The emerging storyline of Sunday's NFC Championship game is whether the Seahawks defense can stop the Panthers' Steve Smith. The buzz about Smith strikes us as familiar--he's a small-statured receiver who is the focal point of his team's offense--a brash, competitive player who runs reverses, breakout screens, and catches long passes. more ›

As always when leading up to a big playoff game, the local papers are filled with human interest fluff. At the Times, exclusively fluff. Like "Veterans get Hawks in playoff mindset" and "Seahawks battling history as well as Washington." At the P-I, and on some internet sites, a few pieces of actual game analysis managed to sneak past the editors. more ›