On Sunday, the Seahawks will find themselves in the Georgia Dome for the first time since losing the NFC Divisional playoff game in the final seconds of last season's thrilling game to the Falcons.
But when Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and the rest of his teammates take the field to face Atlanta, the quarterback maintains he'll be playing with no revenge.
Wilson remained adamant the Seahawks have moved on from the game and want no payback; instead, they used the loss to learn how to get better and how to build their team from there.
"It's a new year, it's a new opportunity for us," said Wilson. "I was very disappointed as soon as the game ended but as soon as I got back to the locker room I realized how bright our future was and is so you just take one day at a time."
That's exactly what the Seahawks have done, as they're now off to an 8-1 start this season.
Despite the impressive record, many of their wins have come from close games. Although this makes for an exciting game, head coach Pete Carroll said all this means is they have a lot of room to improve.
"It's been difficult and there's been a lot of close games and it hasn't been the kind of 8-1 that you think you're just out in front and got it nailed," Carroll said. "It's made us strong that we can find a way to win but we need to play better football."
One of the youngest teams in the NFL, the Seahawks are led by the equally young Wilson, who's been impressive since being a rookie last season.
Both Wilson and Carroll said the quarterback has grown along with the rest of the team and is now more comfortable with his role as an NFL quarterback, but acknowledge he still has a lot left to learn.
Wilson said his year and a half in the league have been filled with sacrifice, learning and great attention to detail, which has led to success not only for him but for the rest of his team.
"All of those things play a major role into the success of your football team," Wilson said. "It's allowed me to do pretty well so far in my first year and a half, and there's still so much more that I can do. I'm trying to learn from the experience that I have. I'm pretty new to this, even though I feel like I know a decent amount there's so much more that I can learn."
Wilson also attributed Matt Ryan as a quarterback he has tremendous respect for, praising him as an elite player that has great composure, poise and domination.
Carroll had equal praise for Ryan and the Falcons as a whole, saying their 2-6 record doesn't take away from the powerful team that they are.
"They're a really well equipped football team that we have tremendous respect for," he said. "Matt's doing a great job, completing 70 percent of passes. They're a very explosive football team. Whenever they have Tony (Gonzalez), they can explode outside, and if Roddy (White) comes back, they're still a very, very volatile group."
