Seattle Seahawks vs New Orleans Saints - 41 – 36

Let me explain how my Saturday evening went. Because I live in the UK, the game didn’t start until 9.30pm. So, given that I am a huge Saints fan, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that I went to bed depressed to say the least. It was difficult for me to remain objective as I spent most of the game shouting at the television screen, but it doesn’t take an objective opinion to know that we were 100% outplayed.

Any team that allows Marshawn Lynch to run for a long touchdown after shaking off what must have been ten hits on him is a team that does not deserve to win.

The Saints dominated in the first quarter and were up 17-7 for a large part of the 2 nd when the wheels began to fall off. Hasslebeck began to find rhythm, hitting Mike Williams for a 68-yard touchdown and despite an early interception by Jabari Greer, the secondary for the Saints seemed to be powerless. To give away such a commanding lead and end up down at the half was one thing, but to come out in the second half and never regain the lead against a team that only won 7 games all season is a whole other issue.

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I don’t mean to wine and I accept that the Saints did not deserve to win this game, but I believe that this situation has uncovered a glaring error in the seeding for the playoffs. Seattle got in with the worst record ever because the NFC West was so bad and they beat the Rams in the game that decided who would make it in. How is it that a team who have been as consistent as the Saints have all season should be knocked out in the first round when their record was 11-5? New Orleans should not be allowing themselves to get beaten by the Seahawks, but that’s not the point. The Saints had a record that was deserving of 1 st place in the NFC South if it wasn’t for Atlanta’s breakout season.

The playoffs are supposed to contain the best teams in the league. Am I right? In that case, who makes the playoffs should not be decided by who wins the divisions but rather on record. Then a team like the New York Giants would have been in the playoffs as they had a better record than Seattle. Having said that, with the performance that New Orleans put on against Seattle, the Giants would have ripped us apart, too. Despite it being my team that lost, everyone loves a good underdog story and it’s any given Sunday.

By: Tom Greenhalgh
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer