Boardregeln » Immediately after the Seahawks’ decision to throw the ball

at the goal line resulted in a Super Bowl loss instead of a Super Bowl win Bobby Wagner Color Rush Jersey , it became obvious that multiple Seahawks players would have a hard time getting over it. Three years later, the Seahawks have finally cleared out anyone who couldn’t forget about the decision that kept Seattle from launching a bona fide football dynasty.Defensive end Frank Clark, who arrived after Super Bowl XLIX, said after Monday’s win over the Vikings that “we’ve had this spirit over us, that Super Bowl lingering from 2015,” and that “I feel like for the longest [time] we had that cloud over us, like people wouldn’t get over it.”Pete Carroll didn’t dispute Clark’s assessment when meeting with reporters on Wednesday.“He gets to say whatever he wants to say,” Carroll said. “I trust Frank. I didn’t read it, but if Frank feels that way then there’s probably something to it in Frank’s mind. There aren’t many guys around here that wouldn’t understand that or have any reference to that. . . . It’s a pretty good thought.”Clark had more thoughts about the Seahawks post-Super Bowl XLIX era, and regarding one of the most important players on those great Seattle teams.“When I showed up in 2015, the first [draft] coming after that year, it was hectic around here,” Clark said. “You had a lot of guys that still felt their [negative] ways and stuff like that. But at the end of the day it was just a lingering effect. You could tell. You could tell the whole vibe. I don’t want to dwell into the past too much because I didn’t have anything to do with that. Most of the players here didn’t have nothing to do with that. That’s how crazy it is. Change happens so fast in the NFL. . . . But the difference from then to now is we’re finally starting to let that off, we’re finally starting to let that off our shoulders and take that weight off.”The departure of any players who would still be feeling salty about Super Bowl XLIX helps, and Clark is salty about former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman calling the new Seahawks a “middle of the road” team.“At the end of the day, ‘middle of the road,’ that’s Richard Sherman being Richard Sherman,” Clark said. “He’s not in this locker room anymore, so his opinion really doesn’t matter. You know what I mean? They’ve got problems over there in San Fran that he needs to be worried about. At the end of the day Justin Coleman Color Rush Jersey , this is my team now. This is my defense. Richard Sherman and his era is over here.”It’s indeed a new era in Seattle, and as quarterback Russell Wilson said earlier in the year, the 2012 vibe has returned to the franchise. With the fumes of Super Bowl XLIX finally gone, maybe these new Seahawks will end up playing in Super Bowl LIII, LIV, and/or LV. The Arizona Cardinals season has not gone the way that they wanted it to go, but I think it would have been reasonable to see this coming. In my preseason preview of the NFC, here’s what I wrote about the Cardinals season before I predicted them to finish 4-12:Arizona is now one win away from making my prediction come true or one loss away from finishing with a slightly worse record that will guarantee them something that they’ve never had before: The number one pick in the draft and potentially, Nick Bosa. The team either standing in their way or rushing to get the door for them is of course the Seattle Seahawks.As I wrote earlier this week, it is important for the Seahawks to win, as a guarantee of the 5-seed could be key to any playoff run. That’s why we should expect them to go about business as usual unless they get ahead early enough to start pulling starters and keeping them healthy for a wild card trip to Dallas. However, if Seattle should lose, it could also potentially change the Cards’ plans dramatically.Rumor has it that the franchise is expected to fire first-year head coach Steve Wilks after the game, putting him back on the market for a job on defense. (Should Ron Rivera keep his job with the Carolina Panthers, a reunion may be in order.) Things have gotten to the point that Wilks is now openly joking about how he didn’t get a podium at the press conference this week.But doomed or not, Wilks has one more game to coach. It’s a road divisional game against a playoff team with something to fight for and if Arizona’s management was being completely logical, then they already knew they handed Wilks a roster that could not compete for the playoffs. Not with Sam Bradford, Mike Glennon, and Josh Rosen at quarterback. Perhaps not with a GM who may be the real culprit Russell Wilson Color Rush Jersey , as he’s the one who handed a running back a $39 million extension before even securing a competent offensive line. He’s the one that continued to support Bradford’s great great great great grandchildren’s college fund despite zero evidence that he’s a quality starter and without a team around the quarterback that’s good enough to make him look halfway decent. He’s the one who hung back in the 2017 draft and took Haason Reddick at 13, as the Kansas City Chiefs jumped over them for Patrick Mahomes and the Houston Texans leaped ‘em for Deshaun Watson.When they fired Bruce Arians, maybe they were doing him a favor.All of which is neither here no there as it applies to Steve Keim, but what if Wilks takes Keim’s weak roster into Seattle on Sunday and wins? What if Rosen has his first game of the season with a passer rating over 90? What if the Arizona defense holds a team under 90 rushing yards for the first time all year and does so against the number one rushing team? After all, the Cardinals were a field goal away from potentially beating the Seahawks in their earlier matchup of the season.Would that be enough for Wilks to get a second season, as most coaches do? As Jon Gruden will, not that the Oakland Raiders have any choice. As Pat Shurmur likely will. Kyle Shanahan’s certain to get a third season, and he’s likely on his way to a 10-22 career record, 4-20 without Jimmy Garoppolo. Maybe the Cardinals will have that same Week 17 miracle magic that they had in 2003, when a 3-12 Arizona team defeated a 9-6 Minnesota Vikings team 18-17 on the final play, keeping the Vikings from the playoffs. That throw by Josh McCown also kept the Cardinals from picking first overall in the draft for the first time. The good news is that they still got Larry Fitzgerald at three. It could still be argued that’s not as good as their other option at the time, Eli Manning, who the San Diego Chargers drafted and then immediately traded to the New York Giants for a nice haul of picks. Maybe Eli refuses to go to Arizona too, in which case, maybe they also get a nice haul of picks and then still get Fitzgerald or Philip Rivers, though they passed on Rivers once.Should the Cards lose, they’ll be guaranteed the number one pick, and they can get Bosa, someone else Brandon Marshall Color Rush Jersey , or trade down. Should the Seahawks falter, other teams will have the opportunity to move ahead of them in the draft.Arizona can pick anywhere from one to three, making them the only team guaranteed a top-3 slot. However, if they win and the San Francisco 49ers lose, as they’re expected to against the LA Rams, then the 49ers could pick first. And if the Cardinals and Niners both come away with upset wins, while the New York Jets drop a game at New England, also expected, then the Jets will pick first. That is the best scenario for the NFC West and also the least likely.A Seattle win keeps things simple: Arizona will pick first and if the rumors are true, will fire Wilks shortly after. I still think that Keim is potentially the bigger issue (or at least, the second-biggest issue after ownership), but it seems that they’re going to go on the hunt for the second time in a year.A Seattle loss though and the Cards could potentially lose the number one pick and give Wilks a second chance. Arizona did fire Dave McGinnis after that McCown miracle, but he’d been trending the wrong way for awhile, having gone 13-28 in his first 2.5 years with the team prior to 2003.This game means something for the Seahawks, but it potentially means even more for the Cardinals, and more than one person in the organization, certainly not Wilks, is rooting for a loss.