Seahawks’ Percy Harvin says he will play Saturday against Saints

RENTON, Wash. — Chalk up another successful reverse to Percy Harvin.

The Seattle Seahawks receiver said Thursday that he would play Saturday in a divisional playoff game against New Orleans, less than two weeks after the Seahawks flirted with the idea of putting him on injured reserve.

Harvin, among the league’s splashiest off-season acquisitions, missed the first 21/2 months of the season after undergoing hip surgery in August. He returned in Week 11 for a game against Minnesota, his old team, but was sidelined because of soreness and swelling after that game.

“I’m just glad to be out there helping my team right now,” Harvin said after his second impressive day of practice this week. “The playoffs, that’s what we all dream about, to have home-field advantage, to have all the things the team has put in place. It would be hard for me to try to not be out there.”

Harvin, who also practiced both days last week when Seattle had a bye, said he “absolutely” plans to return kicks as well as anything else the team asks of him.

Harvin’s return is especially timely for the Seahawks, who have struggled to find their rhythm as an offense since beating New Orleans, 34-7, on Dec. 2.

“We’ve been wanting him out there the whole year, obviously…” quarterback Russell Wilson said Wednesday. “He’s one of the best players in the National Football League and he has been for the past four, five years. So to get him back on the field, you can see the effect, you can sense his ability.”

Wilson said Harvin has stayed in playing shape despite the injury.

“He’s done a tremendous job of staying focused on what he can do to keep himself healthy, and prepare and get his legs ready, get his lungs ready to run again,” Wilson said. “That’s not easy, just hopping back out there again, and he’s like a race horse, man. When you see him run, he can run for days.”