San Diego and Seattle will meet for this first time this season in a quarterfinal match between the #4 and #5 seeds.

These are two imposing defensive teams which finished ranked third and fourth in the league in points allowed. San Diego gave up 247 points during the regular season. Seattle allowed 267 points on the year. San Diego's offense scored 406 points. The Seattle offense accumulated 393 points. Two pretty even teams according to these bottom line statistics but how they got here was quite different.

Seattle had a huge offensive production, led by the veteran Peyton Manning. Peyton threw for over 4000 yards and had a big season connecting with targets, Tight End Vernon Davis and Wide Receivers Hakeem Nicks and Marques Colston. The rushing attack was a three-headed troika of Brad Smith, Brandon Jacobs and Michael Robinson who combined for over 2000 yards of rushing offense.

San Diego was quarterbacked by the younger Manning brother Eli. The Chargers air attack was more conservative but still moved the ball with success in the air. Tight End Chris Cooley was the production receiver but when the Chargers wanted to go deep they were ably equipped to do so with Lee Evans and Dez Bryant stretching the field. The San Diego running game relied heavily on Arian Foster to do the work. Foster responed with a 2000 yard season and a league leading 17 rushing touchdowns.

The two defenses were very similar against the run, separated by just 20 total yards. Seattle's pass defense was a little tougher to penetrate allowing 300 less yards through the air than the San Diego defense. The Chargers defense was more opportunistic as they enjoyed a +19 advantage in Takeway/Giveaway's.

This is a game where it could come down to special teams. Seattle has the reliable veteran Adam Vinatieri handling the kicking chores. Returning kickoffs will be Brad Smith who had two returns for touchdowns during the regular season. San Diego has the league second most accurate placekicker Matt Bryant who hit on 91% of his tries this year. Returning punts the Chargers have the electrifying Dez Bryant who tied for the league lead with 4 touchdown returns. Now for the keys to the game:

1. Turnovers. An especially crucial factor when two teams are this evenly matched. As mentioned earlier San Diego was +19, I didn't mention Seattle's -9. How good must Seattle have been this year to win 12 games and still turn the ball over that much? Not a good idea to try that in the playoffs.
2. Keep Peyton from getting in a rhythm/keep Arian Foster on the sidelines. Whichever team has more success implementing their plan on defense stands a good chance of winning the contest.
3. When everything else is even, what about the special teams? Both teams are well equipped to break the game with their special teams. Again, if one team can establish a clear advantage in this aspect then they can earn a victory.

Teams offensive leaders:

PASSING	ATT.	COMP.	T.D.	INT.	RTG.
Eli Manning - S.D.	487	253	16	12	69.9
Peyton Manning - SEA.	552	316	29	18	84.1
RUSHING	ATT.	YDS.	AVG.	LONG	T.D.
Arian Foster - S.D.	392	2065	5.3	74	17
Brad Smith - SEA.	161	920	5.7	30	4
RECEIVING	REC.	YDS.	AVG.	LONG	T.D.
Chris Cooley - S.D.	67	650	9.7	35	5
Vernon Davis - SEA.	81	1153	14.2	58	7