Falcons coach Dan Quinn had good reasons to avoid talking publicly last week about a potential playoffs rematch with the Seahawks.
For one, Quinn wanted the Falcons to focus on self-improvement during the bye week rather than their potential opponent. Also, the Falcons couldn’t fixate on the Seahawks because, at the time, they also could have faced the Packers or Giants in the NFC’s divisional round.
But while answering a question about the return of Seattle safety Kam Chancellor from injury, Quinn hinted at how the Falcons would view a rematch of their Oct. 16 loss at Seattle.
“He’s a factor,” Quinn said last week. “It’s the physicality that he plays with. But, like I said, all teams are a little different now and I’d say we’re a better version of ourselves then when we played them.”
Now the Falcons will get the chance to prove it. With the Seahawks’ win over the Lions in a wild-card game late Saturday in Seattle, the Falcons get their rematch in the divisional round on Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
The Falcons beat the visiting Seahawks in the divisional round of the 2012 playoffs. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl the following season and then lost to the Patriots in the next year’s Super Bowl when quarterback Russell Wilson threw a late interception near New England’s goal line. Quinn was Seattle’s defensive coordinator during both of those seasons.
The Seahawks have not been as formidable this season as they were during those runs. A Football Outsiders metric that measures weekly variance in performance rated the Seahawks as the fourth-most inconsistent team in the NFL from game to game.
The Seahawks believe they rediscovered their identity in the 26-6 victory over the Lions. The Seahawks punished the Lions with their running game, Wilson made some key throws and the defense kept the Lions out of the end zone.
“This felt like old times,” Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said.
Sherman was the Falcons’ antagonist in their 26-24 loss in Seattle. The Falcons were furious that he wasn’t called for pass interference after pulling down star wide receiver Julio Jones on their final play. A penalty would have set up the Falcons for a potential game-winning field goal in the last minute.
The Seahawks improved to 4-1 with that victory but went 6-4-1 the rest of the regular season. The defeat at Seattle dropped the Falcons to 4-2 and they were 7-3 after that.
The Seahawks have been much better at home than on the road this season. They went 7-1 in Seattle and won their 10th straight home playoff game on Saturday but were just 3-4-1 on the road while scoring only 15.9 points per game.
“It’s going to be a really difficult challenge and, of course, playing there is always hard,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “But I don’t care who we play. It doesn’t matter when we play them or where we play them. It happens to be Atlanta and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Offense has been the main issue for the Seahawks. But they rejuvenated their running game against the Lions with Thomas Rawls rushing for a franchise postseason-record 161 yards. Rawls was out due to injury in October when the Falcons limited Seattle to 72 yards on 27 carries with three short TD runs.
Seattle’s defense remains one of the top units in the league, especially against the run. The Seahawks ranked first in the league in rushing yards allowed per play this season and also were third in points allowed. But the Seahawks have been vulnerable against the pass, especially since safety Earl Thomas suffered a season-ending leg injury five weeks ago.
Seattle allowed 33 passing plays of 25 yards or more during the season, tied for fifth-most in the league. In October Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan completed four passes of 24 yards or longer against the Seahawks, including touchdown passes of 46 yards to Levine Toilolo and 36 yards to Jones.
To advance to the NFC championship game for the third time in four years, the Seahawks will have to do so on the road and slow the NFL’s top-ranked offense.
“(The Falcons) are an incredible team and I love the job that Dan has done,” Carroll said. “They are loaded on offense. They’ve got an aggressive group. Really good on (special) teams. Tons of playmakers.”
