GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers got the ball, but it was the Seattle Seahawks who scored.
Twice.
And then the avalanche came.
In what amounted to two one-sided games in one, the Seahawks were on the wrong end of the proverbial snowball effect Saturday afternoon at Lambeau Field. A 14-0 lead over the first 4:01 provided the only joy for an overmatched Seattle team. The Packers cruised the rest of the way, scoring on six consecutive possessions en route to a 42-20 victory that will send them to next weekend’s NFC Championship game.
“It seemed like that Lambeau mystique thing you hear about really came out,” Seahawks linebacker Julian Peterson said.
In a game that was markedly different than the 2003 playoff game at Lambeau Field — that overtime contest was remembered for Matt Hasselbeck’s “We want the ball, and we’re going to score” proclamation — Saturday’s contest saw the Packers outscore Seattle 42-6 over the final 55 minutes to earn a trip to their first conference championship game since the 1997 Mike Holmgren-coached team went to San Francisco and beat the 49ers.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, will see a second consecutive season end after the divisional round.
“Really, there’s only going to be one team that’s happy at the end of the season, and that’s the team that wins the Super Bowl,” said Seahawks tight end Marcus Pollard, whose first-quarter fumble helped turn the emotional tide. “But (after Saturday’s game), it sucks.”
Green Bay’s 42 points marked the most ever scored by the Packers in a playoff game, and the most ever given up by Seattle in the postseason. Running back Ryan Grant set two Packers postseason records, with three touchdowns and 201 rushing yards. He is just the seventh runner in NFL history to go over 200 yards in a playoff game.
Things looked good for the Seahawks early. After the Packers celebrated winning the opening coin toss with quarterback Brett Favre jokingly announcing, “We’re going to score,” Green Bay’s first playoff game in three years opened with a four-minute thud.
Packers running back Ryan Grant bobbled a pass in the flat on the opening play, corralling the ball only temporarily before the Seahawks’ Leroy Hill jarred it loose. Seattle teammate Lofa Tatupu picked up the fumble and returned it to the Green Bay 1, setting up a Shaun Alexander touchdown run just 17 seconds into the game.
Grant fumbled again on the second play of the Packers’ next drive, setting up another score. Hasselbeck’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Engram put the Seahawks ahead 14-0 with 10:59 remaining in the first quarter.
From that point, as the snow drizzles turned into near blizzard conditions, the NFC’s second-seeded Packers found their rhythm.
Grant ran all over the Seahawks, while Favre worked some of his typical magic. His most impressive play came late in the first half, when the Packers were leading 21-17 with less than a minute to go before halftime.
In typical Favre fashion, he escaped the grips of Seahawks defensive tackle Brandon Mebane and threw an underhand pass while falling down, converting a third down in the process. One play later, the Packers scored for a 28-17 halftime lead. After touchdowns on its first two drives of the second half, Green Bay led 42-20 with 131/2 minutes to play and never looked back.
“The start was great. Up a quick 14, create a couple turnovers early,” Seahawks safety Brian Russell said. “But you know it’s going to be a 60-minute game. You don’t get an easy lead and coast to the victory in the playoffs.
“They came back strong, put some drives together, and we didn’t stop those drives.”
Added defensive back Jordan Babineaux: “This is a game of highs and lows. For them to swing momentum, it was up to us to get that momentum back. And we never grabbed a stranglehold on it.”
It marked the second consecutive year that the Seahawks lost in the divisional round of the playoffs and the eighth consecutive road loss in postseason games.
Afterward, the players were as much shocked as disappointed.
“These playoff losses stink bad,” an emotional Patrick Kerney said. “I won’t be able to reflect back on the positives (of the season) for some time.”
Coach Mike Holmgren seemed as defeated as anyone, speaking softly but with more emotion than he does after a typical loss.
“It always hurts unless you win the Super Bowl,” Holmgren told the media a few minutes after the conclusion of Saturday’s game. “So this hurts. Our team battled like crazy all season long.
“We had some success early (in Saturday’s game), got it going a little bit, but I wish we’d played better.”
With more than six months before the start of training camp, the Seahawks will have a lot of time to try to wash the bad taste out of their mouth after another disappointing finish.
“This game just wasn’t our game,” Peterson said. “I guarantee you: if it was the next day, it would probably be a totally different game. But (Saturday), you just have to take your hats off to Green Bay.
“… Hopefully, they win the whole thing, so at least we can say we lost to the Super Bowl champs.”
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