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Seahawks visit Falcons in final playoff tuneup

Dec 30, 2007 - 11:24 AM Seattle (10-5) at Atlanta (3-12) 1:00 pm EST

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Locked into the NFC's third seed, the Seattle Seahawks close out their regular season on Sunday with a visit to the Atlanta Falcons.

With nothing to play for, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren may elect to rest many of his starters. Still, a victory will give Seattle 11 wins for only third time in franchise history.

The Seahawks will host a first-round playoff game next week against either Washington, Minnesota or New Orleans, who are all still battling for the NFC's second wild card spot.

The Seahawks will be making their fifth straight playoff appearance, having won four straight NFC West titles.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck needs 23 yards to break his franchise record of 3,841 yards set in 2003, his second year as a starter in Seattle.

Among other individual accomplishments, wide receiver Bobby Engram set a single-season team mark with his 90th catch in last week's 27-6 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

Defensive end Patrick Kerney is trying to win the sack title. He recorded one against the Ravens, giving him an NFL-best 14.5 - one-half of a sack better than Houston's Mario Williams.

The Falcons are finishing a disastrous year that started when quarterback Michael Vick was suspended in preseason for dogfighting charges. Two weeks ago, Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison.

During that same week, Bobby Petrino stunned the team by resigning as coach with still three weeks remaining in the season to take the job at the University of Arkansas.

The Falcons have dropped their first two games under interim coach Emmitt Thomas and six straight overall. They came close to ending the slide last week, but fell to the Arizona Cardinals, 30-27, in overtime after rallying from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

With another defeat, Atlanta will equal the franchise mark of 13 losses set in 1989 and matched in 1996.