NFL

Seattle advances to NFC title game, thanks to Lynch

SEATTLE — NFL playoff games don’t go according to form very often anymore, and the Seahawks’ 23-15 escape over the Saints in Seattle Saturday was no exception.

The outcome of this NFC divisional round matchup was as surprising as the driving rain, swirling wind and deafening crowd noise at CenturyLink Field, but the path it took to get there often defied explanation.

Led by Marshawn Lynch and timely, hard-hitting defense, the Seahawks set themselves up nicely for a Super Bowl trip to the Meadowlands next month by advancing to play host to the winner of Sunday’s Panthers-49ers matchup in the NFC title game in this same spot next weekend.

Though Seattle has reason to be confident about that, considering it is now 6-0 at home in the playoffs since 2005, the Saints sure made the setting seem a lot less intimidating down the stretch.

Only a pair of brain cramps by Saints coach Sean Payton and wide receiver Marques Colston in the game’s final four minutes allowed the Seahawks to escape on a weather-whipped day when they were massively outgained (409 yards to 277) and quarterback Russell Wilson threw for a career-low 103 yards.

“That was an interesting finish to this game,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said in huge understatement. “We just kind of held on to where we were bleeding the clock.”

New Orleans’ potent offense was held in check on the scoreboard in Seattle for the second time in five weeks, but the Saints didn’t go quietly this time around until Payton and Colston took turns causing everyone watching to scratch their head.

New Orleans was within 16-8 and driving when Payton inexplicably called for a halfback screen pass by Drew Brees on third-and-15 that fell incomplete at the Seattle 30 with 3:51 left.

Payton then strangely had kicker Shayne Graham — who had missed once in the terrible conditions already — attempt a 48-yard field goal into the swirling wind that fell harmlessly wide left.

Lynch, who busted out of a recent slump with 140 yards on 28 carries, then appeared to salt the game away roughly a minute later by rumbling through the New Orleans defense like a bowling ball for a 31-yard touchdown — his second scoring rush of the afternoon.

It was Lynch’s first 100-yard rushing performance since Nov. 10, and it couldn’t have been more timely on a treacherous day for throwing, for both quarterbacks. Wilson was barely a factor, completing nine of his 18 throws while being sacked three times.

The Saints still wouldn’t die, though, marching for a 9-yard Brees TD pass to Colston with 26 seconds left, then Colston recovered the ensuing onside kick.

But New Orleans’ final comeback bid was a clown show, as Payton — with no timeouts — had Brees throw a short pass over the middle, followed by Colston ending the game with a bizarre illegal forward lateral that prompted a 10-second runoff.

Colston could have stepped out of bounds and set up possibly two shots at the end zone from just 38 yards away.

“Next question,” Payton said when asked about Colston’s miscue.

The Saints at least gave the Seahawks something to think about, though, and it’s no longer such a certainty that Seattle — even with its formidable home-field advantage — is a lock to make it to MetLife Stadium in three weeks.

That’s because the Seahawks’ offense remains mired in a slump that began in early December and, with the exception of Lynch, couldn’t climb out of it Saturday.

The expected boost from Percy Harvin’s return fizzled when Harvin was lost to a first-half concussion, and the Seahawks appeared content to coast instead, relying on a defense that had built a 16-0 halftime lead.

That might have ended up working out against the Saints, who are just an average team at best outside the Superdome, but it’s not a recipe for a Super Bowl berth. And the Seahawks know it.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Wilson said. “We still have 60 minutes of football left — the best 60 minutes we can possibly play — before we can end up in the Super Bowl.”