By Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

SEATTLE — All that was missing was the confetti.

Giddy Seattle Seahawks teammates rejoiced at midfield. “Stand Up and Get Crunk” blared over the public-address system. Incredulous fans danced in their seats and hugged and cheered and cried.

It was a scene right out of Sun Life Stadium. Except this time the New Orleans Saints were the vanquished instead of the victorious. And this time it was Matt Hasselbeck not Drew Brees basking in the glory, his son and an entire city riding piggy-back on his shoulder pads as he jogged out of Qwest Field to a hero’s welcome.

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By Pat Yasinskas

SEATTLE — The memories of their Super Bowl season will last forever. The magic did not.

The feel-good story of last season — or maybe the past decade or two — is over. It ended unexpectedly and more than a little embarrassingly for the New Orleans Saints. The defending Super Bowl champions came into Qwest Field on Saturday to play the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a 7-9 record.

It ended with the Seattle Seahawks, a team that stumbled to the NFC West championship, defeating the Saints 41-36. Just like that, the magic and miracles that carried the Saints all the way to Miami and last year’s Super Bowl are over.

“After you experience raising that trophy, you don’t want to see anyone else lift it,’’ New Orleans linebacker Scott Shanle said. “There wasn’t a person in this locker room that didn’t think we would be lifting that trophy again.’’

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Doug Tatum, The Times-Picayune

There are a number of stats that jump out at you from the gamebook of the Seattle Seahawks’ stunning 41-36 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Saturday.

No. 1. Matt Hasselbeck’s four touchdown passes. The Saints’ defense – No. 4 in the NFL this season – had surrendered just 13passing touchdowns in the 16 regular-season games. Hasselbeck, who was 22 of 35 for 272 yards and a 113.0 rating, took advantage of strong safety Roman Harper three times in the first half to connect with John Carlson (twice) and Brandon Stokely for touchdown passes.

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By Pat Yasinskas

SEATTLE — The final injury reports for Saturday’s wild-card game between the Saints and Seahawks are out and there are no surprises.

As expected, the Saints said safety Malcolm Jenkins (knee), tight end Jimmy Graham (ankle), linebacker Danny Clark (hamstring) and defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove (knee) have all been declared out.

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Seattle – The hangover is over. Nearly 11 months after the New Orleans Saints celebrated their first Super Bowl championship — a revelry that lasted for weeks and spread throughout the streets of New Orleans — they have earned an invitation back to the party.

The reigning NFL champions will open their playoff run today at 3:30 p.m. against the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field, where they are heavy favorites despite being the lower-seeded team.

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NFL.COM

The New Orleans Saints will face the Seattle Seahawks in Saturday’s NFC wild-card playoff game minus second-year starting safety Malcolm Jenkins, ruled out with a right knee injury, the team announced Friday.

Jenkins suffered the injury on opening drive of the team’s Week 17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was injured bringing down Bucs running back LaGarrette Blount on the sideline at the end of a 16-yard run. Jenkins immediately grabbed his knee after the play, and was replaced by Darren Sharper.

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By Pat Yasinskas

Three nuggets of knowledge about Saturday’s Saints-Seahawks wild-card game:

A game made for Brees. A lot is being made of the fact the Saints will be without injured running backs Chris Ivory and Pierre Thomas. That’s a legitimate concern, and Reggie Bush and Julius Jones will have to pick up the slack in the running game. The Saints are going to need some balance in their offense if they advance in the playoffs. But this is one game where, despite the possibility of less-than-ideal weather, I think they’ll put everything on the shoulders of quarterback Drew Brees. By himself, Brees is good enough to beat a team like the Seahawks.

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