I hate standard game previews. Do we really need to know that Team A needs to run the ball to beat Team B? Thanks for the thrilling commentary, captain obvious.

That said, I do love me a good X’s and O’s piece, so below I’ve broken down how the Seahawks can beat the Saints (and vice versa) in the teams’ Wildcard matchup this weekend. Feel free to let me have it in the comments section if I write something along the lines of, “If they run the ball effectively.” There’s no need for me to repeat something Mark Schlereth is going to tell us on “NFL Countdown” leading up the game.

SAINTS WIN IF: They show up? Seriously though…Pete Carroll announced on Thursday that Matt Hasselbeck will start for the Seahawks this weekend. If that’s the case, New Orleans’ defensive coordinator Gregg Williams may actually want to dial down his pressure. Charlie Whitehurst has been a career backup and has zero playoff experience, so it makes sense to force him to make snap decisions by sending pressure. But although he’s struggled mightily over the past couple of weeks, Hasselbeck is a playoff veteran who knows he has to get the ball out of his hands quickly when faced with a heavy rush and he usually can find his hot routes. When the Hawks played the Saints in Week 11, Hasselbeck went 6 for 6 for 128 yards with a touchdown and a perfect passer rating of 158.3 when New Orleans sent six or more pass rushers. Williams has always been known for being an aggressive playcaller and there’s no reason to change that approach now. But there’s obviously a difference between being aggressive and being overly aggressive. The Seahawks’ running game has been inconsistent so if the Saints can get them in obvious passing downs, they may have more success sitting back in coverage and making Hasselbeck throw into tight windows. We know the Saints’ offense can score but that doesn’t mean they need to get into a shootout. If Seattle strikes for a couple of big plays early in the game because Williams is too aggressive, the Seahawks may start believing they can win.

SEAHAWKS WIN IF: There’s no doubt the Hawks are up against it. They’re outmatched in almost all phases of the game and nobody would be surprised if Drew Brees marched the Saints up and down the field on them. That said, the Seahawks still need to be aggressive. I don’t want to say they don’t have anything to lose because that’s garbage; they have a playoff game to lose, which is pretty significant. But at 7-9 they are playing with house money so there’s no reason to be conservative. Hasselbeck (366 yards, 1 TD, 104.9 QB Rating) will have to play just as well as he did in the first meeting between these two teams for the Seahawks to have a shot. The defense also needs to be aggressive, especially if, as expected, the Saints can’t run the ball. If Brees is going to beat you, make him beat you while throwing under duress. He may throw for 300 yards and a couple of touchdowns, but he also threw 22 interceptions this year so obviously he’s prone to turning the ball over. One or two turnovers can make all the difference in the final score. (Just look at the Bucs’ win over the Saints in Week 17.)

Merry training camp season, everyone. It’s been a long offseason, but football is finally gearing up again and to celebrate I’m rolling out a new series on TSR entitled “2010 NFL Question Marks,” where I discuss one or two of the biggest concerns that teams have heading into the new season. Granted, some teams have more issues than others, but I’ll primarily be focusing on the biggest problem areas. Today I’ll be discussing the defending champs’ weakness up the middle on defense.

You’re not going to find too many Saints fans that will complain about last year’s Super Bowl. It was an impressive, well-deserved win for Sean Payton’s team, which could easily find itself back in the big dance again this year.

That said, there was one element of the Super Bowl that Payton and his coaching staff can’t be pleased with. And it’s something that could wind up costing the Saints this season, especially considering the run-first teams that they face in the NFC South.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams took the Saints’ defense last year to new heights. His aggressive, attacking style of play was a perfect fit for New Orleans’ high-powered offensive attack because it kept the pressure on the Saints’ opponent all four quarters.

But Williams’ use of a three-man front early in the Super Bowl nearly put the Saints in a bigger hole then the 10-0 deficit that they found themselves in at the end of the first quarter.

Williams used a four down linemen set only once on the team’s first two defensive drives, which resulted in the Colts putting 10 points on the scoreboard quickly. Credit Williams for making a fast adjustment, but just because the Saints wound up winning doesn’t mean that their problems at the defensive tackle position have been fixed.

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New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts
3:00 pm ET
TV—CBS

The New York Jets and their brashly confident head coach Rex Ryan just keep believing they can beat anyone. And while rolling over the fading Bengals twice was impressive, going into San Diego and beating a Chargers team that many expected to go to the Super Bowl was another thing entirely. Sure, they had a few breaks go their way, like Nate Kaeding missing three field goals, but the Jets came to play, and they held Philip Rivers and that high-flying offense to 14 points. It goes without saying that facing Peyton Manning’s Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium will be just as challenging, if not more challenging for Ryan’s upstart squad, but anyone who counts out their “ground and pound” offense and stifling D isn’t paying attention. Meanwhile, the Colts will not be pulling their starters in the third quarter as they did against Gang Green in Week 16, and they proved to everyone last Saturday that resting those players allowed them to be a step quicker than the wild card Ravens. Sure, the Ravens held the Colts to 20 points, but the Colts’ defense squashed the Ravens’ #5 ground game, allowing just 3 points, and they hope to do the same to the Jets’ top-ranked rushing attack, daring rookie QB Mark Sanchez to beat them through the air. Last week, Sanchez made just enough plays, but he needs to be wary of that quick, opportunistic defense of Indianapolis that forced four turnovers against Baltimore. THE PICK: COLTS 20, JETS 16

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints
6:40 pm ET
TV—FOX

While both the Vikings and Saints struggled at bit down the stretch, they both flexed their collective muscle last weekend while eliminating the Cowboys and Cardinals, respectively. Minnesota sacked Tony Romo six times while holding a hot offense to just 3 points, and their own QB, old man Brett Favre, threw four touchdown passes and looked like a man half his age running around the field. New Orleans, after allowing a 70 yard touchdown to Tim Hightower, allowed only 7 more points the rest of the way, and D-coordinator Gregg Williams made all the necessary adjustments to stop Kurt Warner from keeping up with the Saints’ high-flying offense. And as for that offense, Drew Brees kept his gaudy completion percentage up high by going 23 of 32 (71.9%) for 247 yards, 3 scores and zero picks. And Reggie Bush was absolutely electrifying, rushing for a 46 yard touchdown and returning a punt 83 yards for the score that ultimately put the game out of reach. So what happens when these two superpowers meet in the, ahem, Superdome? It’s easy to say it will be a high scoring affair, but not when you consider how good each defense looked last week. More likely, it will be a close game, and one that will be determined in the final minutes or even in overtime. I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about this game, so I’ll say it….get your popcorn ready! THE PICK: SAINTS 27, VIKINGS 24

Just like Drew Brees, we have to give Saints’ coach Sean Payton love for the way his team manhandled the Patriots on Monday night. It wasn’t so much the fact that the Saints’ offense resembled an arena league team again, it was the way their defense made Tom Brady and company look terribly average—and of course, beatable.

1. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—Once again the fact that Payton gave up a quarter million dollars of his own money to lure Gregg Williams to run his defense was a stroke of genius, because this defense is suddenly shutting people down. And by people, we mean guys named Brady, Moss and Welker.

2. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—The bottom line is, no matter how much talent the Colts have, or how they have had to come from behind a lot lately, they still have a rookie head coach who is 11-0 and has already clinched the AFC South.

3 Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—It’s positively mind-blowing to think that the Bengals are not only sitting in first place in the AFC North with a 2-game lead on both the Steelers and Ravens, but that they have run the table in their own very tough division at 6-0. Don’t think these guys won’t make some noise in January.

4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—When you have guys named Favre, Peterson, Allen and Harvin making you look good, it’s easy to say anyone can be Brad Childress. But remember, he stuck his neck out to bring in half of those guys, so we prefer to use the words “borderline genius.”

5. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—We like the fire this guy displayed last week when he dropped the F-bomb on national TV, but we also like the way he has won at least 3 more games to this point than we all thought he would.

6. Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans—We had to add one more name in here this week, because turning a team from 0-6 into 5-6 and a dark horse playoff contender takes more than sticking Vince Young under center.

Honorable mention: Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals; Jack Del Rio, Jaguars; Wade Phillips, Cowboys; Mike McCarthy, Packers

Reggie Bush has been criticized throughout his career for not being able to run between the tackles, but nobody can argue what he can do in open space.

In the Saints’ 28-23 win over the Rams on Sunday, Bush rushed six times for 83 yards and a touchdown, while adding two receptions for 15 yards and a score. He showed his incredible athleticism several times throughout the game, including on a 15-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter in which he launched himself into the end zone.

Bush has taken a backseat to Drew Brees, the Saints’ bevy of receivers and even the play of the defense under new coordinator Gregg Williams. But he remains a key cog in this explosive Saints’ offense and as long as he stays healthy and continues to accept his role in a crowded Saints’ backfield, he’ll remain a perfect fit for Sean Payton’s offense.

While the Saints improved to 9-0 on the season, they’ve suffered some injuries the past couple weeks and I think that’s why their games of been close of late. They should have destroyed a bad Rams team and instead, they allowed St. Louis to hang around until the fourth quarter.

Hopefully key players like Darren Sharper (who didn’t play today due to an injury) and Tracy Porter (who suffered an injury during the game) won’t be out long and the Saints can continue to play perfect football.