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Fast starts helped produce a strong finish for the Green Bay Packers, the only NFC playoff team that hasn't lost since November.
Green Bay, which faces Seattle and former coach Mike Holmgren on Sunday at Lambeau Field, scored on half its opening drives this season, including touchdowns in each of the last three games.
``It's always important to start quickly,'' said Packers coach Mike Sherman, who made fast starts a priority last offseason after Green Bay (10-6) scored just 16 points in 17 games on first possessions in 2002.
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The Packers netted 48 such points this season, kicking two field goals and scoring
six TDs and six PATS after reaching the end zone on an opening drive just once
a year ago.
The Packers went 6-2 in those games.
The Seahawks (10-6) were even better on opening drives. They scored seven touchdowns and PATs and one field goal for 52 points. They, too, were 6-2 when they got points on their first possession.
Scoring right away can make a world of difference psychologically and alter the course of a game.
``When you're successful on that first drive, it changes the dynamics of the game and it makes the defensive coordinators on the other side start scrambling,'' Packers center Mike Flanagan said.
He loves looking across the field to see deflated defensive coaches feverishly making corrections so quickly.
``You can feel it,'' Flanagan said. ``What we've been working on all week, we know it's worked. So, maybe there's confidence. And the scheme the defense worked on all week, it didn't work. So, now maybe they don't have the confidence in it.''
Scoring right away also means offenses can be more creative and deceptive.
``Offensive coordinators don't have a lot of plays when you're down two touchdowns,'' left guard Mike Wahle said. ``But when you're up, you can run whatever you want.''
That's been evident over the last three weeks as the Packers have whipped San Diego, Oakland and Denver by a combined 110-31.
``We've been able to control the game, control the clock and run whatever we wanted to at will,'' Wahle said. ``And that's the benefit of scoring early.''
Against Oakland, Brett Favre completed passes to a franchise-record dozen receivers.
It all starts at the start, Favre said: There's plenty of times that a key play in any game comes down to a seemingly innocuous first down in an opening drive.
Favre played the game of his life two weeks ago at Oakland less than 24 hours after the death of his father. But he said the 41-7 rout of the Raiders might never have unfolded had he not found receiver Robert Ferguson, his second option on the play, for a big gain on third-and-long on the Packers' first drive.
``The difference in that game maybe is that one play,'' Favre said. ``Now, we probably would have won the game, but you don't know, because if we don't complete that, we go three and out.''
That's what happened to the Packers in their last loss, 22-14 to the lowly Lions in Detroit on Thanksgiving. It was the same situation, with Donald Driver running a crossing route on third-and-long on the Packers' third snap of the game.
``I have him open and the ball's a little high and it falls incomplete and we punt. And from that point on we're playing catch-up,'' Favre said. ``Now, had he caught that ball, maybe we go down and score and who knows?''
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