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New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks Line

The Seattle Seahawks will try and pull off the impossible this Saturday when they host the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2011 NFL playoffs. Kick-off is set for 4:30 ET and will be televised nationally on NBC. Seattle won the NFC West with an overall record of 7-9, which earned them the No.4 seed. The Seahawks are the first team to ever make the postseason with a losing record. New Orleans finished the year 11-5, but because the Falcons won the NFC South, the Saints are the No.5 seed. New Orleans will try and become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the Patriots did so back in 2004 and 2005. New Orleans beat Seattle 34-19 at home in week 11. Taking a look at the odds for the upcoming wild-card weekend showdown, the oddsmakers have the Saints favored by 10.5-points over the Seahawks with the total set at 44.5.

New Orleans (11-5): While the Saints are 0-3 all-time in road playoff games, they have to be happy with the first round matchup they received. Drew Brees threw for a season-high 382 yards and four touchdowns against the Seahawks earlier this season. Brees led the NFC with 4,620 yards and 33 touchdowns, and for New Orleans to advance to the second round he is going to have to step up and play big. Brees did finish the year with 22 interceptions, including at least one in each of the final 12 games, and six games where he thew two or more.

New Orleans will have to make another Super Bowl run without much of a running game to lean on. Leading rushers Chris Ivory and Pierre Thomas are both done for the season, leaving the Saints to rely heavily on Reggie Bush and Julius Jones. Bush missed eight games due to injury, but is coming off his best game of the season, where he rushed for 70 yards and caught five passes for 55 yards against Tampa Bay.

The Saints finished the year with the fourth best defense, allowing an average of 306 yards a game. New Orleans ranked fourth against the pass, allowing just 194 yards a game, but did struggle to stop the Seahawks passing attack this season.

Seattle (7-9): Say what you want about the Seahawks, they come into the playoffs with absolutely nothing to lose, as no one is giving them a chance at all to do anything. Seattle’s most impressive win at home this season was a 27-20 win over San Diego in week 3, and five of their seven wins did come at home.

Charlie Whitehurst led Seattle over the Rams in the final week of the season to get the Seahawks into the playoffs, but it will be Matt Hasselbeck under center against the Saints. Hasselbeck threw for 3,001 yards with 12 touchdowns to 17 interceptions, but really looked good against the Saints in week 11, throwing for 366 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Seattle will likely need a similar performance from the veteran quarterback if they are going to pull off the monster upset.

The Seahawks also enter the postseason without much of a running game to speak of. Seattle finished with the second worst rushing attack in the NFL, averaging just 89 yards a game. Seattle managed just 58 yards rushing against the Saints, and anything they get on the ground this weekend will be a bonus.

Defensively the Seattle wasn’t very impressive at all this season. They ranked 27th against the pass, giving up nearly 250 yards a game, and were 21st against the run, allowing nearly 119 yards per contest.

One thing Seattle has going for them is the fact that this game will be played at Qwest Field, arguably one of the toughest places in all of the NFL to play. Seattle however has to start strong and keep the crowd in the game, otherwise it won’t be much of a factor.

Looking at the Odds: While I don’t think the Seahawks will win this game, I think they are going to play the Saints a lot closer than people expect. New Orleans is just  1-8 ATS vs. a team with a losing record, and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games as a favorite of 10.5 or greater. My final score prediction is New Orleans 27, Seattle 20.