I let go of SBXL a couple years ago. It absolutely does suck that some longtime Seahawks fans who suffered through that weren't around to experience this year's run. The 2005 debacle made it that much sweeter.
Part of letting go of SBXL was seeing how differently Pete & John handled the approach to building a team, vs. 2005 Ruskell and Holmgren.
We've had Next Man Up for a couple years now, and it's been a thing of beauty. We didn't have anything close in '05, what we had was *luck* in having fewer key injuries.
Our 2005 offense was dominant, but our defense was just-good-enough, and when we lost Marquand Manuel in SBXL 2nd quarter (hip injury), the Stealers coaches noticed it and came up with two long TD plays that took advantage of our scrambled secondary. Willie Parker 75 yard TD run, and the Antwaan Randle Ell trick play TD pass to Hines Ward. Credit to Sh.. er, Pittsburgh's coaches.
Read what Manuel himself has to say about it here:
http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/01/30/ ... uper-bowl/
Had Mike Holmgren and Tim Ruskell invested even a *fraction* of the energy in "Next Man Up" that Pete and John do, Seattle wins. The PC/JS Seahawks set records for the sheer number of transactions at the *bottom* of the roster, trying to make sure every player on the roster could play, and that practice squad guys could step in and play acceptably if needed. 2005 Seahawks, not so much.
2005 Seattle loses Marquand Manuel, and in steps not-ready-for-prime-time, man-off-the-street Etric Pruitt. The chewing gum starts unsticking and the baling twine snaps. The "not ready" part is on Ruskell and Holmgren, IMO, not on Pruitt. He was put into an emergency situation he was absolutely unprepared for. Watch the Willie Parker TD at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oxbocufUeA and decide for yourself which players failed on this play. The Seattle D-Line also got manhandled on the play. The point is, the secondary was scrambled chaos, as a result of not having a player prepared to step in at a key position. Holmgren + Ruskell approach was to cross their fingers and hope. We lost that game through self-inflicted front office wounds, as much as we did on the field and via the zebras.
2013 Seattle loses Sidney Rice, and in steps last year's practice squad guy Jermaine Kearse, who proceeds to light it up, making *the* (IMO) key play in NFCCG with the 4th down TD against the 49ers. Plus a highlight reel TD in SB XLVIII. 2013 Seattle loses 2/3 of their offensive line, and guys like Michael Bowie, Alvin Bailey step in and are serviceable enough to allow the team to get the W's. We lose Brandon Browner to suspension, and Byron Maxwell steps in. We lose KJ Wright for a while and other guys, including Malcolm Smith, step in and play lights out. You can see 2014 Seattle already preparing "Next Man Up" for the upcoming season. Terrelle Pryor fits there, IMO.
Anyway, the Steelers have been sucking, and are in a down time for them. I'm happy to let them be forgotten has-beens. Beating the 49ers in the NFCCG was just about as satisfying as it gets.