You had Seahawks questions; we have answers.

John Boyle

The Seahawks are back to work this week after enjoying a well-deserved weekend off as the NFC's top seed. Next up is an NFC West showdown with the 49ers in the divisional round, a Saturday night affair at Lumen Field that should feature an absolutely electric atmosphere. But before we get to that massive game on Saturday, it's time once again to open up the mailbag and answer some questions from you, the fans.

As always, thanks to everyone who asked questions this week, and apologies if I wasn't able to get to yours this time around. And remember, the mailbag is always open for submissions atSeahawks.com/mailbag.

@warrenotwasteland.bsky.social asks, "Has it happened before that three of the last four teams in a conference were all from the same division?"

A: It has happened, but not very often. This year's NFC West is just the fourth division since 1970 to have three teams among the final eight in the postseason.

Most recently three NFC East teams, Philadelphia, Dallas and New York, reached the divisional round after the 2022 season, with the Eagles advancing to the Super Bowl. In 1997, when there were three five-team divisions in each conference, Green Bay, Tampa Bay and Minnesota all made the divisional round from the NFC Central, with Green Bay advancing to the Super Bowl (and yes, Tampa Bay, Florida, was once classified as "central," and better yet, the Bucs were in the AFC West when they came into the league, along with the Seahawks, in 1976) . And in 1992, Dallas, Washington and Philadelphia all made the divisional round, with the Cowboys going on to win the Super Bowl.

@12ASONE24 asks, "Would you say the goal to get Lumen Field back to being an intimidating place to play has succeeded this year?"

A: The Seahawks have indeed appeared to recapture some home magic, which is a big reason why they are hosting a playoff game this weekend. Last year, the Seahawks were 7-1 on the road, but thanks to a 3-6 record at Lumen Field, they finished 10-7 and missed the playoffs. This year, the Seahawks were great on the road again, going 8-1, but the difference was a 6-2 home record, including five straight home wins to close out the season. And based off the atmosphere for the Seahawks' Thursday night win over the Rams in Week 16, I fully expect a very, very loud environment for Saturday night's game.

@annika02329787 asks, "What's the headspace like going into this playoff game at home, and how does that feeling transfer onto the field?"

A: The best way to describe what we've been hearing from players this week, and really since they beat the 49ers to win the NFC West, is that they're going about this week just like any other game week. Yes, players understand the stakes, but they know the best way to have success in the playoffs is to do what helped them get to 14 regular season wins. All season long, a phrase that Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and his players have used to describe the team is "loose and focused." In other words, they have a lot of fun, but they buckle down and work hard when that's called for as well, and the team has the same loose and focused vibe this week that it did throughout the regular season.

As for this week in particular, players know the gameday atmosphere will be dialed up a bit from what they're used to, but the key will be to feed off of that and have it be a positive.

"I think this group has learned how to feed into that," said linebacker Ernest Jones IV. "We learned how to feed into it and be able to calm it down when we have to calm it down and turn it up when we have to. So expecting the environment to be electric. I'm excited. I can't wait."

@segdeha.com at BlueSky notes that as a longtime fan various Seattle Sports teams and Washington State University, "I'm conditioned to believe in my teams' ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This year's Hawks feel different to me, more trustworthy. You've been around the team for a while, does it feel different to you too?"

A: It does feel different just in a sense that this team is better than any we've seen in quite a while. There's something to be said for being a gritty team that pulls off a lot of close wins, and the Seahawks have done that plenty of times this year, but over the course of the season, they've just been a lot better than their opponents in most games, hence a 14-3 record and plus-191 point differential that led the league and is the best in franchise history. None of that guarantees playoff success, but it does show that the Seahawks are a team that is good enough to beat anybody. You don't need to talk yourself into how they could win if X, Y and Z all fall their way. They're just a damn good football team that can win games in all three phases of the game.

@ThatWiiMaster asks, "Is there a player who maybe didn't have the biggest regular season that you think could prove to be an X-factor in the playoffs?"

A: It's hard to decide where to draw the line between big regular season and eligible to be an X-factor, but at the very least let's remove everyone who was a Pro-Bowl (Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sam Darnold, Rashid Shaheed, Devon Witherspoon, Leonard Williams & DeMarcus Lawrence) or All-Pro (Smith-Njigba, Witherspoon, Williams, Ernest Jones IV & Michael Dickson) selection this year. Taking those players out of the equation, there are still a lot of really good players who will be expected to step up in the playoffs. But if you're talking about players who maybe didn't put up big numbers who could do more, a few names come to mind. On offense, I've been saying this for a while, but I still feel like we're due for a big Cooper Kupp game. Kupp has not seen nearly the volume of targets as he did during his time in Los Angles, in part because of the season Smith-Njigba is having and in part because the Seahawks threw the ball at one of the lowest rates in the league this season, but when the ball does come his way, he has been really good, displaying the traitsroute-running, hands, yard-after-catch ability, toughness, ability to come through in clutch momentsthat made him one of the league's top receivers in his time in LA. Kupp's modest numbers47 catches for 593 yards and two touchdownsdon't come close to illustrating his importance to the team this season, both on the field and throughout the week, and it would be fun to see him break out with a big performance in the playoffs. If he's activated from IR this week, tight end Elijah Arroyo could be another name to watch on offense thanks to his athleticism and ability to stretch the field. Also, I know I disqualified Shaheed with the Pro-Bowl selection, but it's my mailbag so I'll make up the rules as I go along, and since that honor was for special teams, I'll mention him as another X-factor on offense.

On the other side of the ball, it's hard to call anyone a potential X-factor based on how well everyone has played on that side of the ball. Earlier in the year, someone like Drake Thomas could be seen as an X-factor after taking over a starting role, but can we really say that about somebody who had 96 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, eight passes defensed and a big interception to help close out Seattle's Week 18 win over the 49ers? Probably not. I could also see Riq Woolen or Josh Jobe coming up big, but again, they've done too much to meet that X-factor definition.

@davidllama asks about the Seahawks possibly wearing throwbacks this week, while @DeleoLaperla asks if they can wear their Rivalries uniforms.

A: This came up last week as well, in regard to the throwbacks, and my understanding is that NFL teams cannot wear alternat uniforms in the postseason, meaning they are limited to their traditional navy or white jerseys. I love the throwbacks and would love to see them in a playoff game, but that does not appear to be in the cards, unless that rule changed and I wasn't aware of it, in which case I'd be happy to be wrong.