenturyLink Field, Harvin turned short passes into long gains, spun through tackles, outran defenders, and – this is a big AND, warranting all caps, bold type, an underline or five – he finished the game healthy, limbs intact. Thus the 2014 season started the way the 2013 season ended back in February, with another blowout of a supposed contender by the Seahawks. They won those games by a combined 55 points.

For all the stumbles of Super Bowl champions in the past decade, for all the teams that won championships and relaxed or disbanded or got beat, Seattle made a convincing opening statement Thursday that it could become the first team since the 2003-04 New England Patriots to repeat. The best argument, the case for that, is Harvin. He’s what’s different – and better – about this Seahawks team compared to last year’s squad.

That statement, of course, comes with a disclaimer. It has to. Harvin is an MVP candidate when healthy, a player among the fastest in pro football and among the most versatile, too. He can single-handedly obliterate defensive game plans. He makes Marshawn Lynch better and makes Doug Baldwin better and, on Thursday, he even made Ricardo Lockette better. But he must be on the field.

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Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Seattle wideout Doug Baldwin turned into a defender to keep Ha Ha Clinton-Dix from intercepting this pass during the Seahawks victory over Green Bay.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Marshawn Lynch was in his usual beast-mode, bulldozing his way to 110 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Green Bay had just 80 yards rushing against the Seahawks vaunted defense.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Aaron Rodgers completed 23 of 33 passes for 189 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Percy Harvin caught seven passes for 59 yards, ran four times for 41 yards and handled kickoff return duties for Seattle.

Jordy Nelson

Jordy Nelson stepped out of bounds before he could score on this play. He led Green Bay with nine receptions and 83 yards.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Fullback John Kuhn scored one of Green Bay's two touchdowns.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Robert Turbin turned six carries into 27 yards in spot relief of Marshawn Lynch.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Doug Baldwin gets taken down after making one of his three receptions (14 yards total).

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Michael Bennett caused this Aaron Rodgers fumble, which resulted in a safety.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Russell Wilson fired two touchdown passes while connecting on 19 of his 28 throws for 191 yards.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

The Packers lost starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga and tight end Richard Rodgers on the same play. Bulaga suffered a knee injury and did not return. Rodgers left with a neck injury.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Aaron Rodgers completed 17 of 25 passes for 123 yards in the first half.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Eddie Lacy was held in check for 34 yards rushing on 12 carries. He went into the locker room in the second half to get checked for a possible concussion.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman got in on the scoring with this touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Percy Harvin missed most of last season with Seattle but could be in for a big year if the first game was any indication of what's to come.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Lynch scored on runs of three and nine yards.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Lynch ran for for 1,257 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, and before Thursday's opener the Seahawks said he was looking better than they'd ever seen him before.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Richard Sherman joked around with the Seahawks mascot Blitz after the victory.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

The Seahawks enjoyed another sold out stadium.

Seattle 36, Green Bay 16

Seattle fans would love nothing better than a repeat Super Bowl championship.

Twenty minutes after the game ended, Harvin stood at his locker, shoeless, sleeveless, surrounded by reporters packed in tight, in closer proximity than Packers defenders on the field. He said the last time he felt this healthy was before he went to college, before he burned SEC defenses at Florida and starred in Minnesota, before injuries limited him to 10 regular-season games the past two seasons.

“This is what everyone envisioned,” Harvin said, and by “everyone,” he meant the Seahawks brass that traded a first-, third- and seventh-round pick for him, then turned around and offered him a $67 million contract with a full $25.5 million guaranteed.

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It's a scary thought that a team that won the Super Bowl last season, that bludgeoned the Denver Broncos from the opening kickoff and triumphed 43-8, was not what it had envisioned offensively, was less than it expected. Harvin made an impact in that game in February, too. His kickoff return touchdown to open the second half effectively sealed the victory with nearly 30 minutes left. That was a glimpse, a flash, of what happened here on Thursday.

On Thursday, quarterback Russell Wilson targeted Harvin on seven passes. He caught all of them, for 59 yards. He also lined up the backfield, or sped through it to take handoffs. He carried four times for 41 yards, but that was a misleading number, because Wilson often faked handoffs to Harvin and gave the ball to Lynch, who bulled his way to 110 yards and two scores, the holes wide enough for his Lamborghini to roll through in part because the Packers had to account for Harvin.

Harvin was the Seahawks’ leading and most-targeted receiver, their second-leading rusher, and he added 60 yards on three kickoff returns, and one of them he almost broke. Any one of those facets, on their own, would represent a solid NFL game. Taken together, they’re the difference between a close contest and a blowout.

As reporters flooded into the Seahawks’ locker room, Wilson stood at his locker, smiling, still in pads. He shrugged. “How about Percy Harvin?” he said.

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“He’s so explosive,” Wilson continued at his press conference. “He can do so many different things. To add Percy Harvin, to add his explosive mentality and how really good he is, it makes it really tough.”

That’s the thing. For all the Seahawks lost in free agency – receiver Golden Tate, defensive tackle Red Bryant, defensive end Chris Clemons – they basically did add Harvin. He played in one regular-season game last year, caught one pass, for 17 yards. This was like adding a first-round draft pick with a sprinter’s speed, a versatile skill set and a proven NFL track record. That happens about … never.

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There’s always a but, though, and one sequence in the second quarter spoke to both the risk the Seahawks took with Harvin and the potential rewards he can provide.

On first-and-10 at their own 36-yard-line, Wilson dumped a short pass to Harvin, the same kind of pass he made all night. As Harvin caught the ball, linebacker Clay Matthews leveled him, the impact loud enough the crack echoed. Harvin fumbled the ball. The crowd held its collective breath. He recovered and bounced up and jogged back to the huddle, but it seemed fair to wonder how many of those kinds of hits he can take this season. It’s not like he can provide an expiration date.

On the next play, Harvin ran a deep route and crossed the middle of the field. Wilson threw a laser toward him. Harvin caught the ball in full stride and gained 33 yards, and on the next play, with the Packers' defense even more mindful of his whereabouts, the Seahawks faked a read option and Wilson found Lockette for the touchdown. The Seahawks led, 10-7. The rout had started.

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Whether this lasts for a week, or a month, or the NFL season, remains to be seen. But the defense is good enough, stout enough, fast enough, to carry Seattle back into the postseason. If Harvin is healthy and even half this effective – again, big IF – they will be better on offense, too. More dynamic.

If Thursday was only one game, the smallest of sample sizes, it was one game that went exactly the way the Seahawks wanted. Back at Harvin’s locker, an energy gel lay nearby, unopened.

He didn’t need it.

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Published Sep 5, 2014

GREG BISHOP

Greg Bishop is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has covered every kind of sport and every major event across six continents for more than two decades. He previously worked for The Seattle Times and The New York Times. He is the co-author of two books: Jim Gray's memoir, "Talking to GOATs"; and Laurent Duvernay Tardif's "Red Zone". Bishop has written for Showtime Sports, Prime Video and DAZN, and has been nominated for eight sports Emmys, winning two, both for production. He has completed more than a dozen documentary film projects, with a wide range of duties. Bishop, who graduated from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, is based in Seattle.