Alright, let's do this.

I've made peace with the fact that it's the first week of the playoffs and we're stuck playing outdoors in the Pacific Northwest against a team that registered four less wins than we did; I think we beat this same team earlier in the year as well...I'll have to double check.

In all seriousness though, take the regular season records and throw them out the window. They only serve to get to you the playoffs. We're here now as the #5 seed and we've got to make the best of it. Our first title defense starts in Seattle and I'm pretty pumped for this one even with the plague of injuries that just won't stop. We've still got No. 9 behind center and SP/GW on the sidelines.

I expect the Saints to come out and try to stamp out some long drives early, just to show them that we can get tough yards without some of our lead backs. Also, Shockey will most likely get a few looks on 2nd and 3rd down early. You now, because he'll probably be hurt by the 3rd drive. It could be windy and cool, so Colston will probably need to make some tough grabs tonight.

The biggest thing for us is to play a strong 60 minute game. I know that's cliche, but way too many times this season we've started strong then gone to sleep until the end of the game when Brees bails out himself and everyone else at the last minute. I think we'll be fine though.

Let's just hope that we don't need to see the new OT rules for this one and that it goes as easily as all the 'experts' say it will.