seahawks'fire far from fake

PHOENIX -- Maybe you thought Doug Baldwin completely lost his mind with his emotional tirade in the moments after the NFC title game, when the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver admonished the news media for doubting his team's capabilities.

The Seahawks made it back in the Super Bowl with a chance to become the NFL's first repeat champ in a decade, and Baldwin — aka "Angry Doug" — railed on with the overused theme about a lack of respect.

More power to him.

Baldwin, and his teammates, can always command respect by flashing their Super Bowl rings.

They're good. We know it. That's why the New England Patriots had better beware in XLIX.

Yet all of that is true, too, because Baldwin will go off in such a manner.

Of all the components to success that suggest the Seahawks will be around for a while as a perennial contender — a dynamic young quarterback, loads of talent uncovered by shrewd scouting, balance and flexible salary cap room — there is no underestimating the impact of their psychological edge.

"I think the psyche of this team is that the people we have have been at the bottom," Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett told USA TODAY Sports. "They've got chips on their shoulders. You've got to keep them hungry. Everybody on our team is so hungry for what they want, and the hunger comes from the fact that everyone doubted them."

Listening to Bennett provides a better understanding of not only Baldwin but a few others who might not present themselves with as much fire as the receiver but are tapping similar fuel.

Consider how so many of the key Seahawks came into the NFL.

Baldwin and the other starting receiver, Jermaine Kearse, were undrafted. Marshawn Lynch came in a trade, expendable because he was something of a malcontent. Last year's Super Bowl MVP, linebacker Malcolm Smith, was a seventh-round pick.

Richard Sherman, the all-pro cornerback filled with swagger, was picked in the fifth round. Kam Chancellor also was a fifth-rounder. And other Legion of Boom members entered the NFL even later than that; Jeremy Lane and Byron Maxwell were sixth-rounders.

Russell Wilson, meanwhile, was a third-round pick who after the Super Bowl will have started more postseason games (eight) than the other five quarterbacks drafted before him in 2012 combined.

Such hits vouch for the deftness of the personnel department led by general manager John Schneider and the coaching led by Pete Carroll. But within all of that, they brought in talent with heart that so many others missed or miscalculated.

"I'm sure that goes into it," Detroit Lions wide receiver Golden Tate, who left the Seahawks as a free agent after last year's Super Bowl, told USA TODAY Sports. "I'm sure a lot of guys are sensitive to it, because they were not drafted or were drafted late. But I think Pete has a unique way of getting guys to buy into what he's coaching."

Carroll, who joined the Seahawks in 2010 after building a powerhouse at Southern California, can relate to a degree when considering his own career. A fire was lit under Carroll after he was dumped by the Patriots in 2000 and replaced by Bill Belichick. He concluded he was missing a certain competitive edge. Look what has happened since.

No doubt, his experience helps in reaching players such as Bennett, who could have left for a bigger payday as a free agent last spring but took less to return to the Seahawks because he knew they would win.

Bennett is another one who carries himself with an edge that flows from not forgetting where he came from. When he finished his college career at Texas A&M, he was bypassed in the draft.

The Seahawks signed him as a college free agent in 2009 and then cut him a few weeks into the season. After four years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he returned to Seattle in 2013 and blossomed into an all-star.

"Not getting drafted was always tough," Bennett said. "Your feelings are hurt a little bit. But sometimes when stuff like that happens, it molds you."

Look at him now, like so many of his brethren, keeping the edge.

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Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell