01-06-2011, 07:54 PM
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Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 11,313
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Re: NFL Wild Card: Saints at Seahawks
I wonder when the last time was that an NFL team was a double-digit underdog in a playoff game at home? Everybody seems to giving Seattle no chance in this game, but here are a couple things to consider.
- The Saints placed RBs Pierre Thomas AND Christopher Ivory on IR this week. That leaves them with Reggie Bush, who is really almost a receiver - a 3rd down back catching screen passes behind the line of scrimmage - and Heath Evans, a tight end converted to fullback. The Saints signed a couple of unemployed running backs off the street in their places: DeShawn Wynn, the former backup in Green Bay who was the RB at Florida behind Tim Tebow when the Gators won the national championship, and Joique Bell, a rookie who appeared in eight games with the Colts and Eagles on special teams this year.
Bell has zero carries and zero receptions in his NFL career. Wynn has 19 touches in the last three years and zero this year. Evans has two carries this year and seven receptions this season. Bush has 36 rushes this year. Though New Orleans is the superior team, it certainly has to help Seattle that they will apparently be very one-dimensional on offense.
- We often talk about the Colts being a dome team and not playing as well in poor conditions outside; what about the Saints? Every year they have at least eight games inside, plus games at Tampa Bay and Carolina. The Saints had only two late season games in northern cities this year: December 5 at Cincinnati and December 19 at Baltimore. The Saints gave up 30 points in both of those games, losing to the Ravens and barely beating the Bengals.
What's the weather going to be like? Matt Hasselbeck has played in northern climates his whole life, and the rest of the Seahawks are used to it. How will the Saints be if it is cold, rainy, or windy?
Seattle was able to move the ball at New Orleans earlier this year; Hasselbeck threw for 366 yards on the Saints in that game. If the Seahawks can finish drives better - they fumbled in the red zone twice in that game, and settled for field goals four times - perhaps they can hang with the Saints.
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