NFL – Seattle Seahawks upsets the New Orleans Saints in Wild Card Round

The Seattle Seahawks are working their way into the playoffs in the most bizarre way. And it’s all because of where they have come from. There is no doubt among fans and sports reporters alike: the weakest link in professional football can be found in the Western Division of the National Football Conference.

Just to get you into the right perspective, we have to consider that neither Seattle, the St. Louis Rams, the San Francisco 49ers nor the Arizona Cardinals had a winning season in this 2010. At 7-9 overall and 4-2 record in division play the Seahawks clinched division and made it into the Wild Card Round. That is despite their losing season. In other words, Seattle qualified into the playoffs just because they where the strongest team in the weakest division in professional football. As a matter of fact, the Seahawks could never link more then two wins during the regular season.

And yet, somehow, the Seahawks where able to put in 41 points over the New Orleans Saints, a team that not only holds a 11-5 record for the regular season but is also the Super Bowl defending Champions. So, the Seahawks have become the first NFL team to win a Playoffs game with a 7-9 record as the guys from Seattle completed an epic 41-36 upset against the Saints at the Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington.

The Seahawks’ quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was absolutely outstanding in this Sunday’s game. He completed 22 of his 35 attempts to push the chains 272 yards for 4-touchdown passes and 1 interception. This has been his personal best performance in a playoffs game. Such a great performance that it was good enough to outplay the Saints’ quarterback and Super Bowl MVP, Andrew Brees as he completed 39 of 60 for 404 yards (that’s almost twice as many as Hasselbeck) for two touchdowns and no interceptions.

It seems that everyone in Seattle was capable of getting their act together when it mattered most. As a matter of fact, Hasselback was able to find wide-open players with enormous ease. He sent a pair of touchdowns passes to tight-end John Carlson (even thought this guy only scored one TD in the regular season). He then connected with Brandon Stokley on a 45-yard touchdown right before the halftime break. He then found Mike Williams right after the break to complete a 38 yards on the Seahawks first drive in the third quarter. That was enough to give the Seahawks 31-20 lead over the Saints, and work its way up for an intense finish.

Marshawn Lynch was the man of the hour as he finished off the Saints with an nerve breaking 67 yard run with 3:22 left on the clock for a team with a losing season win its first ever playoffs game. Lynch took on a second down carry breaking off six tackles on his long run as eight different New Orleans players put hands on him. That, and a very stiff arm against cornerback Tracy Porter was enough to complete the longest scoring run of Lynch’s career and the Seahawks pass into the next round.