Shaquem Griffin Color Rush Jersey , questioned even more after a 0-2 start, the Seattle Seahawks are back where they've spent most seasons since Pete Carroll arrived.The Seahawks are in the playoffs and perhaps as the type of opponent no one would like to see in the postseason."You hear it. You hear the noise. You hear the 4-12 predictions, the 5-11 and that stuff motivates you," Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright said. "We kept believing." Seattle clinched its spot in the NFC playoffs after toppling Kansas City 38-31 on Sunday night, thanks to three touchdown passes from Russell Wilson and a pair of TD runs by Chris Carson.Wilson got the better of Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes and helped lead Seattle back to the postseason after missing the playoffs a year ago. Seattle has now made the playoffs in seven of the nine seasons with Carroll in charge, and six of seven with Wilson at quarterback.It was an unexpected accomplishment after Seattle overhauled its roster in the offseason. But the discovery of the best run game in the NFL, coupled with vets like Wilson, Bobby Wagner and Doug Baldwin was enough for Seattle to navigate its way into the postseason."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," Carroll said. "Most everybody thought we didn't have a chance and to hang together, hang through it, we got it done before the season is even over."The Seahawks (9-6) can wrap up the No. 5 seed and a matchup with Dallas by beating Arizona in Week 17.Wilson was 18 of 29 for 271 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown pass to Ed Dickson with 7:31 left for his third TD. But it was Seattle's next drive that stood out as the best run team in the NFL put the game on the arm of its quarterback and receivers in the fourth quarter.Leading 31-28, Wilson hit David Moore for 7 yards to convert a key third-down and after Kansas City used its first timeout with 3:04 left. He followed with a 45-yard strike to Tyler Lockett, and Baldwin added a one-handed catch for 29 yards to the Chiefs 1. Carson capped the decisive drive with his second TD run with 2:29 left gave Seattle a 38-28 lead.Carson rushed for 116 yards, while Baldwin had seven catches for 126 yards and an acrobatic 27-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter."When it's our time to make plays and we're given opportunities to make plays, we are going to make them. We have shown that," Baldwin said.Mahomes had a few of his own magical moments that will enhance his MVP candidacy. But for the second straight week the Chiefs (11-4) were unable to come through with a victory that would have wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and will go into Week 17 with the chance of being division champs for find themselves on the road for the opening weekend of the postseason."I know if you take care of business, you don't have to talk about anything," Kansas City coach Andy Reid said. "When we play the way we can play, and we are going to play, we are a tough team."Mahomes was 23 of 40 for 273 and three TDs. Mahomes had only 83 yards passing in the first half. He had 76 and was 6 of 6 on Kansas City's first possession of the second half, finishing the drive with a scrambling, sidearm fling to Charcandrick West for a 25-yard touchdown that pulled the Chiefs even at 17-all midway through the third quarter.That was the last time the teams were tied.Harrison Butker's 32-yard field goal with 1:20 left pulled the Chiefs within seven, but the onside kick went out of bounds and Seattle ran out the clock."It's frustrating knowing that we've had it so close both times," Mahomes said. "Luckily we are still in the position where we will have the opportunity to go out there and win it next week."Damien Williams rushed for 103 yards and caught a 2-yard touchdown pass in the first half. But Seattle managed to keep Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce from taking over and the Seahawks pass rush did enough to disrupt the Chiefs passing attack. Mahomes was sacked only once, but was hit 11 times. Kelce had five catches; Hill had four. Neither scored."We knew (Hill) and (Kelce) were the go-to guys and if you eliminate those two guys you have a good chance of winning," Wright said.RECORD WATCHCarson became the first Seattle running back since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to have 1,000 yards rushing. … Kelce passed Tony Gonzalez for most yards receiving in a single season by a tight end in Chiefs history. … Mahomes has 31 touchdown passes on the road, most in NFL history. Tom Brady had 29 in 2007. … Wilson is first QB in NFL history with winning record in each of first seven seasons.INJURIESKansas City running back Darrel Williams suffered a hamstring injury in the first half and did not return. Seattle's banged up offensive line saw J.R. Sweezy go down with an ankle injury in the second quarter and he did not return. D.J. Fluker, who was only supposed to play a limited number of snaps filled in and played the entire second half.KICKING ITSeattle had kicking concerns arise after Sebastian Janikowski was roughed on a field goal attempt in the second half. He was able to hit a 28-yard field goal later in the drive, but it was punter Michael Dickson handling the next two kickoffs with drop kicks. Dickson has done it in special situations this season.UP NEXTChiefs: Kansas City hosts Oakland in Week 17.Seahawks: Seattle hosts Arizona to close out the regular season. In the Tuesday article that looked at the formational adjustments the Seattle Seahawks made agains the Carolina Panthers that eased the pre-snap reads Bradley McDougald Color Rush Jersey , one of the commenters noted that the Panthers had a very good run defense figured out. In fact, the Panthers run defense was very good the entire day, and if not for multiple broken tackles by Chris Carson would have been even better. That said, Chris Carson is an absolute beast of a man, and while he lacks the top-end speed to break big plays, his size, strength and athleticism allow him to be among the best in the league at generating yards after contact. To show just how good Carson is at generating yards after contact, here’s a glimpse into thethe three carries he had on Sunday against the Panthers on which he rushed for more than 10 yards. I’ll start with his 12 yard run late in the third quarter. This is what the play looked like just after Carson took the handoff. The unblocked defensive end, Bryan Cox Jr.,is easy to see, and he would likely have an easy takedown of Carson, if Carson weren’t so strong. In the next picture it is visible that because the defensive end tried to tackle Carson high and Carson is simply extremely strong, he was able to stay on his feet. In that picture, it’s as clear as day that Cox is trying to tackle Carson by the top of his shoulder. That probably works to bring down most NFL running backs, but because of his size and the fact that he has his left arm underneath the tackle, Carson is able to shake the tackle off and go for a gain of 12. Moving to his next big run, Carson went for fifteen earlier in the third quarter on the play which gained the most attention because of his full flip. In any case, that play was facilitated once again by a combination of Carson’s athleticism and skill and a veteran move by D.J. Fluker. Let’s start with the all-22 view where we see Carson just after he’s taken the ball from Russell Wilson. Everything is kind of small in that picture, so Carson is the Seahawk with a black arrow pointing at his head. It’s pretty evident that there are two Panthers defenders closing in on him, so let’s see how he was able to turn that into fifteen yards. In the second image we see Carson slipping to the inside and working to break a tackle attempt by Luke Kuechly, who Fluker may or may not be holding. Obviously the Seahawks have seen ticky tack holding calls disrupt drives so far this season, and it appears as though the refs could have called it again on this play. In any case, Carson springs free for 15 yards on this attempt. Now, for those readers who are contemplating heading straight to the comments to complain about how this is not holding, and holding could be called on every play and it should just be legalized by the league, let me go ahead and just post one more picture to show just how easily this could have drawn a flag. And there, circled in red, we can see a large part of why Carson was able to slip past Kuechly and into the second level - Fluker is holding one of Kuechly’s arms. Does Kuechly make that tackle if he actually has use of both arms? I don’t know, but I am certain that if Matt Breida or Jeff Wilson pick up 15 yards on a running play on a drive that ends in a field goal in a three point game while Bobby Wagner is getting one arm held, Seahawks fans would be fuming. In any case, moving on to Carson’s third run that gained double digits Brett Hundley Color Rush Jersey , this one is all effort from the Hawks young running back. Here’s what the play looked like shortly after Carson took the handoff. I mean, I suppose we could credit the offensive line for allowing Carson to pick up 16 yards on that play, but in my opinion it certainly wasn’t the blocking that created a chunk gain on that play. Now, before anyone gets too ready to pull the trigger and call me out for being negative on the run game, let me go ahead and show a handful of plays where the line blocked great. The plays I’ve looked at I’ve chosen because they are great individual efforts by Carson, but I know fans are going to take them as an assault on the Hawks line. So, here are a couple of plays where the line generated a couple big holes. Woo boy. Look at the size of that running lane. As I watched this unfold I thought Carson might have had a chance to take it for an even bigger gain, but unfortunately the safety we see at midfield was able to step up and make the tackle. Moving to the critical fourth and short play late in the game on which Seattle brought in George Fant as a sixth lineman, we see that the line blocked inside to create a great hole.Unfortunately for Seattle fans, Kuechly diagnosed the play and rapidly filled the hole.Fortunately for Seattle fans Carson is big enough and strong enough that he pushed forward enough for the first down. In short, when these two trains collided, Carson won. In short, if that’s Eddie Lacy or Thomas Rawls carrying the ball in 2017, I don’t think either of them pick up the first down, even with the line having created that hole because Kuechly probably drives either one of them backwards. Carson is, simply put, a beast on the field and his ability to both avoid and break tackles has certainly helped the Seahawks run game through the first eleven games of the season. Now, had that been Bobby Wagner in the hole, Wagner stops Carson for a loss and it would have been a turnover on downs, but that’s because Wagner is better than Kuechly, which is a different story for a different day. To close out, let me finish with a play that was a great success for both the line and Carson, his one yard touchdown run in the second quarter. He hits the hole as 55 is able to reach up and try to stop him, but that arm tackle is quickly brushed aside, and he powers through the defensive back (24) stepping up a moment too late. Yep, folks, that’s a nice hole in the red zone, something that the heavier reliance on power blocking has created several times this season. I’ll look at that in more detail sometime down the road. For now, however, let’s all bask in the glow of having handed Carolina their first home loss of the season.