SEATTLE – The injuries, inconsistent play and losses that stuck in the Seattle Seahawks’ craw finally are memories they can forget.
“Now, the regular season doesn’t matter,” Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said.
Well, in a way it does.
The Seahawks open the playoffs at home Saturday against the St. Louis Rams, a team that delivered two painful losses in the regular season.
The Rams came from 17 points behind in the fourth quarter and beat the Seahawks 33-27 in overtime on Oct. 10, then beat the Hawks again, 23-12, on Nov. 14 in St. Louis.
“Rarely do you get a chance to play a team a third time,” Hasselbeck said. “For sure one of those games we felt we should have had. We have a chance to redeem ourselves.”
The Seahawks will be the 14th team in NFL history with a chance to avenge a two-game sweep in the regular season. Of the previous 13 games, eight of the teams that won twice in the regular season also won in the playoffs.
Two teams have hosted a playoff game against the same opponents that swept them in the regular season, and the results were split. The Chargers beat the visiting Chiefs to avenge two earlier losses in the 1992 season and the Jaguars lost to the Titans at home after losing both time in the 1999 season.
“We know each other pretty well,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “It’s probably the way it should be.”
All that’s important to Seahawks center Robbie Tobek is that he’s playing football another week.
“I’m excited to be in the playoffs. I don’t care who we play,” Tobek said. “I’m not a big we-owe-you-this guy. We played two good games with them and I think it’s going to be a third good game. I just hope the results are on our side.”
Of all the factors involved in Seattle-St. Louis Part III – the shorter-than-usual preparation time, the familiarity with each other and the possible weather implications at open-air Qwest Field – the Seahawks are most thankful that they’ll be playing at home.
“It’s nice to have the crowd behind you,” Hasselbeck said. “But even more so, you don’t like to go to St. Louis with all the noise in their dome.”
Holmgren said the shorter preparation time shouldn’t be a factor, especially against a team the Seahawks have seen twice before.
“It helps that we know each other,” said Holmgren, who wouldn’t be surprised to see another close, high-scoring game Saturday. “We’ve been in a fair amount of white-knuckle games this year. We’re a little more experienced on offense than we are on defense, and the Rams are a very potent offensive team.”
Hasselbeck doubts either team will spring any huge surprise on the other, via trickery or a wildly different game plan from the regular season.
“That’s for the coaches to decide,” he said. “We know their team and they know us. Other than that, other than plays and formations or whatever, it comes down to the guys on the field making plays and making things happen. It comes down to making a guy miss a tackle, making a tackle, making a catch.”
And, for the Seahawks, it comes down to erasing the sting of two difficult losses to the Rams.
“They got us at home the first time. I think that’s still kind of sitting wrong with everybody,” guard Steve Hutchinson said. “And then they got us pretty good at their place. I think everybody is eager to beat the team that beat us twice. Even though we ended up winning the division, we still want to show that we can beat everyone in the division.”
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