Seahawks Dethrone the Super Bowl Champion Saints

January 8 2011

Seahawks 41
Saints 36

For the first time in playoff history, there was a team with a record under .500 competing in the postseason. This team was the 7-9 NFC West Division Champion Seattle Seahawks. They wer going to need all the help they could get to beat last year's Super Bowl winners, the 11-5 New Orleans Saints. At least that's what everyone around the league thought.

The Saints were preparing themselves for the 12th man, Seattle's home field fan advantage, all week. Throughout practices, team meetings and meals in the cafeteria, crowd noise recordings were played. Unfortunately for the Saints, the recordings didn't help enough. The noise of the fans within the Qwest Stadium the day of the NFC Wild Card Playoff game was so distracting the Saints jumped offsides three times.

By halftime, both teams had scored at least 20 points (Seahawks scored 24), making this the second time in playoff history where both teams scored 20 points or more in the first half. The Saints weren't looking like their normal selves on the offensive front. The wide receivers were shut down by the Seahawk secondary and quarterback Drew Brees had to rely on running backs Julius Jones and Reggie Bush. Jones did score two touchdowns though, making him the first player in history to score a touchdown in the playoffs against the team that had released him in the regular season.

Offensively, the Seahawks were on fire. Quarterback Matt Hasselback, who was still injured from the regular season, rallied his squad and drove them down the field to score four touchdowns. Saints penalties as well as big plays made by Seahawk wide receivers Mike Williams and Benjamin Obomanu separated the score differential in the Seahawks' favor. Despite a ten point Saints rally in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks answered back with running back Marshawn Lynch's 67 yard touchdown run, where he broke eight tackles in order to score.

The Saints attempted an end of game comeback, but two things went wrong: their two point conversion attempt and their onside kick the following play. Although an onside kick helped win the Saints the Super Bowl last year against the Indianapolis Colts, this year it didn't. Seahawks tight end John Carlson recovered it, ending the game for the Saints. This marks the fourth on-the-road playoff loss in Saints' franchise history. The Seahawks earn a trip to Chicago to face the NFC North Division Champion Bears next weekend.