The Washington Redskins will get the NFC Wildcard Playoff party started this Saturday at 4:30 PM EST with a trip to Seattle to take on the Seahawks. Seattle was able to stop the Redskin in the Playoffs two years ago while in route to Super Bowl XL in Detroit. The Seahawks eventually lost that year to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Detroit.
The Seahawks are currently –4 point home favorites at SportsBetting.com.
"Gotta love the way Shaun Alexander is running right now, which make the Seahawks dangerous," stated Sports-Odds.com NFL Picks Expert Brad Marchetti of Einstein Picks when asked about the Washington Redskins vs Seattle Seahawks NFC Wildcard Playoff Game. "The Redskins are fast and athletic, they have some real thoroughbreds. Not many East Coast teams play well in Seattle so it will be a tough game for the Skins."
The Seattle Seahawks underwent a mood swing midway through this season that was just crazy enough to work. From conservative, rush-first offense to a “Let the players play” package that resulted in a mellow seven game win streak, and the team is currently running at their healthiest levels overall since Week 1. Washington and Joe Gibbs keep getting better with age and judging by his performance in the past two weeks, it even looks as if Gibbs has spent some time reading the revised edition of the NFL Rule Book.
The Redskins are hot, ending the season on the right side of four must-win games. The team is playing with passion and devotion and working with new looks on both sides of the ball that really were works-in-progress all season long. Now can this team get it done on the road?
The Over/Under for the Washington Redskins vs Seattle Seahawks is 40 total points at SportsBetting.com.
The so-called 12th man that has made the `Hawks famous will be in full effect this weekend and whether it is Jason Campbell or Todd Collins calling signals for Washington, the gameplan will have to be tight. Seattle is always a tough spot to play but during the regular season there are occasional fair weather fan sightings at Qwest Field, mostly tourists, which muffle the sound at key points in the game. That won’t happen this weekend and this could be Washington’s stiffest challenge since their Week 11 trip to Dallas.
There is one more thing working against the Redskins that out of the six NFC playoff teams applies only to them, and that is the quarterback-shuffle card. Only six teams in NFL history have won a Super Bowl while being led by a QB that was not the starter on opening day. The 2001 New England Patriots were the most recent (Drew Bledsoe/Tom Brady), and one year before that Baltimore accomplished the feat behind Trent Dilfer (Tony Banks). The others were the New York Giants (1990, Phil Simms/Jeff Hostetler), Washington (1987, Jay Schroeder/Doug Williams), Oakland (1980, Dan Pastorini/Jim Plunkett) and Pittsburgh (1974, Joe Gilliam, Terry Bradshaw).
Meanwhile, Eli Manning and the New York Giants travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccanners in the NFL Playoff game on Sunday January 6th at 1:00 PM EST.
"Jeff Garcia is on fire but the Giants pass-rush will be out for his blood," stated Marchetti when asked to comment on the NY Giants vs Tampa Bay Buccanneers game. "Eli Manning has been playing better for NY but it will be crucial for Brandon Jacobs to help keep him out of obvious passing situations."
