HEAD COACH PETE CARROLL

*(Opening…) *  "Wow, what a huge night for Seahawk fans, and the 12s and all concerned. It was a great great night, in challenge because they're such a good team. In coaching, and everything they've got going, and the whole year they've put together. They made it for a great challenge for our guys. I don't know that we've played any more complete than we did in the game where we needed it, against such a good team. That was a blast, that was just so much fun, the whole thing was. We hit a lot of stuff tonight that we need to hit. The offense did not turn the ball over. We rushed for 212. Russ had an enormous night tonight. I've never seen Doug play better than that. I just thought he was magnificent. Just tough catch after tough catch, then he gets his ankle twisted and he comes back and makes the big play after that. Just heroic stuff. Chris Carson goes over 1,000 (total rushing yards for the season), rushes for 100 tonight, too. The O-line, we had to shuffle guys in. One of the great jobs by the guys to come through and allow us to play. Pocic had to play right guard and left guard.  Fluker coming back out of nowhere to play in this game. We just didn't know that that could happen. So, it was a huge night. I thought that we were able to kind of keep them under wraps a little bit in the first half. They're so explosive and so dynamic that I thought that the defense did a great job to do that. We were willing to give up some yards if we had to to keep them from getting the ball down the field. The plan allowed that to happen. Guys were chasing Patrick all night, and we didn't get him much. I don't know how many sacks we got, but we certainly did chase him around a bunch. You all saw how dangerous a player he is, and what a great player he is. So, it's a fantastic night for us, we're going to the playoffs. I'm really proud that this team has done that. There weren't very many people that thought we would ever have a chance to be in this position, but the guys in this room did. Led by the leaders, Bobby and Russell and Doug and Frank and J.Reed, Tyler, all those guys.  They just would not think anything but that we were going to do something special with this team this year. I know it looked bleak at times and all that, it started terribly. But, this is a real statement about leadership. A magnificent job, because we're a young team. They led these guys to believe it, and so here we are. Merry Christmas."

(On going back to the playoffs after all of the offseason change …) "It was a dramatic change, and everybody has been noting it and citing hit all year long. But, like I've said to you, the change started late last season and our guys were already seeing that the opportunities were coming. This whole team has been about opportunities, throughout the whole offseason. End of last year, all offseason, all the way throughout the year to compete to make themselves a spot and fit and bring this thing together.  This is a really good accomplishment, it's a really special accomplishment, but what's really exciting about it is that we're so young and we're just getting started. It feels like we're just getting warmed up. We don't care who we play or where we play, it doesn't matter. We're going to go play the way we've been playing and see if it holds up and count on that it will. For everybody to embrace that, they all know. That locker room knows. They know what we're going, they know who we are and they're ready to go. It's thrilling." 

*(On the final scoring drive …)  *"We were talking about going for it. Schotty did a great job. He did a magnificent job of calling it all the way down the stretch. He's had a great season with us. He's found our offense, he's figured them out, he's brought them together and gave us a style that we're really proud of. I know that you think that we only want to run the football, but we don't. We want to find ways to explode. I think we had 12 explosive plays tonight, and we needed every one of them. It was just a great plan and great execution by the guys."

(On being able to shuffle the offensive line and still be effective ….) "We had talked about what is this going to look like, because it was a big chance not having George at tight end. Big change not having Germain playing. So, George got to play the whole night at tackle. I can't even tell you, I have to watch the film to see what happened, but we didn't know what was going to happen to tell you the truth. We just were hoping for the best, we were going to keep the plan together and do what we've been doing and count on the guys to pull it off and they did a magnificent job. Pocic, that's a great game for Po. For him to play both sides, and all that. He did a fantastic job. I can't say enough about the guys. J. Reed. B-Mac. Fluke. To get out there and even play. Doug, to come back from being hurt. It's just valor. Warrior-like. All the good stuff. We would not give up the opportunity."  

(On whether this team reminds him of some of his championship team…)  "We do have our own story, but that night right there, the last three times that we've come in here. The Packers and the Vikings and these guys. Those are good teams now. When we played them those guys were good fricken teams. We had to play like crazy, and we played like it has felt in the past. Playing defense, getting the football, running the ball, playing with juice and just loving every minute with the crowd. That's what it felt like. I told them at halftime, this is it. You can feel the juice. This is what this is all about. Let's ride it and go ahead and finish this game off. It was in everybody. Everybody could feel it. That's what it felt like in the past. There has been many instances this year when we've been in and out of that. It is unique for this team, but it is something that we've been able to create in the past. It's really thrilling as a coaching staff to see us be able to enjoy it and see how cool it is and pull it off."

(On what worked against Mahomes and Kelce…) "I don't know if much worked. It felt like he was going pretty good. We did keep him on the run, he was moving the whole time. We worked really hard at knowing that he was going to move and covering guys downfield and staying in coverage which we did a very good job of, because you could see him. He was out, he was clean, and it took him a long time to find guys.  He found them anyway, at times, but he's just that good. But that was really what worked for us tonight, and staying on top; not giving up the deep ball. This is the most explosive team that we've seen in all 10 years." 

(On getting the ball back with 4:26 left, up three points, and staying aggressive… )  "Yes, that's what we were talking about. I was talking to Schotty, let's keep going for it, you can throw as much as you need to here, don't hold back now. Let's go get it. Russ was on fire. We could ride him. Russell had a fantastic night tonight, the times he took off and ran and created first downs for us. He looked like he was done and gone. He was doing the stuff that I think a lot of people came to watch this game because of Patrick and Russ. They're magnificent ball players."

(On getting into the playoffs for the seventh time in nine years…)  "It feels great. There's an emotion to it that's deep and it's because there wasn't very many people that thought we could do this. Most everybody thought we didn't have a chance. To hang together, hang through it, we got it done before the season's over. I wish we would have nailed it last week, too, to keep this feeling that's going on the last 6 or 7 weeks or whatever, I don't know how many weeks it's been, but we've been riding it. It's a magnificent feeling that gives us the confidence that we can go anywhere and play anybody. We're ready to roll."

(On Chris Carson …) "Yeah, he's had a great year. I hope everybody just loves the way he plays. The touchdown run, I hadn't seen it clearly enough, I just know what he did. I saw him start digging in with his feet, and I knew he was going to score and I started celebrating. He was just going to knock it in. His style and the toughness that he's brought this team and representing the O-linemen and all the guys that have been a big part of the leadership. Chris has had a great year. So, it's a great accomplishment. And, Chris hasn't had that many years in the last 4 or 5 years where he's been able to make it though and been healthy the whole time. If you remember, I told you guys, he was the most well-conditioned guy that showed up when we returned in April. There was nobody that was more fit. Nobody was more ready for the work. I don't know how he did it, but he's just unbelievable, that commitment that he has, and it carried through the whole season."

(On Russell Wilson having to go play for play against the MVP candidate in the second half, did that impact him…) "There's no doubt, he won't tell you that, but of course it is. I don't know about the game, but he knows who he's playing against and he knows all that. For him to be overlooked as representing in the Pro Bowl. I guess it's just a statement that we didn't throw the ball enough and everybody's enamored with that. But he's thrown the ball great. Look at his [passer] rating. I don't know who has a better rating than him, but he's been phenomenal all year long. I hope he doesn't say anything about it, because he won't. But, yeah. When you're competing against guys like that, you want to do well. He came through and did a great job."

(On the play of Ed Dickson…) "It was a great catch for the touchdown, but his run after the catch, it was one of the moments in the game where you know, ok, we have a shot to win this fricken game. And you can tell because the plays are being made and the guys are coming through. That was one of the real special ones. Of course, Doug's catches, they were magnificent." 

(On the most gratifying aspect of the changes that were made in the offseason….)  "The most powerful aspect of it is that we know who we are. That's such a powerful element of this kind of situation with the team. We know who we are, we know what we are trying to create each week. We know how to do it. When you have that connection with who you are, you become very powerful. I love that that's where we arrived, because it was a long two years of not being able to get back to it. We were always trying. We always had it in mind, we just couldn't get it right with all the guys that were coming through, we just couldn't put it together properly. To be able to show you who we are and recreate that after a long loop, that's really gratifying. So, when you play the Seahawks, you know who you're playing. That's powerful, and I love that."

(On the impact of having a quarterback that can be successful out of structure…) "It's the hardest to work against. It's the hardest element to work against, and always has been. You have a play stopped. There was two or three times when they had him, and he was going down, and he popped out of there, and there's nobody on the field, it looks like Russell is the only guy on the field making 20 yards or whatever. It's the most challenging aspect, and that's why Patrick is such a great player. He just challenges you to keep playing. There's a normal play, and there's another one. And then maybe he turns around, and it becomes another one. It's like a dropback pass that becomes a sprintout that becomes like a naked, that becomes like a dropback pass again, and he throws it. That's what we're doing on the deep end, trying to stay with him and chase him and all that. It's a magnificent element. We saw it today. I got to catch some games. You saw it all over the league, there's some guys that can really motor, and they're making the game so difficult for the defense. It's why the numbers are so crazy this year."

(On what this win says about the team…) "I go back to them. They're such a good team and they've played so well all year long that they've posed a really, really difficult challenge for our guys. They've been able to rush the passer based on the fact that they've been scoring a lot of points and get after teams and highlight players rushing and all that."

QB RUSSELL WILSON

(On what this playoff berth means with so many new players this year…) "We've been to the playoffs six times out of the seven and this year was special. This year was special just because I think we really came together. I was talking to some of the guys last night and saying that one of my favorite parts about this season has been watching guys celebrate with one another. When Bobby [Wagner] scored his touchdown on the 98 yarder. Guys on offense, when you score touchdowns in the endzone, everybody is together and on special teams. In practice, the little things, really enjoying every day. You don't take that for granted. I think for us, it's been a really special year. It's been amazing just to see us come together as a collective effort. Everybody was counting us out early on and we had no fear. I think that there's a lot more that we want to do. We're not stopping here, we have a big game next week even. We look at it that way. And then fortunately we have the playoffs. I think it's a testament to the coaches. Coach Carroll first of all believing in his culture and how he wants to do things and everything else. I think also too as well is our new coaches that have come in. Coach [Ken] Norton coming back and him leading the defense with Bobby [Wagner] and those guys, it's been amazing [with] his energy. Coach [Brian] Schottenheimer has been unbelievable for us. Obviously, I love Coach [Darrell] Bevell, we've done a lot of great things together. But Coach Schottenheimer has done a great job of leading and coaching and all the details, it's been a lot of fun. He's been amazing for us. He's been rock solid as a leader and great to work with every day on a daily basis. I think Coach Mike Solari has been amazing for us too as well in terms of what he's done with the offensive line and really coaching those guys on the fine details of where we need to go and what we need to do. You think about the offensive line tonight and how they had to step up. D.J. [Fluker] is down, [Germain] Ifedi is down, George Fant has to step up at right tackle, [Ethan] Pocic has to play. And then guys go down during the game. D.J. Fluker shows his character and his will to win to step in the game even though he's not supposed to play that game. He comes in and says I'm going to play. Those guys have done an amazing job. And just to think about that, it's pretty cool to see. Tonight was a team effort. Everybody across the board, guys were making plays left and right. Obviously, Doug Baldwin was special tonight as always, Tyler Lockett was special in crunch time as well. But that doesn't just happen. It happens by belief. It happens by having great courage. It happens by love, it happens by how you approach the game, how you approach the details. I think we've been able to do that all this year. I told you guys at the beginning of the year that I thought this team was like [the] 2012 [team]. When I first got here, in terms of the energy and youth, we were one of the youngest teams in the NFL at that point and I think we're probably one of the youngest again. Nothing is going to stop us. We have great leaders and guys that know what we're doing and how to do it. And we have the best fans in the world. The game tonight, it felt like an NFC Championship game with the energy. That's a tribute to the fans and what they've done."

(On Ed Dickson's 15 yard third down completion…) "There were a few plays tonight. One, Ed Dickson's play on third and long, him running over guys getting first downs. I think one of the other big, big plays in the game that maybe not many people talk about was David Moore's first down on third down. Him catching that ball, fighting for it and getting the first down, that was a huge play and allowed us to continue the drive and continue making huge plays. And then Doug [Baldwin] and Tyler [Lockett]. Tyler's deep ball down the field, he just held off the guy, kept running and kept running and looked up and made a great catch. That was huge for us. And Doug fighting back, he got kind of dinged up on that one play and got back up and got back in and made some huge plays as well. And then Chris Carson has been unbelievable all year. He's a 1,000 yard rusher now, that's a huge tribute to the offensive line and what they've done. And like I said, it was a team effort. I thought our defense played amazing tonight too. Patrick [Mahomes] has been great all year, he's spectacular to watch and to see. They have a lot of great players and I thought our defense really held strong and made a lot of key plays."

(On what a big win like this does for some of the younger players…) "Duane Brown and I were talking in the locker room and I was talking to some of the young guys, one of the things that people take for granted is the playoffs. We've been fortunate to go to the playoffs six of the seven years and everything else, but the reality is that there's a lot of guys in the NFL and even some Hall of Fame guys that have never even gone to the playoffs. So that's the real deal. Even for the young guys, we've got to take this serious. It's a great moment, we don't take anything for granted. You do everything you can just to prepare for it and what it's going to look like. But the reality is, it's just football. To get this far, you can't change now in terms of your work ethic. Your work ethic just has to get that much better, that much more detailed. You're going to play great teams. We've played a lot of great teams this year. You think about where we are right now, even the teams we've lost to, we thought we should have won some of those games. And those are some of the best teams across the league and we feel like we're one of the best teams in the National Football League when we do it right. We have no fear in that. We're excited, we're really excited for the young guys and just going to the playoffs for the first time if they're rookies and even second year players. Just to go there again, we're really fired up about that. That's one of your goals when you come in and your ultimate goal is to win the whole thing."

(On how Pete Carroll has been a different coach this year…) "Pete hasn't been different at all. He's been the same ever since I've known him. He's been consistent how he approaches the game, he's been consistent how he approaches his players, with love, with passion, with energy. He's never changed. I think that's what makes our culture so great, that's what makes it so much fun and that's why we've won so much is because of him and how he's done things the right way, how he's approached things the right way. There's been a lot of great, amazing times. That doesn't just happen, like I said. He's been probably one of the most consistent people in the building. I would say him, I would say Tater [Carl Smith], my old quarterback coach, he's been pretty amazing. I think Stu too, our chef. He's one of the most consistent guys too. But those guys, they're always consistent. But Coach Carroll has been amazing since day one."

(On the importance of the defense in the fourth quarter…) "We knew we would have to lock it down on defense and the defense was ready and prepared for that with Bobby Wagner leading the way. Jarran Reed had to step into the game this week and battling through what he's been going through. [Bradley] McDougald, the same thing. It was just guys making plays when it counts and that's what you have to do to be a playoff team. To be a championship caliber team, you have to make plays when it counts. On offense, we were able to do that too. Our defense stopped them and got the ball back and we were going to be lights out. That's what we knew and that's what we believed. We've done it before this year. We've done it in the past in past years as well and tonight wasn't going to be any different. We weren't going to allow that to happen. It just comes down to the details. It comes down to the focus and ultimately players making plays."

WR DOUG BALDWIN

(On what the team has accomplished through adversity) "I wouldn't do it justice by speaking on it. It's not just football players, like these are great human beings. These are great men. When you put that combination of great men together with the right mentality of resilience and perseverance, actually caring for one another – there's a chemistry and a rapport that's – it reminds me a lot of something. I'll let you figure that out. This is a beautiful thing to see men come together and care about each other and really play for each other. You can't put it into words, you really can't."

(On the Seahawks wide receivers) "That's the WOOTS mentality. We don't care about how many targets we've had throughout the course of the game or what the numbers are, we're savages. When it's our time to make plays and when we're given the opportunity to make play, we are going to make them and we have shown that. The WOOTS legacy and tradition has been since Sidney Rice was here, so it's not going to change. I'm so proud of the receivers because they – that third down catch that (David Moore) had to get the first down, come on now, he's a savage for that. Then, Tyler's (Lockett) unbelievable go-ball catch. Granted, Russ (Wilson) threw a beautiful ball. When you're called upon to make plays and you make plays, there's something to be said about that."

LT DUANE BROWN

(On the win over the Chiefs) "That was a very, very focused offense that they played against and they did a great job against them, in my opinion. We're built to make a run. We have all the confidence in the world. We have all the faith in the world in each other. That's what it's all about. Now, we just take it one week at a time."

(On cutting down on penalties after setting a franchise record in the loss against the 49ers) "Absolutely. The last few weeks, we've had unfortunate penalties. We had 14 last week, or something like that. Ten (penalties) a couple of weeks before that. You can't win like that. No matter how many yards you're putting up, it's hard to win like that. The coaches definitely made that a point of emphasis. Guys took heed to it and we had a lot of guys who were banged up. Guys had to step in and play that hadn't played much all year and it worked out well. They took the coaching points against a very, very good defense with a lot of talented players on their front. We found a way to eliminate those penalties and it definitely showed."

(On throwing it in the 4-minute offense late in the game) "I mean, the coaching staff told us before we took the field that we weren't going to be conservative. Whatever we had to do, we had to do it. I think they did a pretty good job of containing our run. Of course, you know if you get the ball back, you got a run-it-down quarterback that's playing lights out and you don't want to put our defense in that position. We wanted to go end it and get seven points on the board and we got big time players making big time plays in that moment. It was a great feeling and you'd love to run the ball out right there but the coaching staff had a plan and we had to go execute it."

T GEORGE FANT

(On another big rushing day) "Yeah, it's the same story, man. We're going to play smash-mouth football. We don't care who knows. We're going to go out there and play our game. We've got a really good O-Line room and we work so hard, man. We've got some guys that can rotate and get in there and do what the other guys are doing. I'm just happy for the opportunity."

(On how everything on the offensive line held together through injuries) "I think it went really well. I mean, we shuffled guys around all night. We had a couple of guys switch sides and Ethan (Pocic) came in and played great. D.J. (Fluker) came in and played, and I had to go in for Germain (Ifedi). Like I said, the O-Line room, it just shows what we have in that room. We have a lot of depth and we're just going to keep pushing forward with that."

(On icing the win) "Sometimes, when you know, you know. We knew we were going to go down there and drive down there and score. It was just a matter of how we were going to do it and it played out for us the right way."

C JUSTIN BRITT

(On helping Chris Carson surpass 1,000 rush yards on the season) "We take a lot of pride in it. To get one of our backs – and for it to be Chris Carson who has worked so hard this offseason and he's running the ball so hard this year – we celebrate him to the highest level. 'Tis the season to be giving and happy holidays to Chris Carson."

(On the new faces on the offensive line due to injury) "Well, Ethan (Pocic) has played. He started and I've played beside him last year and whatnot. George (Fant), he's played tackle. There was no doubt in my mind. I don't think there was any doubt in anybody's mind up front that those two were going to ball out and do their thing. It speaks volume to who we are as a group. To be able to plug in whoever it is, whether it was Jordan Simmons or Ethan Pocic or George Fant or Joey Hunt whenever his time came, it just speaks volumes to who we are, that it doesn't matter who's up there. We just have the same mindset as a group."

(On what they learned from today's win) "(We learned) that we can go as far as we want. Nobody can stop us if we're doing our stuff right. I think our defense balled out today. I think they should be highlighted today because they held a team that's supposed to be going on all cylinders – they held them to how many points they held them to and they're the real key why we won."

TE ED DICKSON

(On the playoff intensity of the game) "Oh my god, that offense over there and their defense and their special teams – I'm pretty sure we're going to see them again some time. We knew coming into this game that as an offensive unit, we had to hold up our end of the bargain. We knew as an offense that we had a big battle on our hands and we wanted to score on drives throughout the game."

(On if the offense was using the first few drives to feel out the Chiefs defense) "We practice everything that we do in the game. Our preparation is first class, you know – from the quarterback to the offensive coordinator through the guys around the different position groups – we're prepared. We take pride in our preparation so that in the game we try to execute on a high level. Just to see some of that execution pay off, what can I say. As a veteran player, you can go far if you execute like that."

(On chemistry with Russell Wilson leading to success on the field) "It started a long time ago. From when I signed here – I mean, there's a reason why I signed here. Playing with Russ, playing with that guy and just the leadership that he has, his knowledge of the game, his passion for the game, who wouldn't want to play for him? This started a long time ago. I remember I signed here and we got to work really fast down in L.A., throwing at UCLA and you see some of it paying off right now. He doesn't take credit for it, but a lot of praise goes to him for doing that."

WR TYLER LOCKETT

(On the creation of some new touchdown celebrations…) "We've been talking about it, but we haven't solidified what we wanted to do next, so we took a little break with it. Just wanted to be able to focus a little more on the offense and focus a little more on our roles and what we wanted to be able to do. But, at the same time a lot of teams have been having a lot of great celebration. Even the ones that we think of, they've already done it, so you just have to be more creative to figure out what you want to be able to do."

(On what Doug Baldwin means to this offense…) "I think that everything solidifies itself. When he goes out there and plays, you understand how dangerous he is as a receiver. You have to pay attention to him when he's out there on the field. You have to put one or two guys on him. Every time he's out there we know that when the ball is in the air he's going to go out there and make that play. You've seen it. When that looked like it was too far he made that catch to be able to get us to the one or two yard line. He made a lot of fantastic plays out there and he brings the energy. He brings the juice. We went out there and we were hyped, we were following him today, and he did a great job leading."

(On what is making the play-action pass successful…) "That run game. That run game opens everything up. When you've got a lot of physical athletes on the line like we do, they are able to open up anything. When we are running the ball you got Chris (Carson), Mike, you got whoever you want. Penny back there, J.D. McKissic, I mean we have so many people back there that can make plays if we give them a chance and you've seen it today. Chris (Carson) was running his butt off. Got up to 1000 yards. That's a blessing. That's a great achievement for him, going into his second year. Then, all of a sudden, it creates a lot of opportunities for the play-action." 

(On making the big plays late in the game when it mattered the most…) "You never know when your name is going to get called on, but when your name is called on, you have to go out there and make it happen. We always stay ready, especially in the run-game. We stay ready, we have to make these blocks to be able to get our running backs out there. Then whenever they call our names on the pass plays we have to go out there and execute. We understood the game situation. We've been in those situations every day in walk-throughs. We know we have to make those plays and as you saw David (Moore) had the big first down, Doug (Baldwin) had that big catch, and we just continued to make plays. We knew going into the game they were going to play man-to-man and we were going to have to execute on the outside."

(On the level of confidence inside the huddle going into their last drive…) "We weren't worried about it at all. A lot of people were probably nervous, but like I said, we do this every single day in walk-through. Whether we are down, whether we are winning, we got to do four minute drill, whatever it is we have to do, just the fact that we stayed aggressive, we took whatever they gave us and that's all we had to do."

(On how critical it is to make plays when the defense is daring them to run late in the game…) "It's very critical. Obviously, we want to be able to run the ball, pound it, be able to get our four minute offense in the game, but if a team does that, you got to take what they give you. The whole entire week we understood it was going to be man-to-man. It's one-on-ones out there, just like in practice. Go out there and win your matchup, regardless of what you have to do to go win, and that's exactly what we did. Whether we got the flag, whether we came down to make the catch, we knew that we were going to have to win our matchups on the outside to be able to help us have a chance to win this game."

DE FRANK CLARK

(On what this win means for the team) "I think it's just a big boost, morale boost and confidence boost for our team and it just shows how hard we've been working and practicing. At the end of the day, when you have long weeks and when you have those longs weeks of famine, especially coming off of losses – we lost to the 49ers in a game that we all felt in this locker room that we should've won. Making the job harder for ourselves and losing that game, that was the motivation we needed to go out here and win this game today. It wasn't the team. It didn't matter if it was Kansas City coming in here. We could've gotten the 49ers the next week. We had a mindset and things that we wanted to go out there and do today and I feel like we got there and did it."

(On getting the opportunity to prove his greatness in playoff games) "Just, winning. I feel like that's the goal, just to win. You've got to win in December. That's the goal. You've got to win. We lost, I believe we lost that one game against the Niners so (in the) Christmas spirit, we're ending this year with a W and we'll hopefully go into the new year with a W against the Cardinals next week. We've got a long week of practice and then a long week of practice leading up to this game, surrounding Christmas and all this stuff. At the end of the day, I'm just feeling glad that we got this win and we're able to finally sit down for a few days until we get after it again."

(On how this win helps with confidence in the playoffs) "I feel like a win like this, it's just another win but at the end of the day, I feel like it was a win we needed. Whether it was the Chiefs or anybody else who was coming in here, we wanted to win the game and we knew we were going to win the game, period. We know that it's a lot of things and a lot of places where people haven't been in this locker room and I know one thing with the playoffs: we've got a lot of guys on this team, a lot of young guys, a lot of different faces. This ain't the (Legion of Boom). This ain't the Seahawks in 2014, 2013. This ain't that. We're a young team with a lot of young players and a core group of guys who are just trying to help those young players grow and mature – some players who are going to help this team win some games."

CB SHAQUILL GRIFFIN

(On how they were able to frustrate Patrick Mahomes early on) "I think the main thing (was) we came in here this week and I told the secondary personally, when Bradley McDougald was out, the only thing we've got to do (is) we've got to get started on our side. They're counting on us. I said, 'once we get things rolling on our side, everything just kind of clicks.' That honestly how I felt and the main thing we worked on was, Pat Mahomes is going to extend plays. He's good at that, the closest thing you'll get to Aaron Rodgers. That's the closest thing you'll get to him and he'll extend plays. The main thing we had to do was focus on the guys we were guarding and when that time comes, you get the closest person to you and you just lock onto them and don't let go. That D-Line just does work and they did that and had him frustrated. That's something that we came into. That's the whole thing about the whole week and we focused on that and we got it done."

(On Patrick Mahomes' body language) "Frank Clark and Jarran Reed have done an awesome job this year and those guys are getting after it. We've got to give it up to them and the only thing we're doing is holding it down in the secondary and letting those guys just do what they do. Do what they do best and they're the best in the world at it. We definitely had him frustrated. Running around, he didn't know what to do with the ball and when it was time to throw it, we were back there waiting for him so I'm glad we got it done on both sides."

(On limiting Tyreek Hill to 74 receiving yards) "That's something we were focused on. Actually, me and Tre Flowers were excited to go against him. It was funny. As we were running with him down a route down the field, I said, 'man, you don't understand how fast you (are).' This is as we're running. I had to give him his props while we were running and I just had to let him know, like 'dude, you (are) extremely fast.' But no, he's a heck of an athlete but those are guys that you have to take away. Him and Travis Kelce, those are guys that we locked on and we had to make those plays and take them out. Once those guys (were taken out of the game), we had to make those other guys step up and make plays, like Kelvin Benjamin and those guys had to be those guys today. That's what we were focused on and I'm glad we got it done."

LB K.J. WRIGHT

(On what this playoff appearance will mean…) "It feels good, man. Especially with the preseason predictions. The guys in this group believed we could make it. The leaders led the way and the young guys followed. I'm really proud of this team, this feels really good. Make it to the playoffs and we are just getting started, we got a lot more work to do. This is just the beginning."

(On why he thinks the Seahawks can do some damage in the playoffs…) "We have all the tools. Great running game. Russell (Wilson) is still leading the way. Doug (Baldwin) is shining. This defense is outstanding. Creating turnovers. That's what it takes, that's the winning formula. Run the ball, play good defense."

(On how he feels after his first game back…) "I feel really good. I'm thankful that I was able to come back and celebrate with my guys. I'm thankful that they didn't put me on I.R., because they easily could have just shut me down, but thanks to Schneider and Carroll for believing in me to bounce back and go be out here and finish strong." 

(On how much the preseason predictions have helped to motivate this team…) "You hear it, you hear the noise. You hear the 4-12 predictions, the 5-11 and that stuff motivates you. We kept believing… I don't know our record know, but we have to finish strong."

(On how they were able to slow down the Chiefs offense…) "We just played good, sound football. We read our keys and they do a lot of stuff to get your eyes off, but we communicated really well. Mahomes is a good quarterback, but this defense can take really good football teams and make them look normal."

(On how it feels to come back and contribute in such a big game…) "It's special, man. It's special. I'm so thankful that I was able to come out here and play the game that I love."