Saints fail in first round in attempt to defend Super Bowl title

Seattle Seahawks halfback Marshawn Lynch broke through the line of scrimmage and worked his way down the field close to the first down marker.

With the first down in the bag, he then pushed for more, breaking through virtually the entire Saints’ defense one-by-one, shaking some with finesse, while powering through others with vicious stiff arms.

With each broken tackle the halfback moved closer to the end zone and realization sunk in deeper and deeper 2,700 miles away back home in Louisiana n the Quest for Two Dat was officially over. The Saints were going to be eliminated from the playoffs.

Lynch’s game-clinching 67-yard touchdown that saw the halfback break a total of eight tackles was the most memorable blow, but it was just one big play in a day of disappointment for the Super Bowl champions, who were beaten 41-36 and knocked out of the Playoffs by the NFL’s first-ever 7-9 postseason participant.

The Saints’ season ended with an 11-6 record.

“It’s disappointing to be on the other end of it,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “But I thought in the end, we just weren’t good enough in a number of areas.”

One of the areas the Saints were battered and bruised Saturday afternoon was in the defensive secondary.

The Saints allowed Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to complete 22-of-35 passes for 272 yards and four touchdowns.

Hasselbeck came into the game bruised both physically and mentally, sporting a sore hip and just a quarterback rating of 73.2 for the season, which ranked 28th in the NFL among starting quarterbacks.

But just like the Seahawks’ 7-9 regular season record, none of that mattered on Saturday as he moved his team to the next round of the playoffs in the first game of the new season.

“We just took advantage of some things there,” Hasselbeck said. “And ironically, I think there was still more to take advantage of. I think we still could have played a lot better, but all-in-all, I’m really happy. We made some big plays and we scored some touchdowns.”

With Hasselbeck slinging the ball successfully around the field to multiple receivers, the Seahawks were also able to gash the Saints through the ground on short yardage situations.

Seattle rushed for 149 yards on just 25 total carries in the game, including Lynch’s game-clinching scamper.

The Seahawks came into the game No. 31 in the NFL in rushing offense, averaging just 89 yards on the ground for the season.

In the Saints’ 34-19 victory against Seattle in the regular season, the Seahawks had just 59 yards rushing.

“That was great,” Hasselbeck said. “It’s really huge for our team to run the football. We talk about running the ball and we just have to kind of decide when we want to do it. I think our offensive line got it going last week and again this week. They’re getting their mojo going.”

On the opposite side of the football, the Saints’ offense was just as good, racking up 474 yards of its own and 30 first downs, despite injuries to halfbacks Pierre Thomas, Christopher Ivory and tight end Jimmy Graham.

Quarterback Drew Brees shined in the biggest game of the season, completing 39-of-60 passes for 404 yards and two touchdowns, while also failing to throw an interception in a game for the first time since Oct. 4.

But the Saints shot blanks all game in the red zone, having to settle for three field goals of 30 yards or fewer.

Failing to turn those three points into seven points, Brees said was the difference in the game.

“We made it inside of their red zone seven times,” Brees said. “Seven times. But we only came away with four touchdowns and three field goals. The unfortunate thing for us offensively is that all three times we got stopped, we were inside of their 5-yard-line. So just imagine if we’d have gotten just one more touchdown, or two more touchdowns out of those three times we got stopped. Maybe this is a different game and a different outcome.”

But the outcome stands and the Saints will begin their offseason a full month sooner than they did last season.

Arguably the biggest question the team will face in their player evaluations this winter is what to do with halfback Reggie Bush, who is scheduled to be owed $12 million in what will be the final season of his contract.

Bush combined for just 358 rushing and receiving yards in 2010 and only scored one touchdown, while also getting injured for the fourth-straight season. That lack of production has some wondering if the team should pick up his fat contract, or use the $12 million to sign players in the team’s secondary, where the Black and Gold struggled throughout the season to remain healthy.

Those decisions will come in the coming months, but for now the wound’s still fresh for everyone on the team knowing that they will not go back to the Super Bowl.

But like anything else in sports n there’s always next year. Brees said the Saints will be ready.

“I feel like today we played well, but just not well enough,” Brees said. “We made some plays, but we just didn’t make enough of them. … But we’ll be back. This team will work hard and we’ll come back ready to play this summer.”