On Saturday afternoon, the NFL’s divisional play-offs kicked off with a game

On Saturday afternoon, the NFL’s divisional play-offs kicked off with a game between the Saints and the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.

The game was touted as a rematch of the December 2 meeting of the two teams on Seattle’s home field, a 34-7 drubbing of the supposedly formidable New Orleans team. If anything the scales had tipped even further in Seattle’s favor with the activation of star receiver Percy Harvin and one of the rainiest gamedays on record, a bad omen for the domed-home Saints squad.

Despite Harvin’s early exit and a late surge by the Saints, the conditions, soaked-yet-roaring 12th Man, and a dominating game from running back Marshawn Lynch sealed a 23-15 victory for the Seahawks. The Saints go marching home and the Seahawks move into the NFC Championship against the rival 49ers, who beat the No. 2 seed Carolina Panther 23-10 on Sunday. See the sights of the big win here. For analysis on the play that sealed the deal, read Seth Kolloen’s latest Sportsball column here.

Here’s to another decisive, but perhaps a little dryer, victory. Go Hawks!

It’s over folks, the Seattle Seahawks are headed to the NFC championship.

The game ended in a 23-15 victory for Seattle at a very wet, and very windy CenturyLink Field, where fans went wild.

For the 68,000+ who attended it was a mighty wet day.

The rain came down in torrents.

Quickly soaking anyone who did not come prepared.

And the wind blew something awful.

Perhaps the conditions unnerved Hawks QB Russell Wilson, who did not have the best day on the field.

But he didn’t have to.

Because Hawks running back Marshawn Lynch had no trouble whatsoever.

Lynch put up 140 of the Hawks 174 net rushing yards.

He scored two touchdowns, one for 15 yards early in the second quarter.

And the other with 2:40 left in the fourth, putting the Hawks up 23 to 8.

Kicker Steven Hauschka also had a good day, putting up two field goals in the first quarter and giving the Hawks an early lead.

Something that undoubtedly had Saints fans quaking in their boots.

Yet while the Saints may not have won, they put up a good fight.

New Orleans posted 409 yards of net offense (132 more than the Hawks).

Saints QB Drew Brees threw for 309 gross yards and 24 completions.

Which far outpaced Wilson’s 9 completions for 103 yards.

While it didn’t come close to Marshawn, New Orleans’ running wasn’t half bad either, putting up 108 net yards.

Despite giving their running back squad more than one good third down conversion stuffing (Saints had a 25 percent 3rd down conversion rate).

Yeah, that’s right New Orleans; no extra yardage for you.

Even still, the team’s efforts were eventually reward in the fourth quarter with two touchdowns, including running back Khiry Robinson’s one yard run early in the quarter that brought the score to 16-8.