How Do I Feel? Excited, Nervous, Scared, Anxious... Just All the Emotions

It all comes down to tomorrow night.

I genuinely cannot remember the last time I felt this nervous, excited, anxious, and scared about a sporting event all at once. Tomorrow, the Seattle Seahawks play their first playoff game of the year, hosting the San Francisco 49ers in a divisional-round matchup at Lumen Field.

This isn’t just any playoff game. It’s a division rivalry game. And it’s one where the Seahawks enter as the number one seed in the NFC. They are currently the Las Vegas favourite to win the Super Bowl, and on paper, all the signs point to them winning this game and making a deep playoff run.

The reality is that the 49ers are coming into this game extremely banged up, and they have been all season. All-Pro tight end and the leader of their team, George Kittle, tore his Achilles last week in their win against the Philadelphia Eagles. Fred Warner has been out for a majority of the season, and while he practiced this week, he won't be back in this game.

Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall sounds like he may return, but based on reports, he isn’t going to be able to play his normal style of football, as his injury could limit him. Tackle Trent Williams is also dealing with injury concerns, coming off a hamstring issue. Although he did play last week, he is clearly not at full strength.

When you stack everything up, the Seahawks are the healthier team. They’re the more rested team. They’ve been the better team all season long. From a roster and matchup standpoint, they should win this game.

And yet, I am incredibly nervous.

Despite all the reasons Seattle should advance, I can still talk myself into a 49ers upset. That’s the scary part.

As a fan, I haven’t had many teams that entered the postseason with a legitimate chance to win a championship. The Montreal Canadiens’ run in 2021 comes to mind, but that playoff run came with zero expectations. That was just a fun ride all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they eventually lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This is different.

I haven’t gone into a postseason believing my team could realistically win it all since the Seahawks in 2020. That team went 12–4, won the NFC West, and then didn’t win a single playoff game. I haven't felt this in so long.

This is also the first Seahawks playoff game of the new era under Mike Macdonald, which makes it even more exciting... And nerve-wracking, I have no idea how Macdonald will be in this spot. And of course, it’s against a division rival coached by Kyle Shanahan.

As much as I hate the 49ers, it’s impossible not to respect what Shanahan has done this season. Given how injured that roster has been, the fact that they are still here says a lot, and no matter how this ends, he has my respect for life.

That’s what makes this matchup terrifying for me... The 49ers have absolutely nothing to lose.

They are playing with house money. All of the pressure is on Seattle, specifically Sam Darnold. We saw Darnold last year in the playoffs with the Vikings, where he turned into a pumpkin, and now, seemingly out of nowhere, he has popped up on the injury report out of nowhere this week with an oblique issue.

Again, that’s concerning after what we saw from Darnold in last year’s playoffs. To be fair to him, a lot of that fell on the Vikings’ offensive line, which couldn’t hold up against the Rams’ pass rush, and fortunately for Seattle, that shouldn’t be an issue this time, as the 49ers simply don’t have much of a pass rush left due to injuries.

But I do need to see Darnold show up in a big game where all the pressure is on him.

So who am I picking? Obviously, I'm going with my Seahawks.

They should win. If you strictly compare rosters, Seattle should blow the 49ers out. But I don’t think that’s how this game will play out. I expect it to be close, especially late.

This will be a one-possession game in the fourth quarter, I can guarantee you that.

I just have a hard time seeing the Seahawks lose to the 49ers twice in one season at home. Which brings me to my next point... Lumen Field.

Seattle hasn’t had fans in a playoff game since 2017 (2020 had no fans in the building due to COVID-19). Because of that, I genuinely believe this has the potential to be the loudest stadium in the NFL we’ve seen in the last decade.

That’s how fired up and ready we 12s are for this moment.

It’s hard to believe we’re only one day away. This game is either going to bring one of the happiest moments I’ve had in a long time as a sports fan or one of the most devastating.

This should be our year, all the numbers say it, they've proven people wrong all year long, and I'm not ready for this season to be over.

I guess I’m looking forward to it... But I’m also scared out of my mind.

God, I love sports.

Seahawks 20, 49ers 17.

Go Hawks!