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this month when the team released veteran wide receiver Doug Baldwin Jarran Reed Color Rush Jersey , one of the most beloved players on the roster by fans and most..." The Offseason2019 NFL DraftIt’s all about perspective and expectationsNew,94commentsPDTFans of the Seattle Seahawks were largely blindsided earlier this month when the team released veteran wide receiver Doug Baldwin, one of the most beloved players on the roster by fans and most productive receivers in team history. That, of course, brings up the obvious questions about who will fill Baldwin’s shoes for the receiving corps, and which receivers will be tasked with replacing the lost production. It’s no secret that the team went heavy at receiver in the draft, adding DK Metcalf, Gary Jennings and John Ursua, and the excitement for those three players among fans is great. Optimism is nothing new for fans, who are expected to be hopeful for the future of fresh additions to the team, but should Seahawks fans be expecting more from this group than from third year players David Moore and Amara Darboh? It’s been more than two years since the Seahawks selected those two in the 2017 NFL Draft, but fans have cooled on them in spite of the flashes they have shown at times because of the holes in their games that have also been shown. Why is it that fans have greater optimism for players that have zero snaps of NFL game experience than players who have at least been in the system and have experience? Why is it, in spite of evidence that Darboh and Moore can at least hack it at a minimal level fans have turned their attention to the rookies? Is it because humans are inherently drawn to the new and shiny? Is it because research shows that negative outcomes are more impactful on the psyche than positive outcomes and fans now have two season of watching their hopes for Darboh and Moore not be fulfilled as they’d expected? Whether that is the actual reason behind why fans are more interested in the rookies than the guys who have been here for a couple of years or not, it brings me to the point about perspective and expectations. Fans expectations for Moore and Darboh appear to have been reset lower after two years worth of evidence regarding their skills and abilities on the field. This is not to say either of them is not good, just that receiver is a difficult position to play and takes time to learn. A third year breakout for receivers is not uncommon Nick Vannett Color Rush Jersey , and thus we come back to the idea of perspective. Similarly, many fans are excited about the prospect of Mike Iupati potentially taking over as the starter at left guard, in spite of his injury history. He’s new, so fans have hope that he can demonstrate the All Pro form he showed earlier in his career, and fans are willing to downplay the fact that he hasn’t played a full sixteen games in a season since Matt Flynn was the backup quarterback for the Seahawks. These hopes are founded in the perspective of a Seahawks fan whose never seen him miss a game for their team. In contrast, fans of the Arizona Cardinals fan who watched Iupati miss 25 games over the past four years and never suit up for every game in a season are more than happy to see him depart. And this brings things back to perspective, which is key for setting realistic expectations. For example, take a look at the following and see what jumps out most (Author’s note: You’ll need to open the tweet to see the full picture to understand the rest of what I’m about to talk about). That is a tweet that former New England Patriot Brandon Spikes, sent out on the morning of the Super Bowl back in February. Everyone I’ve ever shown that picture to instantly notices one thing, and that is who is in the picture with Spikes. Yes, that is indeed Aaron Hernandez, which immediately leads to the question of why Spikes would tweet a photo of himself with a convicted murderer to get ready for the Super Bowl matchup against the Los Angeles Rams? The answer to that again likely lies in perspective. The 2011 Super Bowl is the only Super Bowl for which Spikes played in. He was with the Buffalo Bills in 2014 and so his Super Bowl memories are from the Pats 2011 loss to the Eli Manning led New York Giants. In short, from his perspective, Super Bowl memories involve Aaron Hernandez, with whom he played not just for the Patriots Justin Britt Color Rush Jersey , but in college with the Florida Gators where the two were teammates for three seasons. To hammer home my point about perspective, though, what jumped out of the picture to me had nothing to do with the teammate in the picture. Take a look at the shoes Spikes is wearing. For the overwhelming majority of fans reading this article, they’ll probably look at his shoes and shrug, but for me, those shoes jump out of the picture. Why? Because of my perspective. One look at those shoes and I know exactly what those shoes are. They’re Reebok Realflex. And they’re not Realflex 2.0 or 3.0, those are the originals, which just happen to be my favorite shoes of all time. I bought a pair in 2011 and instantly fell in love. Over the next year or so I picked up a couple more pairs, and in 2013 I found a half dozen pairs in my size at the Reebok store at the Premium Outlets South in Las Vegas and bought them all. In short, as OTAs wind down over the coming weeks and through training camp in July and August, remember to keep perspective in mind. The flashy new toys that were just recently added may not contribute as much as those who have been working hard while buried on the depth chart. The veteran who had bad injury luck with another team may continue to have bad injury luck with the Seahawks. In short, as fans we’re about to enter into the time of the year when hopes and expectations can begin to far outpace reality as news is hard to come by, but upside and dreams have an inexhaustible supply. SEATTLE (AP) — Bobby Wagner leaped over the line of scrimmage, swatted Dan Bailey’s field goal attempt and sparked the Seattle Seahawks to two late touchdowns.Whether or not what Wagner did was entirely legal, he frankly didn’t care.“I’m not stressing about that. I made the play. They called what they called Nazair Jones Color Rush Jersey ,” Wagner said. “There’s times in games where things happen all the time. I’m not stressing on it. It was a big block and we’ll definitely take it. It was amazing.”Wagner’s block midway through the fourth quarter was the catalyst in a 21-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night that pushed Seattle to the brink of a playoff berth.Chris Carson followed the blocked kick with a 2-yard TD run with 2:53 left, and Justin Coleman capped off the Seahawks’ fourth straight victory with a 29-yard fumble return for a touchdown 18 seconds later.What was an ugly and mostly forgettable first three quarters turned into a Seattle party in the fourth as the Seahawks (8-5) moved to the brink of wrapping up a wild-card spot in the NFC. One win in Seattle’s final three games — including matchups with lowly San Francisco and Arizona — should be enough to put the Seahawks into the postseason.“It’s really about the defense. I loved the way they played, they played so hard and so spirited,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “It was almost poetic after last week’s game that Bobby would get to block the field goal and he pulled it off and did it. That was an incredible play.”Minnesota (6-6-1) twice had scoring chances in the fourth quarter when it was still a one-score game but was turned away each time. Minnesota’s chances of winning the NFC North took a major hit with its second straight loss, but the Vikings still hold the No. 6 spot in the NFC.“Part of it is being better on third downs. We haven’t really done a good job there. Part of it is being better in the red zone,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “We had the ball on the 2-yard line and didn’t score.”But much of the conversation centered on Wagner’s block of Bailey’s 47-yard attempt with 5:38 left and whether it was entirely legal. Wagner’s jump through a gap in Minnesota’s offensive line was fine, but it appeared he used his teammates to gain leverage, which allowed him to come through and block the kick. A flag was initially thrown but was picked up by the officials.Wagner said he attempted it four times in practice without a problem but acknowledged it could be tough to pull off the play during the fourth quarter of a tight game.“When I did it in practice I was pretty fresh,” Wagner said.Zimmer said he asked for an explanation of what happened but wasn’t given one. He was told he couldn’t challenge.“Quite honestly, I didn’t see what happened. I was told what happened,” Zimmer said.Seattle took possession and Russell Wilson immediately scrambled 40 yards deep into Minnesota territory. Five plays later, Carson scored and Seattle finally had a cushion. Two plays after that, Jacob Martin sacked Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins and the ball popped to Coleman, who weaved his way for the clinching touchdown.Cousins threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Dalvin Cook with 1:10 remaining, but Seattle recovered the onside kick.“I feel like all of our losses we 12th Fan Color Rush Jersey , as an offense, we are so slow,” Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen said. “Our defense is keeping us in games. And we’re not pulling our side of the bargain.”Wilson had one of the worst passing games of his career, completing 10 of 20 attempts for career-low 72 yards and a baffling interception late in the first half, one of the many mistakes by Seattle that allowed Minnesota to hang around. But Seattle’s ground game was outstanding against one of the better run defenses in the NFL. The Seahawks finished with 214 yards rushing, led by 90 yards from Carson.Sebastian Janikowski hit field goals of 37 and 35 yards to account for all of Seattle’s scoring until the closing minutes.“If you run it 40-something times, you ought to win. That was pretty good,” Carroll said.FOURTH QUARTER WOESMinnesota hung around despite failing to run a play in Seattle territory until there was 4:16 left in the third quarter. Cousins was 20 of 33 for 208 yards, most of that coming late. But he failed to get the Vikings into the end zone from inside the Seattle 5 while trailing 6-0 early in the fourth quarter.The Vikings had first-and-goal at the Seattle 4 but turned the ball over on downs with 9:06 remaining. Two short runs and an incompletion brought up fourth-and-goal at the 1, and Cousins’ pass for Kyle Rudolph was knocked away by Bradley McDougald. Bailey’s field goal was blocked on Minnesota’s next drive.REACHING 100Minnesota fell to 0-6 when allowing its opponents to run for at least 100 yards. The Vikings came in to the week giving up 99 yards per game on the ground, good for seventh-best in the NFL. Seattle had 136 yards rushing in the first half.OTHER CENTURY MARKThielen tied Cris Carter as the fastest Minnesota player to reach 100 receptions in a season, both accomplishing the feat in 13 games. Carter did it in 1994 when he finished the year with 122 catches. Thielen is the first Minnesota receiver to get to 100 catches since Randy Moss in 2003. But Thielen didn’t get his first catch until midway through the third quarter. He finished with five catches for 70 yards.UP NEXTMinnesota: The Vikings return home to host Miami on Sunday.Seattle: The Seahawks play their final road game Sunday at San Francisco.