Divisional Playoff Afterword: Seahawks vs Saints

Seattle's defense was all over the place, and helped by the acoustics of
CenturyLink they took down the Saints and advanced to the NFC title game.

Cory Puffett

We found out what Marques Colton’s football IQ is. For the all-time receiving leader in Saints history, the final play of the Saints’ season was not his finest moment.

After catching a pass from Drew Brees along the sideline, instead of stepping out of bounds with two seconds left to give his quarterback a shot to the end zone, he turned and threw the ball up field. The illegal forward pass brought a ten-second runoff that ended the game.

The Saints’ defense deserves a lot of credit for keeping the game exciting. They had some struggles early in the game, mostly due to a shanked punt and a fumble giving Seattle short fields early in the game. But despite the heavy workload in the opening quarter, the defense kept the deficit to two possessions.

Drew Brees passed for just 34 yards in the first half, his worst total as a Saint. He turned around and had a really nice second half, albeit he needed a little luck to get 52 of his passing yards. But even that play did not lead to a score so he deserves a lot of praise for answering his defense with a solid half of football.

Seattle’s defense proved to be too much, though, and Marshawn Lynch certain had a part to play in the win. Lynch had not been running the ball very well the last few weeks but ran for a franchise-record 140 yards and two scores in Saturday’s divisional playoff matchup.

Seattle has now won its last six home playoff games and will host either San Francisco or Carolina next week. This game also officially closes Candlestick Park. If the Saints had won, a 49er victory on Sunday would mean one more game for the storied ballpark, an NFC Championship. Instead, the NFC title game will be at CenturyLink Field.

Final Score:

New Orleans Saints – 15

Seattle Seahawks – 23

2014 Divisional Preview: Seahawks vs Saints

Cory Puffett

New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks

January 11 – 4:35pm (FOX)

For the second straight week, three playoff games are regular season rematches, and this is one of them. The Seahawks pummeled the Saints at home in Week 13. They’ve since lost a home game and you can bet the 12^th Man will be louder than ever for Saturday’s playoff game.

The two teams also have a bit of history in the playoffs. They played three years ago today, in Seattle. The Seahawks, a 7-9 NFC West division winner hosted the 11-5 Saints and won 41-36. Drew Brees had a good day but his defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed, much less Beast Mode.

Unlike many people, I actually give New Orleans a solid shot at winning this game. You can call it a cop-out, basically confirming, “it’s the playoffs, some weird (expletive) happens here.”

But I think it’s more than that. The Saints hadn’t played in Seattle since that day three years ago when they went there last month. With more recent experience in front of that crowd, they should be better equipped to deal with the distraction this time around.

I have also been less than impressed with Seattle’s offense lately. The hardest thing about predicting games in the divisional round is that one of every two teams hasn’t played in two weeks. A week off gives players much needed rest, but the affects aren’t always what you’d hope. For some players, it makes them hungrier. Others, the bye makes them stale, leaves them with cobwebs to shake off in the game’s opening quarter or so.

The way Seattle’s offense has looked in their last four games since that big blowout of New Orleans, I’m not overly confident that even the hungry players will be able to avoid making critical mistakes on Saturday.

But Seattle does have Beast Mode, and he is beastly in the playoffs. New Orleans has one of the best groups of tacklers in the NFL today, but even they may not be able to take down Marshawn Lynch on the first and second hit.

I think this is going to be a low scoring game. Percy Harvin is the one factor that could change that, and he’s questionable right now. Even when he did play a few weeks ago he wasn’t very effective, so I honestly don’t put much stake in him.

My concern is Pierre Thomas for New Orleans. I am not ready to trust Mark Ingram to carry the load for this offense. But if Thomas, who is questionable, is able to be a featured part of the game plan in Seattle, I think it will give the Saints enough diversity on offense to be successful.

It certainly helps the Saints’ cause that Keenan Lewis is probable and expects to play.

Now, I know I wrote a lot of this from a sort of pro-New Orleans perspective. Don’t read too much into that. Seattle, right now, is my favorite to win this game. But everybody is talking and writing about why Seattle is the better team and New Orleans has no chance to beat them. I preferred to focus on telling you why Seattle is not invincible, even at home.

I will make my official prediction in a separate blog post, as I did last week, on Friday.

Wild Card Afterword: Eagles vs Saints

Darren Sproles gained 29 rushing yards on just 4 carries, but was more of
a threat in the passing games, picking up 31 yards on a team-high 4 catches.

Eric Meyer

The Saints finally got the road monkey off their back, getting a 32-yard field goal from Shayne Graham as time expired to lift them over the Philadelphia Eagles, 26-24. The win was a total team effort, as the running game and defense did their part to take the pressure off of Drew Brees and the passing game in the bitter cold on Saturday night.

I said Friday in my prediction for this game that Drew Brees is the best postseason quarterback in the NFL right now. I stand by that statement, but Brees didn’t put together his best performance. He had two first-half interceptions and gave the Eagles a short field, which set up a touchdown drive that gave Philadelphia a lead. However, the Saints defense dominated otherwise and kept New Orleans in it. They only trailed 7-6 at halftime.

In the second half, the Saints got the ball rolling. Drew Brees seemed to find a comfort zone and led a balanced attack down the field for two straight touchdown drives, one on a 24-yard pass to Lance Moore and another on a carry from Mark Ingram, who carried the load quite impressively in the stead of Pierre Thomas who sat out with a chest injury. Ingram finished with 97 yards on 18 carries and looked like the feature back New Orleans hoped he’d be when they traded up to draft him in the first round three seasons ago.

Finally, the Eagles offense came alive. Keenan Lewis, who had shut down DeSean Jackson the entire game, left with a head injury in the third quarter and the Eagles were able to find a rhythm by connecting on some plays to Jackson and picking on backup corner Rod Sweeting. They put up 17 points on their next three drives to take a 24-23 lead with 4:54 left in regulation.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Saints got a spark from Darren Sproles, who returned the kick to around the 40-yard line in addition to 15 extra yards for a horse collar tackle on Cary Williams. The Saints were then able to pick up a handful of first downs to move into chip-shot field goal range and, more importantly, run the clock down to zero on the final snap. Graham nailed the routine kick and the Saints got their first road playoff win in franchise history. They’ll head to Seattle for the divisional round, where they hope to avenge a Monday night beat down they received in Week 13 of the regular season.

Note: The Saints’ win improved my mark to 2-0 this postseason, but it should be noted that I, like Cory, have a history of going 2-0 on Wild Card Saturday only to follow it up with an 0-2 showing on Sunday. So don’t expect wins from Cincinnati or San Francisco tomorrow.

Final Score:

New Orleans Saints – 26

Philadelphia Eagles – 24

2014 Wild Card Preview: Eagles vs Saints

Cory Puffett

New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagles

January 4 – 8:10pm (NBC)

This is the only wild card game that is not a rematch from the regular season. It is also the only game this weekend that does not feature at least one team that made the postseason last year.

The Saints’ road struggles have been well documented this season. In fact, most of you know that New Orleans is 0-3 in road playoff games under Sean Payton. Perhaps you don’t know that they have lost all five playoff games away from home in franchise history. They say “the sixth time is the charm.”

Philly has been on fire of late. They had one big hiccup in Minnesota a few weeks ago, but with the way they rebounded against Chicago the following week, I don’t think that loss to Matt Cassel should be a major concern.

The Eagles have won 7 of their last 8 games. The thing that does have me concerned is that the only good team they played in that stretch was Arizona, who they only beat 24-21 despite playing at home. Sure they beat the Packers in that stretch, but those were the Scott Tolzien Packers, they don’t count as a “good team.”

The good news for the Saints is that clear skies are expected for Saturday night in Philly. It will be cold, but no one is calling for rain or snow yet.

Aside from the home field factor, the two teams are pretty evenly matched on paper. The Saints have the better defense, even if they do struggle a little more against the run than Philadelphia. The Eagles are a much better run team on offense and have been just about on par with New Orleans in the pass game since Nick Foles took over.

But there are a couple of statistical categories that New Orleans is clearly the better team in. The Saints have given up the fewest first downs in the league while the Eagles are the worst of the playoff teams in that category. New Orleans is also one of the better teams in the league in getting off the field on third down. Of this year’s playoff crop, only New England is worse than Philly in terms of opponents’ third down percentage.

As I mentioned in my earlier preview, I will be making my official predictions for the wild card games later in the week. I really don’t know who I’m leaning toward for this one, so wish me luck.

Puff's Pick:

Will be added after the Football Freaks podcast is published on Friday.