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.

Wakamatsu sleepless in Seattle

Another manager found his way to the employment line on Monday when the Seattle Mariners ended the tenure of Don Wakamatsu midway through a season that started with hope before taking a wrong turn.

Those who look at MLB match betting predictions note how Wakamatsu had improved the Mariners by 24 games last season, but was set to oversee one of their worst years in recent memory in 2010 with them sitting bottom of the American League West on a 42-70 record.

Daren Brown, who had been managing Triple-A Tacoma with mixed results for the last four seasons, took over for Monday’s game with the Oakland Athletics, a game which the Mariners won 3-1 on the back of a strong effort from starter Doug Fister, one of the year’s success stories despite a 4-8 record.

Sadly for the Mariners, MLB betting pundits recognise 2010 as a year of in-fighting, and it appears that Wakamatsu has been blamed for them, along with bench coach Ty Van Burkleo and pitching coach Rick Adair, who were also allowed to leave.

The year started brightly for the team, with the additions of Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins, but by the time the middle of summer arrived, Lee had been traded to the Texas Rangers and Figgins had been one of a number of players to fall out with Wakamatsu.

Figgins and Wakamatsu were at loggerheads for much of the season, ending up with an unseemly spat in the dugout last month which saw the speedy third baseman benched, and he was also slammed for his dealings with Ken Griffey Jr, who retired earlier in the year after being benched and left without even saying goodbye to a number of his disgruntled colleagues.