The Seattle Seahawks were not in the mood to discuss moral victories after losing to Atlanta 30-28 in the Georgia Dome.

The Seahawks fully expected to be playing San Francisco for a third straight time this season, with a chance to go to the Super Bowl on the line.

“Yeah, definitely,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “You go up one with 30 seconds left, you feel like you’ve got the game. They ran some routes that I should have stopped.”

Instead, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll and his players are looking toward next season.

“I hate to be dealing with this right now that we got beat today, but the future is so bright for this team, and they know that,” Carroll said. “They’ll live with this frustration for a long time.”

Added Seattle linebacker Leroy Hill, who said he intends to play another season: “This team has got a lot of great pieces in place for the future – a lot of young guys, a lot of great talent. I think Pete and Schneider have brought in a lot of great guys that are going to be around for a long time.”

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Down 20 points at halftime, the Seattle Seahawks showed the same resiliency they have all season, fighting back to take a one-point lead with 31 seconds left at the Georgia Dome on Sunday afternoon in an NFC divisional playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons.

But Seattle left too much time on the clock, as Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan completed two passes to Harry Douglass and Tony Gonzalez to get his team into field goal range. And kicker Matt Bryant handled the rest, making a 49-yard field goal to give Atlanta its first playoff win under head coach Mike Smith

The Falcons will host San Francisco for the NFC Championship game next Sunday.

Check out the stats here.

After a slow start, quarterback Russell Wilson caught fire, finishing 24 of 36 for a career-high 385 yards and two touchdown passes.

Wilson also had one meaningless interception at the end of the game, with Julio Jones picking off the rookie quarterback in Atlanta’s end zone to seal the victory.

Wilson’s favorite target was tight end Zach Miller, who finished with eight catches for a career-high 142 receiving yards, including a 3-yard touchdown catch

Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan completed 24 of 35 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns, but also had two costly interceptions.

Roddy White finished with five receptions for 76 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown.

Atlanta’s defense did a good job of bottling up Marshawn Lynch. He finished with just 46 yards on 16 carries, and fumbled for the second time in consecutive weeks.

However, Lynch did get the go-ahead touchdown for Seattle, bowling in from two yards out to cap a 7-play, 61-yard drive by Seattle.

No surprises on the inactive list. Safety Jeron Johnson, who was questionable heading into today’s game with a hamstring issue, is active.

And as Pete Carroll said on Friday, new addition DE Patrick Chukwurah also is active.

For Atlanta, defensive end John Abraham (ankle) is active for the Falcons.

Here’s the full list

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The Seattle Seahawks could be without defensive end Chris Clemons for the rest of the postseason.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Clemons’ agent, Donal Henderson, told him that team doctors believe he may have suffered an ACL tear in his left knee during the second half of Seattle’s 24-14 NFC Wild Card win at Washington.

Rapoport also reported that Henderson blamed the shoddy turf at FedEx Field for the injury.

However, in a text message, Henderson told me the extent of Clemons’ knee injury is unknown at this point, and that he would receive an MRI on Monday.

“Chris hurt his knee and we’ll have to figure it out and get MRI stuff done when we get back home,” Carroll said. “I am concerned about it.”

The other injury issue for the Seahawks was kicker Steven Hauschka, who suffered a calf injury during the game that limited the kicker to just field goal attempts, with punter Jon Ryan taking over kickoff duties.

“You could see him limping out there,” Carroll said. “But he made good kicks out there when we needed him.”

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The Seattle Seahawks earned their first road win in nearly 30 years, defeating the Washington Redskins 24-14 at FedEx Field in an NFC Wild Card game Sunday evening.

Seattle fell behind 14-0, but scored 24 answered points to claim the win. The Seahawks (12-5) will travel to the NFC’s No. 1 seed, Atlanta (13-3) on Sunday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Check out the final results here.

The last time Seattle won on the road was the AFC divisional playoffs at Miami, a 27-20 victory over the Dolphins on Dec. 31, 1983. The Seahawks fell to the Raiders 30-14 a week later in the AFC Championship.

The Seahawks had lost eight straight postseason games on the road since then.

Seattle got the go-ahead score with with just over seven minutes left, marching 79 yards on eight plays. Marshawn Lynch scored on a 27-yard touchdown run, atoning for a fumble on Washington’s 2-yard line earlier in the second half that would have given Seattle the lead.

Steven Hauschka added a 24-yard field goal to complete the scoring.

The Redskins (10-7) scored touchdowns on the first two drives of the game, piling up 129 yards offensively.

However, the Seattle’s defense toughened up, holding the Redskins to 74 yards the rest of the way.

Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III limped his way through the game on a gimpy right knee, and finally left with 6:19 left when his injured knee buckled while trying to pick up a bad snap. Griffin finished 10 of 19 for 84 yards, with two touchdown passes and one interception.

Lynch finished with 131 yards on 19 carries.

Seattle rookie quarterback Russell Wilson completed 15 of 26 passes for 187 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown pass to fullback Michael Robinson.

Wilson also rushed for 67 yards.

The only real news for the Seattle Seahawks is offensive lineman John Moffitt will be on the active roster for today’s game, the first time in three games.

Moffitt had been a healthy scratch for the last two games, as rookie J.R. Sweezy reclaimed the starting right guard job. But with all of the exotic blitzes Washington likes to dial up, the Seahawks might have to go with Moffitt at right guard if Sweezy struggles in pass protection.

Washington left guard Kory Lichtensteiger (ankle) was questionable heading into today’s game but will play.

Here’s the full list.

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Greetings from FedEx Field here in the nation’s capital. Someone in the comments section in a previous post asked me if I’m more excited about this game, or is it just another Sunday at a nondescript NFL stadium.

And to be honest, today does feel different. There’s a lot of buzz here in the press box, with several national writers at the stadium to watch the much-anticipated match-up between Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson.

So yes, today is different. And hopefully it lives up to build up for this afternoon’s game.

Speaking of build up, I wanted to direct you to Michael Irvin of the NFL Network’s interview with Seattle cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner. Check out the video here.

Some notable quotes:

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The Seattle Seahawks were unanimous when asked if they had a preference between travelling to Dallas or Washington for the opening round of the NFC playoffs.

They don’t care.

“It doesn’t matter who we play I don’t think,” Seattle offensive tackle Breno Giacomini said. “We’ve just got to take care of ourselves. Get on the right page as an O-line, and just get better. That’s all we can do.”

“I don’t care either way,” said Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman. “We’ve seen both of them, and we’ll taker either one.”

The NFL announced the Seahawks will play the Washington-Dallas winner on Sunday, 1:30 p.m. Pacific time on FOX.

The other NFC Wild Card game with Minnesota at Green Bay will take place on Saturday at 5 p.m. Pacific time on NBC.

The AFC Wild Card games are Cincinnati at Houston at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday on NBC. And Indianapolis travels to Baltimore for a 10 a.m. Pacific time contest on CBS.

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