We meet again, Mr. Brees

The NFL Playoffs have begun and Seattle now knows who they will face in their first playoff game.  Their opponent is a familiar one in the New Orleans Saints, who defeated the Eagles on the road in the Wild Card round yesterday. Seahawks will face New Orleans in Divisional Round at CenturyLink Field on Saturday.

That means only the Saints and the winner of the Panthers/49ers game stand in the way of the Seahawks and their second Super Bowl appearance.

Given that we've beaten all three of those teams this season-- I like our odds.

New Orleans trailed at the half against Philadelphia, but managed to come away with the victory largely due to the success of their rushing attack. The Saints kept the dangerous LeSean McCoy from running away with the game and narrowly defeated the Eagles by a mere 2 points.

I absolutely cannot fathom that happening this weekend in Seattle.

The Seahawks have had the Saints number here in Seattle since Pete Carroll took the reins.  It began in 2010 in the Wildcard match up with the Saints coming in as 10 point favorites.  Seattle won the high-scoring affair on the arm of Matt Hasselbeck and the earthquake-inducing legs of Marshawn Lynch.

In December of this year, the Saints returned a team eerily similar to what we saw 3 years earlier-- but Seattle fielded a far different team than the one that won the NFC West with a losing record.  The outcome was drastically different as Seattle won handily, 34-7.

I expect to see a performance with an outcome reminiscent of December's match up with the electric atmosphere of the 2010 playoff game.

Seattle has the most dominant defense in the NFL.  I am thoroughly confident of that.  Seattle's undervalued defensive front will not allow the Saints run game to have the success they enjoyed against the Eagles and that will force Brees to try and win the game by throwing on the #1 secondary in the league-- perhaps of all-time.

I have tremendous respect for Drew Brees.  I think he's one of the greatest to ever play.  I just can't see him overcoming such a dominant defense, on the road no less, to come away with a victory.

Let's not forget that this offense of ours is no slouch, either.  Russell Wilson is heading into the second post season of his young career.  He's already proven that he is ready to be in the elite discussion and there is no doubt he will have his team thoroughly prepared for the game this weekend. By the way, there's a possibility that Percy Harvin will be available for Saturday's game.

Add to that the undeniable force that is Marshawn Lynch.  Lynch was recently fined $50,000 for not speaking to the media this season and I hope he doesn't say another word to them throughout the playoff run.  Lynch lets his work on the field do the talking-- that's why we love him here.

There is only 6 games of football remaining before the Super Bowl and everyone is undefeated right now.  I have the utmost confidence that Pete has his boys in the perfect mindset for victory.  The CLink needs to be rockin' this week and Friday should be the bluest day of the year.  I feel great about our chances this year and you should too.