SportsDirect Inc. staff
Dec 3, 2013
Seahawks 34, Saints 7: Russell Wilson passed for 310 yards and three touchdowns and Seattle shut down New Orleans' high-powered offense to clinch a playoff berth with its 14th straight home victory.
Zach Miller caught five passes for 86 yards and a touchdown and Doug Baldwin had four catches for 77 yards and a score for the Seahawks (11-1), who hold a two-game edge over New Orleans and Carolina in the race for the NFC's top seed and have head-to-head wins against both. Wilson was 22-of-30 and also had a team-high 47 rushing yards as he improved to 14-0 at home with 29 touchdowns against six interceptions.
Drew Brees was 23-of-38 for 147 yards, his lowest total since 2006. Jimmy Graham caught three passes for 42 yards and a score and the Saints (9-3) managed only 44 rushing yards.
The Seahawks had 17 points on the board before the Saints picked up a first down, by which time the home crowd was whipped into a frenzy. Brees fumbled when sacked by Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett snared it out of the air and went 22 yards for Seattle's first touchdown, and Wilson and Miller hooked up for a 2-yard touchdown three plays after their 60-yard connection to make it 17-0.
Brees briefly quieted the crowd with a 2-yard TD pass to Graham, but the Seahawks resumed their dominant performance for the remainder of the night with Wilson tossing a 4-yard TD to Baldwin and an 8-yard scoring pass to Derrick Coleman. Seattle's defense took care of the rest, shutting out New Orleans in the second half and holding the Saints to season lows for total yards (188), passing yards (144), first downs (12) and points.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Wilson is the fourth player in NFL history with 20 or more touchdown passes in each of his first two seasons, joining Dan Marino, Peyton Manning and Andy Dalton. … Graham's touchdown catch was his 12th of the season, setting a franchise record. … Brees had won his previous nine starts on Monday Night Football and had passed for 200 or more yards in 43 straight games, two shy of Dan Fouts' NFL record.