Seahawks' Carroll Explains How 12s Made History vs. Panthers

The Seattle Seahawks were aided by their "12s" in the 37-27 win over the Carolina Panthers.

Over the years, Lumen Field, which was formerly known as CenturyLink Field, built a reputation for not only being home to one of the NFL's greatest defenses of all time with the Legion of Boom but also for being one of the toughest environments for opposing teams to play in.

"The 12s" isn't just a nickname that the team has given the fanbase; at certain times, the fans can truly play a factor in games. They did so once again in the Seattle Seahawks' 37-27 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, which makes them essentially a "12th man."

“One of the most obvious things that happened today was feeling the 12s," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said following the win. "God, what a great impact they had on this game. These guys had eight false starts in this game, and that's not us. We had nothing to do with that. They can't get coordinated because of the noise. What a great factor."

As Carroll notes, of the 13 penalties suffered by the Panthers on Sunday, eight of those were due to false starts, which is a direct byproduct of the noise from the 12s. That amount of false start penalties isn't common. In fact, the Panthers now hold the record for the most false starts in a single game since 2011, according to ESPN.

Seattle Seahawks fans celebrate during a game / USA TODAY

No drive may prove the impact of the 12s more than the Panthers' fourth drive of the second half. Following a near-flawless start to the third quarter, where the Seahawks managed to score 17 points in their first three possessions to help take a 29-20 lead with over 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Seattle defense had an opportunity to salt the game away. 

All the Seahawks needed was a stop defensively and another score, which would essentially put the game on ice. That is where the 12s came into play, as with the Panthers in Seattle's territory, the noise helped create back-to-back false starts on Carolina, which not only knocked it out of scoring position but ended the drive as Dalton's 3rd-and-14 pass fell incomplete. 

Except that wasn't all; as the old saying goes, "when it rains, it pours," and the Panthers suffered a third false start penalty on their ensuing punt.

Combine the impact of the 12s with a big second half from the Seahawks offense, who, after being held to four field goals in the first 30 minutes of play, scored 25 points to close out the game. It was a perfect storm to help the Seahawks pull out a second straight victory after dropping their season-opening game to the Los Angeles Rams.

"It was so obvious that they were kind of running the show, so we were just playing off them and flying with them," Carroll said of the environment created by the fans. "It felt more unique than it's felt recently, and for whatever reason, the fact that they responded like that in this early part of the season after we screwed it up last time we were here, that's where we start moving forward. I'm hoping that we can continue to fill them up and they can fill us up with the love they have for the Seahawks.”