It was freezing, but the Seahawks were toast.

With less than a quarter left in Sunday's Wild Card game at Minnesota, Seattle hadn't scored a point. So when the Vikings went up 9-0, there wasn't much reason to think the Seahawks would thaw in time to rally from two scores down.

But then, as Panthers cornerback Josh Norman said less than 24 hours later:

"Russ does what Russ do."

After Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson miraculously turned a 16-yard loss into a 35-yard gain, Seattle scored the game's final 10 points. But miraculous may not be the right word for a guy who has a habit.

"He made that magical play that he seems to do all the time. He has that Brett Favre in him a good bit," Norman said.

Wilson's latest rally was the 18th time he's brought the Seahawks back in the 4th quarter or overtime. Because a couple of those came in his past two trips to Bank of America Stadium, the Panthers are well aware of Wilson's remarkable comeback ability as they get ready for this week's divisional playoff.

But as impressive as he was on the play that started Sunday's comeback, it could have been avoided.

"There’s always two sides to the coin,” Panthers defensive end Jared Allen said.

"It's obviously a great play by Russell, but it's a breakdown on the defensive side. You can't miss that tackle, and when he starts scrambling, you gotta get on your receivers."

 

THE FIRST MEETING

 

The Panthers did a decent job sticking to their assignments in Week 6, but they certainly weren't perfect. Wilson completed five passes of at least 20 yards and he broke off a couple long runs, like this:

But after defensive end Kony Ealy lost contain on that play, he later did this:

Against the pass, Ealy and the front four were able to generate plenty of pressure on Wilson, picking up three of Carolina's four sacks and hitting him three other times. As cliché as it sounds, it really does start up front.

"We have to make sure that all four guys are rushing at all times. It can't be one guy. We need four guys constricting and collapsing the area around the quarterback,” defensive line coach Eric Washington said.

"That's really the plan we have for every quarterback, but it's especially important with a guy with his kind of mobility. We need to keep him in front of us and keep him in the pocket."

Yet that's only half the challenge.

 

THE BACK END

 

Seattle tight end Jimmy Graham is on injured reserve, so the Panthers don't have to worry about him in the rematch, but here's an example of what Wilson can do when guys in the defensive backfield let their man slip for just a second:

"You've got to plaster, man. If the play's supposed to be like three seconds, when the guy gets out, he'll extend that sucker to like 10,” Norman said. "The wide receivers are taught and trained that once the play breaks down, stick and go high. And we've just got to stick and go high with them.

"Wherever they go — if they want to go to the bathroom, we've got to go to the bathroom, too."

So if Norman runs off the field with Seahawks top wideout Doug Baldwin, you'll know why. Against Seattle, if you open the door, Wilson will bust right on through.

"Russell's had a career of doing this and that's one of the key components of when you play him. You have to be fundamentally sound. You have to take advantage of the opportunities, especially in the playoffs,” Allen said. "You never which play is going to be the play that costs you to lose a game. Every play counts.

"You can't say, 'Oh, we'll get him next time.' There may not be a next time, so when you've got to chance to get him on the ground, you've got to make sure you do it."