Thomas Rawls
Thomas Rawls Corky Trewin for the Seahawks

For the fifth straight season, the Seahawks won a playoff game on Saturday. This year they took down a weak Detroit Lions team 26-6, in somewhat comfortable fashion at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks flashed well in every phase of the game, and while they didn’t blow the Lions out of the water, they did enough right to win going away.

It’s so weird that this season is here, with a comfortable playoff win under this team’s belt, given how bad it's felt at some points. The Seahawks just held a Pro Bowl caliber QB to six points without Earl Thomas. They just managed to set a franchise postseason rushing record with George Fant playing left tackle. Sometimes this team is goddamn infuriating for the fanbase. Tonight? It must have been just as infuriating for the Lions fans to deal with.

Let’s. Break. It. Down:

• Paul Richardson played out of his mind on Saturday. He had three truly phenomenal one-handed grabs, and provided the field-stretching elements the Seahawks feared they had lost for good when Tyler Lockett broke his leg. I can't decide which of Richardson's catches was the best, but if forced to choose I'd take all of them equally as they are all my children. If the Seahawks are going to beat the Falcons it will be in a much higher scoring game, and Richardson should be a big part of that.

• NBC has the best commentary in the business, but they still managed to piss me off by dwelling on a missed facemask on Richardson's TD. The Seahawks had no fewer than five missed facemask calls against them this season, a couple of which affected the outcome of games. If every facemask were called correctly, the Seahawks would have had a bye and none of this would have mattered.

• Running back Thomas Rawls set a Seahawks postseason record for rushing yards against the Lions. The Lions defense isn’t great, but to do that behind this year’s offensive line? With the legacies of Shaun Alexander and Marshawn Lynch? Insane. Rawls was breaking tackles all over the field, and gashing the Lions up the middle, and center Justin Britt played out of his mind against a middling Detroit defensive front.

• Richard Sherman should have been an All-Pro this year. He didn’t do anything on Saturday, and DeShawn Shead was great while facing down a slew of targets from Matthew Stafford, but that’s the point. Sherman doesn’t get targeted because he’s still damn near impossible to beat. That the Giants got two CB’s on an All-Pro team ahead of him is bonkers. I would love for this Seahawks team to play the Giants in a hypothetical NFC title game so we can settle this debate once and for all.

• Bobby Wagner did make the All-Pro team, and deservedly so. He was arguably the best player on the field again on Saturday, making huge plays in both the pass and run game. At one point he shed a block to make a tackle on a screen that made me scream with joy. Block shedding usually isn’t the thing that moves me, but when Wagner is the one shedding the block, well, it’s special.

• The Seahawks pass rush continues to confuse. In some moments they dominate, and Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, and Frank Clark provide all of the individual moments you’d want from elite pass rushers. But again there were too many plays where Matt Stafford had too much time. If these guys don’t bring down Matt Ryan next week, I sincerely doubt the Seahawks will get as many drops from Julio Jones as they did from the Lions receivers this week.

• Steven Hauschka is broken, and it makes me sad. [Ed note: I refuse to believe this! I refuse!] He now leads the NFL in missed extra points on the year after he shanked his seventh of the season on Saturday. We’re reaching the point where I wouldn’t be shocked if he wasn’t back next year. That in and of itself is shocking.

• Doug Baldwin is spectacular. Jermaine Kearse isn’t. There isn’t much more to be said about the Seahawks nominal top two receivers. Baldwin is a borderline All-Pro. Kearse is wholly unreliable at this point.

• Well, there is one more thing to say about Doug Baldwin. BUTT CATCH. DOUG BALDWIN CAUGHT A BALL WITH HIS BUTT. IT WAS GREAT. BUTT CATCH BUTT CATCH BUTT CATCH.

It’s worth saying that the Lions are bad and the Falcons aren’t. As well as the Seahawks played on Saturday, and on the whole I’d say they played pretty well, Atlanta still presents a formidable challenge. The Seahawks squeaked by the Falcons earlier this year, but they did so at home and with Earl Thomas. Matt Ryan should be the league’s MVP and is the perfect quarterback to exploit the shakier elements of Seattle’s secondary.

Since the two teams squared off, the Falcons lost Desmond Trufant. That means their pass defense is also a mess. If Baldwin and Richardson play as well in Atlanta as they did in Seattle on Saturday, CJ Prosise provides a fresh element in the passing game, and Wilson plays as well as he did in the second half of the game for two full halves the Seahawks have a very good chance of making the NFC Championship Game. Despite the turbulent, injury-plagued season, the fact that the Hawks are only slightly underdogs to make a conference title game is a goddamn miracle.

The run we’re on with this Seahawks team is so fucking special and is something that we all should be savoring. For most teams, what the Seahawks have already accomplished this year would represent a good season. That we’ve underachieved to this point and have an opportunity to go further? Amazing. Insufferable and amazing.