Perfect settings in the NFL

By David Wharton

Jan. 12, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

One team is confronting a legend. Another team is trying to become one.

The NFL might as well show today’s divisional playoffs on the History Channel.

The Seattle Seahawks play the Green Bay Packers in venerable Lambeau Field, where the names of heroes past -- Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, etc. -- adorn the stadium like ghosts.

“You go in there and it’s a little bit of a shock if you’ve never been there before,” Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren said.

To the east, the New England Patriots take the next step in a record-setting perfect season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are looking for a reason to believe they can pull off an upset for the ages.

“We know everybody has a vulnerability,” Jaguars quarterback David Garrard said, before adding: “But they went 16-0 [in the regular season], so they weren’t too vulnerable.”

Although the Jaguars have a confident defense -- ranked 12th in the league -- no one expects a low-scoring game in this AFC divisional playoff.

The Patriots, with Tom Brady passing for a record 50 touchdowns and Randy Moss catching a record 23 of them, has the NFL’s most prolific offense.

If they do have a soft spot -- as Garrard suggested -- it might be on defense where a veteran (read: aging) lineup ranked a not-so-perfect 10th against the rush and appeared to wear down in the latter stages of the season.

Common wisdom has the Jaguars attacking with a two-headed running game, alternating between Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. The pair led a ground game that ranked second with nearly 150 yards a game and scored three touchdowns in last week’s wild-card victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said: “I think this is the biggest challenge of the year in terms of facing two running backs that are on top of their game and two running backs that can really score any time they get the ball.”

If the ground game succeeds, it will serve to keep Brady and the New England offense on the sideline, but the Patriots cannot afford to overlook Garrard, who was efficient during the regular season, completing 64% of his passes for a 102.2 rating. He threw 18 touchdown passes against only three interceptions.

In the meantime, the Patriots are trying to downplay the significance of their perfect record.

“That’s in the past,” safety Rodney Harrison said. “We’re 0-0 right now.”

In today’s NFC matchup, Holmgren says he knows about the mystique of Lambeau Field, having coached the Packers to a championship in a previous incarnation.

“That is a very, very difficult place to play,” he said.

It’s not just the heritage. The forecast calls for snow flurries and the Seahawks, who sneaked by the Washington Redskins in the wild-card round, have a case of deja vu.

Last season, they started the playoffs by defeating the Dallas Cowboys before losing in overtime at frosty Chicago.

This time, their hopes rest on containing the resurgent Brett Favre, who nearly retired last spring but came back to throw for 4,155 yards and 28 touchdowns in the regular season.

Seattle will come at him with a strong pass rush led by defensive end Patrick Kerney, hoping to force a few more of the wild, gambling passes that accounted for Favre’s 15 interceptions.

The Seattle defensive backfield is strong too, with free-agent acquisitions Deon Grant and Brian Russell joining cornerback Marcus Trufant.

“We have to use a lot of different things to our advantage,” Favre said. “The elements, get the ball out quick, handling the zone pressure, which I think we’ll get a fair amount of.”

On the other side of the ball, the Seattle offense has struggled with the run -- even more than the Packers have -- putting much of the weight on quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

Last week against the Redskins, Hasselbeck ran hot and cold, mixing good throws with missteps. “It was a collection of things,” he said. “I wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be.”

Lambeau Field will evoke a not-so-pleasant memory for Hasselbeck: Four years ago, in a playoff game against the Packers, Hasselbeck threw a pass that was intercepted and returned for a game-winning touchdown after the Seahawks had won the overtime coin toss and Hasselbeck had famously declared (to a national television audience): “We want the ball and we’re going to score.”

The Seahawks have spent the week shrugging off that comment, preferring to focus on today’s game. Everything else is ancient history.

david.wharton@latimes.com

PLAYOFFS

AFC

Divisional round

* Jacksonville at New England

Today, 5 p.m., Channel 2

* San Diego at Indianapolis

Sunday, 10 a.m., Channel 2

NFC

Divisional round

* Seattle at Green Bay