NFC playoff preview: Seahawks have edge on Panthers

It’s not very often when you look at a 15-1 team about to play a home game and anticipate it losing. However, the Carolina Panthers are in exactly that predicament.

Carolina has been exceptional all season, winning the first 14 games of the campaign before losing to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16 at the Georgia Dome. The Panthers are the top seed in the brutally tough NFC and have won the NFC South for the third consecutive year. So why all the doubt?

Well, the Panthers simply don’t have a tough schedule to talk about. Sure, that is not in their control, but the facts are the facts. Carolina played six games within its woeful division where nobody else had a winning record, and then played the NFC East and the AFC South. Those two divisions might be the worst in the National Football League. The only real nice wins came against a spiraling Green Bay Packers team at home and the Panthers signature victory, a comeback win against the Seattle Seahawks in CenturyLink Field.

The problem for Carolina is two-fold on Sunday afternoon. The Seahawks have played them and know what to expect, and they will be having revenge on their minds throughout the affair. Seattle should not be in the game, but Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh pushed a 27-yeard field goal attempt wide left, and it was able to advance. Now that the Seahawks are here, don’t expect the two-time defending NFC champions to go quietly into the night.

This is going to be the most physical game of the weekend. It has plenty of stars on the defensive side of the ball in Luke Kuechly, Bobby Wagner, Thomas Davis, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Josh Norman and Kam Chancellor, not to mention Cliff Avril, Star Lotululei and Michael Bennett.

The difference might come from the quarterbacks, two of the better athletes in the sport. Give the Seahawks the advantage here. Both have thrown for more than 30 touchdowns this season and limited their turnovers, but Russell Wilson has more experience and is much more accurate than Cam Newton. Newton is going to struggle against this defense, especially without a top receiver on the outside. If Kelvin Benjamin were in this game it might be a different story, but the Seahawks will smother everyone outside the numbers.

Carolina certainly has a chance, but even Vegas thinks the Seahawks are the better team. Seattle is only a 2.5-point favorite, signaling that the road team is actually a half-point better on a neutral field.

When Seattle and Carolina get together on Sunday for the right to go to the NFC Championship game, buckle in. It will be one of the best, and hardest hitting, games all season.