Players set a very clear tone in the locker room before Sunday’s matchup against the Ravens.
“We’re tired of losing,” defensive tackle 
Apparently a lot.
The Seahawks kicked off the second half of the season with a rousing 22-17 victory over previously 6-2 Baltimore, a win that came together with a heart for finishing strong and old-fashioned mettle.
So the latter half of the season started this weekend, and all the Seahawks cared about Sunday was the finish — the finish of the game, and the beginning of the finish to the 2011 campaign.
It was exemplified best in the fourth quarter, when a team’s finishing spirit is tested and refined. Defensive lineman
The Seahawks got to that point though with an amazing start. Seattle jumped to a 19-7 halftime lead behind two takeaways on special teams, four sure-fire field goals from kicker
“You’re outhitting those guys,” Coach Pete Carroll said in the locker room at halftime. “Keep focusing, one play at a time. Finish this!”
The table was set. And the Seahawks proceeded to gorge themselves on a finishing feast.
After the Ravens scored a touchdown to close the gap to 22-17 with 5:52 left, the Seahawks got the ball on the ensuing kickoff and never gave it back, going 74 yards in 10 plays before taking a knee twice to end the game and secure the victory.
“You played your butts off all day and in all phases and you kept them under wraps all day,” Coach Pete Carroll said in the locker room after the game. “And in the fourth quarter you stuffed it right back at them.”
Now the Seahawks hope that their finishing burst in Sunday’s game will carry on into other games and through the remainder of the season.
“Everything we’ve gone through,” Carroll said in the locker room after the game, “you’ve come together through it all.”
Sunday’s win was just the third of the season for the Seahawks, but the second against a division leader. The result offers a lot of hope for the future of the team, for the second half of the season and beyond.
“We can play football like that — it’s real,” Carroll said. “We’ve beaten some really good teams. It is there for us.”
Players completely agreed.
“That’s something to be proud of,” Lynch said during a brief address to his teammates following his beastly performance Sunday. “And that’s something to grow off of.”
Grow they will, and with that finishing flair on Sunday, it could happen soon before their very eyes.
“Let’s go right back at it and put it together and come back to do it again next week — as you know you can,” Carroll said to close out his postgame speech. “Let’s keep stepping forward. The second half is underway.”
