RENTON, Wash. -- Matt Hasselbeck remembers seeing it everywhere, hearing it everywhere: seven and nine.
It was the end of the 2010 regular season, coach Pete Carroll's first with the Seattle Seahawks and Hasselbeck's last as Seahawks quarterback. They had just beaten the St. Louis Rams in Week 17 to claim the NFC West title and become the first team in the Super Bowl era to win its division with a sub.-500 record.
To the dismay of many NFL observers, that meant a first-round meeting with the New Orleans Saints, who had earned a wild-card bid at 11-5 after winning the Super Bowl the previous season.