NFL Playoffs Recap: Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets Perform Admirably in Victory

If someone told me one of my Saturday playoff predictions would be wrong, I would not have guessed that the Seahawks would be the one to prove me wrong.

But I have to give Seattle credit: They knocked off the defending Super Bowl champion Saints with a performance that proved their entitlement to a playoff berth.

Things did not start off the way that the Seahawks, and their always-boisterous fans, would have wanted. After the Saints took a 3-0 lead on their first possession, Seattle suffered a gut-wrenching turnover in the form of a Jabari Greer interception.

The turnover led to a Saints touchdown that put them ahead 10-0. At that point, it would have been easy for Pete Carroll and company to give into their critics' skepticism.

Instead, Matt Hasselbeck led the Seahawks on a drive that led to a touchdown pass to John Carlson.

So what if the Saints responded with another touchdown? Seattle responded with another touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to Carlson.

And from there, the Seahawks, with the help of their "12th man," took control of the game and rode the wave of momentum to victory.

This performance has silenced skeptics (myself included) of Seattle's right to be in the playoffs despite a losing record.

They belong, no doubt about it.

Now, the question becomes about home-field advantage. That question mark got bigger, because now we have to wonder how much of an advantage home field is (and we still must wonder if a team that wins less games deserves that advantage merely because it won it's division.)

It didn't account for much (if anything) in the nightcap, as the Jets beat the Colts in thrilling fashion.

I said in my prediction post that the Jets-Colts game would come down to the running game. The Colts tried to establish a running game, giving its duo of Rhodes and Addai 27 chances with the pigskin.

However, the Jet defense allowed the duo to run for only 93 yards.

Peyton Manning tried to make up for the lack of a running game, passing for 225 yards. It proved to be ineffective, as the Colts were held to 16 points (including a scoreless first quarter).

The Jet defense's performance allowed Mark Sanchez to do what he does best: Avoid the back-breaking mistake and be great when he needs to be.

And sure enough, Sanchez leads a drive that results in the game-winning field goal as time expires.

This article, along with recaps of the three other Wild Card games from this weekend, can be seen on Drew Rosten's Sports Thread at http://drewrosten.blogspot.com/.

I was 2-2 in my predictions this week. Check out the Sports Thread to see which games I picked correctly and incorrectly. Also on the Sports Thread is the scheduled times, TV channels and spreads for next week's Divisional Round action.