The question, "Who will the Packers face in the second round of the playoffs" has been answered: Green Bay's first playoff game will be against Seattle on Saturday January 12th. Game time is 3:30 and the early weather report, well, the early weather report doesn't really matter, it's too early.

The Seahawks played a solid game against the Redskins, and it was a closer game than the 35-14 final indicated. The Redskins were up by 1 with 11:30 to play, and would have gone up by 4 if the Redskins kicker Suisham could have made a 30 yard field goal. To the Seahawks credit, they bounced back, scored the go ahead touchdown, and forced the Redskins to play catchup, a game the Redskins were not very good at.

The thing that stuck in my mind from this game was that this Seahawks team is almost a mirror image of its old self. The Seahawks offense did not seem that potent, they only scored 13 points against the Redskins until pretty deep into the fourth quarter. The Seahawks rushing game seemed especially weak. I know the Redskins have (had?) a very good rush defense, but the Seahawks couldn't get the ground game started, rushing for only 77 yards as a team.

On the other hand, the Seahawks defense is a lot better than I remember. The defensive line totally dominated the Redskins O line, at least on rushing attempts. The Seahawks defense looks very fast, and very strong.

I think the Packers match up very will against the Seahawks. The Seahawks can shut down the run, but Green Bay has shown they can win in the air, with no ground game. The Packers front four can stop the Seahawks ground game, and again, the Packers have shown they can shut down one dimensional passing teams (think the first Detroit game, San Diego game, and Giants game)

I think in general the Packers are a better team, and they match up very well against the Seahawks, so they will get the win.

Of course if Green Bay makes a lot of mistakes, they will not be able to overcome them. I will be very interested to see how McCarthy treats Favre in the opening of the game. I would expect a lot of short passes to start so Brett can get in a rhythm.

Prediction: Packers win 28 - 17

Footnote: In the Seahawks - Redskins game the Redskins kicked off, recovered their own kickoff, and ran it into the endzone, but the ruling on the field was you cannot advance a kickoff recovery. This did not seem right to me or anyone I was watching the game with, but the refs did make the right call. According to the NFL kickoff rules "Kicking team may recover but NOT advance UNLESS receiver had possession and lost the ball."

UPDATE: I installed a Packers forum recently. Please feel free to use the comments, but you can also comment or post in the forum.

Monday, January 07, 2008 1:02:30 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
As a Seahawks fan I also enjoy watching the Packers play, your team is very good! I also think this will be a good game!
Go Hawks!!!!
Flybait
Monday, January 07, 2008 5:33:14 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
thats the same thing the redskin reports said good pass rush decent defense we can stop the run and then we can stop one dimensional pass game we are a a better general team , turns out they were wrong however you do have a better team and it should be a good game (=
charles
Monday, January 07, 2008 5:59:09 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I agree with you both, it will be a very good game!

Of course Holmgren used to coach the Packers when they went to the Super Bowl, so the Seahawks are kind of the our brother team, and the teams have very similar makeup.

The Seahawks D line will pressure Favre for sure, a lot of the game will hinge on how Favre deals with that pressure.
Chris Burkhardt
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:32:56 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I think that both teams are very equal in talent, except the running game advantage goes to the packers... so far. The seahawks have shown in the past couple of weeks that they are getting better, it just depends on which seahawks team shows up. I think (hope) that this little lay-off the packers had with the bye week is enough to slow them down, and make them a little inconsistant to start. If the seahawks can make an early move to keep the crowd out of it, and the "pack" starts slow, the HAWKS can prevail. Bottom line is who prepares and executes the best is going to win, in what I see as an exciting of a game we've seen all year! GO HAWKS! GO HAWKS! GOOOOOOOOOOOOO SEAHAWKS!!!
Butch Van De Steeg
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 3:54:54 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I am a hard Packer Fan and it won't be a breeze, but it will be a great game. How will Seattle deal with the elements such as the much prdicted snow?
Whatever the challenges this coming Saturday: May the best team win and advance with well deserved pride
Still chearing for my team even while living IN Seattle.
GO PACKERS!!!!
Regina
Friday, January 11, 2008 10:57:33 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I am a pack fan and am glad to see Favre become more judicous in his throws. I have regreted some of his past playoff risk taking over the years which has led to Pac losses. I hope that the Pack rises to the occassion in playing a talented Seahawks team.

While the Pack has improve during the season, can someone suggest why they can loose to teams like the Bears. It is this inconsistency that makes me wonder if they can be concisent in the playoffs. Better lucky than good - may the Pack get a break or two early in the game to keep the crowd behind them and let us nervous Pack fans hope for the best.
JOSE
Saturday, January 12, 2008 4:39:26 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
green and blue
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