Playoff Preview: New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle Seahawks

Ok, the most intriguing thing about this matchup is….. absolutely nothing. Yes, the Seahawks won their division. Yes the Seahawks are a playoff team. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that they are still a losing team. This team went 7-9 during the regular season and all of their losses came by at least fifteen points. That means that Seattle has gotten blown out more often than they’ve won.

To be fair, New Orleans is going to be shorthanded in the running game. Starting running back Pierre Thomas and backup Chris Ivory have been lost for the year, and Reggie Bush has never been the type of runner to be effective carrying the ball twenty five times in a game. However, Coach Sean Payton doesn’t have an awful lot of options, even after signing two running backs off the street this week. Look for Bush to get the bulk of the carries with Julius Jones spelling him in certain packages. If either of those guys get hurt….then Deshawn Wynn will get his chance I guess.

Matt Hasselbeck is 4-1 at home in the playoffs, and teams historically have trouble playing in Seattle. The weather can get really bad and Qwest field has caused 100 false start penalties over the past 5 seasons so the noise level is obviously ridiculous. Add a cross country flight to the equation and I can see why a trip to the great northwest can be pretty miserable.

So for my prediction - talent trumps jetlag, and sorry 12^th man, but this matchup isn’t close enough for you to make a difference. Saints win in Seattle. By at least 15 points.