Seahawks journey to New Jersey begins

13-3, the #1 seed, and home field advantage through out the playoff; this is how the Seattle Seahawks journey to New Jersey will officially begin. The Seahawks have the privilege of having the first-round bye but who will face this talented Seahawks team at Century Link Field on January 12th? I'm guessing plenty of Seahawks fans are hoping for Hawks/Niners rematch, but lets look at the facts first shall we? The Seahawks will be playing the lowest seed team after the two Wild Card games are over and looking at who is facing who it may become a Seahawks/Saints rematch.

The New Orleans Saints face the NFC East Champion Philadelphia Eagles in Phili. Now, do I think the Eagles have a snowballs chance in hell of beating the Saints........yes I actually do. Since Nick Foles has become the starting quarterback for the Eagles he's taken this team from 3-5 to winning 7 of their last 8 games. Foles has only thrown 2 interceptions in his 8 games played, he's the 2013 version of Colin Kaepernick from last year. With Desean Jackson, Riley Cooper, and Brent Celek as his go-to wide receivers Foles has thrown for 2,891 yards in the games that he started, and he has one more weapon to back him up......Lesean McCoy. McCoy has had a career year rushing for a career high 1,607 yards and 9 touchdowns and he will be the main weapon the Eagles have against the Saints.

The Saints do have the advantage in pass defense as they are ranked 2nd in the NFL in allowing passing yards with only allowing 194.1 passing yards per game, but they do rank 19th in rushing defense giving up 111.6 rushing yards a game. So, the Eagles may have a tough time passing the ball but rushing they should have no problem but the Eagles are the worst in pass defense ranking 32nd in the NFL. So, again the Saints are the passingest team in the NFL going against the worst passing defense in the NFL there is advantage New Orleans have.

For the Niners/Packers game its a rematch from last years Divisional Round game where Kaepernick ran for an NFL QB playoff record 181 yards including a 56 yard run that basically broke the Packers back. This year though its two different Packers and 49ers team. This year the Packers struggled through injuries and used 4 different starting QBs, while the Niners started out 1-2 with Kaepernick struggling but bounced back to win 5 straight and finally winning their final 6 games in a row. So, who really has the advantage in this game? Both teams are in the Top 10 in rushing but the Packers have the advantage in the passing game, the Niners rank 30th in the NFL in passing with only averaging 186.2 yards a game.

The Packers also have their franchise QB back in Aaron Rodgers after  missing 7 weeks with a broken collarbone. Rodgers had one hell of a bounce back game against the Bears in the final game of the season throwing for 318 yards and 2 touchdowns including the game winning 48 yard throw to Randall Cobb with 38 seconds left. Now, the Niners defense is going to tough to beat as they rank 7th in pass defense and 4th in rush defense. The Packers though will be prepared to not allow Kaepernick to do what he did last year both in passing and rushing so be prepared to see one physical game.

Now how bout I talk about the Seahawks again? The Hawks began the season a franchise best 11-1 before their final 4 games, but during the final 4 games the Hawks have gone 2-2 including their first home loss in 2 years. But last Sunday's 27-9 win over the Rams showed the Seahawks offense get their mojo back as Golden Tate had a career game catching 8 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Russell Wilson knows this stage well, as he lead the Seahawks to their first road playoff win last year for the first time since 1983.

The Seahawks have a ray of light at the end of the tunnel as Percy Harvin has been practicing with the team and could play in two weeks. Harvin played only one game this year and caught one throw for 17 yards and had a 58 yard kick return but went back on injured list, but he is said to be in practice and with only 3 wins away from being Super Bowl Champs Harvin coming back to play is a huge break for the Seahawks.

The last time the Seahawks had home field advantage in playoffs they went all the way to the Super Bowl only to fall to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but this years Seahawks are looking to finish what the 2005 Hawks could not and that is to hold the Lombardi Trophy in New Jersey. With only one month left in the NFL season in just 10 days the Seahawks journey to Super Bowl XLVIII will begin but their opponent is still unknown we will know who will be the first team to fall to Seattle's destiny.

GO HAWKS!!!!