Dirty Bird Daily: Atlanta Falcons vs Seattle Seahawks rematch in NFL playoffs

The Atlanta Falcons will play the Seattle Seahawks in next weekend’s Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. It’s too bad for Seattle they won’t have the home crowd or officiating to help them along.

The next leg of the ‘Atlanta Falcons revenge tour’ kicks off on Saturday as the Seattle Seahawks come to town. The Seahawks put away the Detroit Lions in yesterday’s Wild Card playoff game, 26-6. The win set up a rematch of the October 16th regular season game in which Seattle edged Atlanta, 26-24.

the Seahawks rode Thomas Rawls’ 27 carries for 161 yards to a dominant victory

Blogging Dirty’s Eric Robinson said in his preview of yesterday’s Wild Card match-up that Seattle’s ground game would be crucial. Eric was correct as the Seahawks rode Thomas Rawls’ 27 carries for 161 yards to a dominant victory. Seattle’s offensive line had been inconsistent throughout the regular season, but saved their best performance for Saturday. Detroit managed three sacks on Russell Wilson, but the running lanes were wide open at Century Link Stadium.

The officiating was downright awful during yesterday’s Wild Card game, but what else is new? Part of me reasons with all the Lions’ fans who are still raging over the litany of missed calls. Atlanta Falcons’ fans know all too well what that feels like. The Seahawks don’t get flagged often at home, hence part of the advantage in “home field advantage”.

Another part of me doesn’t feel bad at all because six points wasn’t going to get the job done in Seattle. The officials certainly weren’t what kept the Lions from getting into the end-zone. We’ll give Detroit some credit though. The Lions limped into the playoffs and gave the Seahawks a ballgame for a little more than three quarters. If I may elude back to Eric’s article, most of us where shocked ‘Stafford & Co’ made it into the postseason to begin with.

Related Story: Is Seattle the favorable divisional round opponent for Falcons?

The game we wanted was the Seattle Seahawks vs Atlanta Falcons for the trip to the NFC Championship. No team is more disrespected and ignored on the NFC’s side of the bracket than the Falcons. That changes with Atlanta beating the best on the run to Houston. If I were writing the script, the Falcons knock off Seattle this weekend and then welcome the Green Bay Packers a week later.

Saturday, January 14th at 4:35 pm; inside the Georgia Dome. There’s won’t be any officials afraid to make calls, nor with the “12th man” be a factor. The Atlanta Falcons have every advantage in their first playoff game since 2012.

Saturday can’t come soon enough for Falcons Nation.