Saints vs. Seahawks 2013: New Orleans ‘outplayed, outcoached’ in blowout loss

The Seattle Seahawks left no doubt as to who is the prohibitive favorite to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, hammering the New Orleans Saints 34-7 at CenturyLink Field on Monday night.

Seattle dominated the contest from start to finish, jumping out to a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter and never looking back. Aided by bad weather and a crowd that set a new Guinness Book of World Records for crowd noise in an outdoor venue, the Seahawks limited Drew Brees to 147 yards on 38 pass attempts.

In total, the Saints could only muster 188 yards of offense, while Seattle rolled up 429 against Rob Ryan's squad. Russell Wilson was sublime, completing 22 of 30 throws for 310 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

It really didn't seem like the Saints were just being outplayed, but also outcoached. Players were more open than they should have been against a defense that was ranked fourth in points allowed and fifth in yards allowed. All the questions that surrounded Ryan's defenses in Dallas have evaporated so far with New Orleans, but expect them to start condensing up again.

Over at Canal Street Chronicles, Dave Cariello wrote about what went wrong on Monday night:

Just about everything. Offense. Defense. Hard to even know where to start. I think we've all got to be honest with ourselves and realize that the Saints are simply not the same team on the road, and even worse in cold weather. Which sucks because the Saints pretty much just gave up their chance for homefield advantage in the playoffs with this loss to the Seahawks.

With the loss, the Saints fall into a tie with the Carolina Panthers atop the NFC South at 9-3. The two teams meet on Sunday night in the Superdome. Seattle is 11-1 and simply needs two wins in its final four games to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs.