Posted: Thursday January 6, 2005 6:04PM; Updated: Thursday January 6, 2005 7:16PM 
| Marquee Matchup |
| SI.com's Don Banks breaks down Saturday's NFC wild-card game |
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St. Louis Rams (8-8) at Seattle Seahawks (9-7)
Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST (ABC)
Qualcomm Stadium
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You gotta love this year's sad-sack NFC, which gives us this, the first ever playoff matchup between eight- and nine-win teams since the advent of the 16-game schedule in 1978. Combined the Rams and Seahawks were just two games over .500 (17-15, or .531), the lowest joint winning percentage in league playoff history. By comparison, the Seahawks and Rams combined for a 22-10 record last season, when they both made the playoffs as well. And no one should touch that dial when these two teams hook up. The past two times they've played in Seattle, the Seahawks overcame a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Rams (in 2003), and this year St. Louis rallied from a 17-point final-quarter hole to win in overtime.
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Marc Bulger
Elsa/Getty Images
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Sizing up the Rams
Until they beat the coasting Eagles and the floundering Jets in the final seven days of the regular season, the Rams looked nothing like a playoff team. In its previous five games, St. Louis had won just once and been outscored 149-64 in the process. All four of those humbling losses were on the road, where the Rams have dropped five in a row and haven't won since their last trip to Seattle, that miracle 33-27 overtime thriller in Week 5.
No team that made the postseason at .500 or below has ever won a playoff game. But by getting another shot at the Seahawks, the Rams have drawn the one NFC qualifier they can definitely beat on the road. St. Louis averaged 367.3 yards of offense per game this season, sixth best in the NFL. But against Seattle, the Rams were far better, rolling up an average of 451.5 yards of offense and 56 points in their two-game sweep of the season series.
The key for St. Louis, as always, will be its passing game. If quarterback Marc Bulger can stay away from turnovers -- has there ever been a playoff team with a minus-24 turnover ratio before? -? St. Louis shouldn't have a problem scoring. Since throwing his third interception against Seattle early in the fourth quarter of their first meeting this season, Bulger has riddled the Seahawks with four touchdown passes and 467 yards, without a pick.
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Shaun Alexander
Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images
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Sizing up the Seahawks
The Seahawks somehow won the NFC West, as everyone and their brother predicted they would do back in those hazy, lazy, crazy days of summer. But it was a wild ride that began with that fourth-quarter meltdown against St. Louis on Oct. 10. That galling defeat brought out the Seahawks' inner Sybil, and they spent the rest of the regular season showing off their inability to mount anything resembling a winning streak.
Having earned their first home playoff game since 1999, some of the pressure might have been lifted from the Seahawks' shoulders, allowing them to perform up to their potential in the postseason. But to prove it to us, they must first dispose of their divisional nemesis, the Rams, the opponent that seems to have taken up permanent lodging in Seattle's collective team psyche.
If the Seahawks are smart, they won't try and get into a passing-fest with the Rams, who know how to win that type of game. Seattle running back Shaun Alexander rumbled for 176 yards on just 22 carries in the Seahawks 23-12 loss at St. Louis in mid-November, and has 452 yards in his past three games against the Rams. Seattle should pound away at the Rams' 29th-ranked rush defense, keeping the ball out of Bulger and Co.'s hands. Thirteen of Alexander's NFL-high 20 touchdowns came at home this season.
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St. Louis WR Torry Holt
• Six-year pro (N.C. State), 6-0, 190
• Stats: 94 receptions, 1,372 yards, 10 touchdowns
• Holt is the only man in NFL history to record five consecutive 1,300-yard receiving seasons.
Seattle SS Michael Boulware
• Rookie (Florida State), 6-2, 223
• Stats: 5 interceptions, 1 touchdown return, 2 forced fumbles
• Shifted from his collegiate linebacker position, Boulware has emerged as a play-making force in the Seattle secondary.
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The last time a team was beaten twice in the regular season and rebounded to defeat the same opponent in the playoffs came in 1998, when Arizona won at Dallas in an NFC first-round game. The Rams beat the Seahawks twice in 2004: 33-27 in overtime in Seattle, and 23-12 in St. Louis.
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"We did it the hard way. But we got it done."
-- Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck
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The Seahawks, hyped as a Super Bowl pick in the preseason, can wipe away at least some of the frustration left over from their uneven 2004 by sending those pesky Rams home for the rest of the playoffs. As flawed as Seattle is, St. Louis has even bigger warts to contend with. This time, the Seahawks will build a fourth-quarter lead for their faithful fans at Qwest Field, and then actually find a way to hold onto it.
Seahawks 27, Rams 24
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