Seahawks vs. Redskins 2013, NFL Playoffs: Seattle advances with Wild Card win in Washington

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Not sure what he’s holding there, but given that he looks like Steve Perry belting it out in the video for “Separate Ways,” let’s assume (by looking at the bleed-through) that it’s a set list. Perhaps of songs that he’s going to sing to the team? Let’s hypothesize a Pete Carroll celebratory set list:

- Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)

For starters, players are going to want to play -- injured or not. They’re fierce competitors with the utmost confidence in their own abilities. It’s no surprise that RGIII lobbied to stay on the field, despite dealing with a knee injury that severely limited his effectiveness. Someone should’ve saved him from himself, and ultimately that falls on the head coach. But set that aside for now.

“I’m as impressed as anybody on the planet with RGIII, and as big a fan as anybody. But he has come out publicly and said he wants to be great. If you talk to the great quarterbacks in the National Football League -- past and present -- they will all tell you that they continue to learn.”

A dominant first quarter has given way to a spate of Seattle scoring plays, and now the Redskins are hoping they can return to the offensive form they showed in the first quarter. With Robert Griffin III banged up, this is easier said than done.

Just gruesome. Mike Shanahan will clearly be questioned for a long time after this, because Griffin has been playing for nearly 20 minutes on a knee that is clearly not healthy. He was limping around while running and had been sacked multiple times on plays he would have avoided if he were at full strength.

(h/t 2 Minute Drill)

He gets extra points for wearing an ALFred Morris jersey, naturally. No word on whether Rhonda or Willie were also in attendance.

Griffin, who also left briefly with what looked like a knee injury, hasn’t been as sharp as he normally is, but he’s 9-15 for 76 yards and two touchdowns, along with an interception. He hasn’t moved nearly as well since being taken to the trainer’s room.

Also his Skittles. Where have those things been?

He probably had the scoop of his ice cream fall on the ground, too. Not his day.

Entering the second half it’s anyone’s game -- and the team who controls the offensive and defensive line will talk away with the victory.

With just over ten minutes remaining in the first half, the Redskins will now have another chance to add to their lead.

So which rookie quarterback wins out on Sunday? SB Nation’s Redskins blog, Hogs Haven, and Seahawks blog, Field Gulls, talked about how they got here and what the key matchup in this game is.

How did you get here?

According to USA Today, Dr. James Andrews, one of the most renowned sports surgeons on the planet, believes the star rookie should never have re-entered that game against Baltimore before ultimately coming out.

Andrews was actually on the sideline when Griffin was injured, but he claims never to have evaluated Griffin’s knee.

Sunday, Jan. 6, 4:30 p.m. ET

FedExField, Landover, MD.

Maybe you are lying down in the grass in D.C. on Saturday with your girlfriend and you start spotting images in the clouds.

“It’s a bunny.”

With only four games this week there are only a few locations we have to worry about weather-wise. Starting with the games on Saturday with Cincinnati and Houston at Reliant Stadium and Minnesota and Green Bay at Lambeau Field.

Houston has a chance of showers but with rain likely through the early afternoon, more than likely the folks at Reliant Stadium will close the roof so this could be more of an indoor game than outdoor. In Wisconsin , at Lambeu Field, a weak disturbance will move across the region Saturday night producing a wintry mix of snow, sleet and possible freezing rain with temperatures in the 20s.

The opening rounds of every sport’s post-season are always the best, for the simple fact that the most possible teams and markets and fans are involved, and there’s simply more to watch every night. Sure, it’s gripping drama when you have conference championships airing a game a night (or, in the NFL’s case, one after the other on the same Sunday) but there’s something perversely enjoyable about plopping down on the couch and staring at the TV for a ton of hours at a time for games that matter most.

MLB, the NBA and NHL -- as well as March Madness - have all found a way to harness this sort of power, but I think the first two rounds of the NFL playoffs are my favorite. Football’s become so stretched out lately -- games on Thursday nights no one likes, the end of the late season Saturday games -- that it feels like the sport itself is starting to stretch itself a bit thin (even if ratings remain at record levels). Wild Card Weekend and the divisional playoffs give you football when you want to watch it: on the weekends, mostly in the afternoon (save for the primetime Saturday game), mostly in the cold. It’s classic football, and I’ll be glued to it even though my team isn’t involved.

The only other Redskins player besides Lichtensteiger to be listed as questionable was S DeJon Gomes. Gomes was able to get in three limited practices this week though so he does seem to be on the good side of that 50-50 prognosis.

The brace causes a natural limp, but protects his knee. Griffin has also said that the injury has ultimately made him a better quarterback:

It did not sit well with the fans over at Hogs Haven, SB Nation’s Redskins blog. They started a crusade to revive the tradition, having the band play the fight song rather than the PA system.

Sure enough, it worked. The team lifted the ban, and the song is back. The Washington Post has the full story, from the Jan. 3 edition, of the efforts from Hogs Haven and the team’s decision to relent. Fans will be hoping to hear the song early and often on Sunday afternoon when the Redskins host the Seattle Seahawks in an NFL Wild Card game.

He has since deleted that tweet, probably because he knows those three guys would never hang out together or something like that.

(h/t Los That Sports Blog)

The Washington Redskins are 7-0 SU and ATS over their last seven games, and will look to make it eight straight when they host the Seattle Seahawks at FedEx Field.

Washington is the Wild Card weekend’s only home underdog, getting 3 points at home according to most sportsbooks tracked by OddsShark.com.

Seattle enters the postseason on a five-game winning streak. In three of those five games, the Seahawks scored at least 42 points and won by at least 29 points. On the year, Seattle holds a point differential of 10.4.

Both Seattle and Washington have gone 11-5 against the spread this year. The Seahawks are 4-4 against the spread on the road, while the Redskins are 5-3 against the spread at home.

With Seattle’s final-month dominance, the Seahawks enter the game as road favorites against the NFC East champs. But all five of their losses this season came on the road, and RGIII will have had another week to rest and heal his knee injury. The 2011 Heisman winner was clearly limited in the Redskins’ final two games of the season, wearing a bulky knee brace that inhibited his explosiveness running out of the backfield. Wilson avoided significant injury in his first year and improved each week to have the Seahawks rolling as the postseason begins.

The Redskins defense was mostly responsible for the sluggish 3-6 start, but even Jim Haslett’s group improved over the second half of the season during Washington’s postseason push. Washington repeatedly blitzed on Sunday night and held Dallas to just 18 points and limited the passing attack that put the Cowboys on the doorstep of the playoffs. But, the Redskins’ secondary remains vulnerable, giving up 281.9 yards per game -- 30th in the league. Wilson will have his chances to take shots down the field and must get the protection up front to withhold the blitz pressure that Haslett will likely send.