Perfect settings in the NFL

One team is confronting a legend. Another team is trying to become one.

The NFL might as well show today's divisional playoffs on the History Channel.

The Seattle Seahawks play the Green Bay Packers in venerable Lambeau Field, where the names of heroes past -- Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, etc. -- adorn the stadium like ghosts.

"You go in there and it's a little bit of a shock if you've never been there before," Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren said.

To the east, the New England Patriots take the next step in a record-setting perfect season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are looking for a reason to believe they can pull off an upset for the ages.

"We know everybody has a vulnerability," Jaguars quarterback David Garrard said, before adding: "But they went 16-0 [in the regular season], so they weren't too vulnerable."

Although the Jaguars have a confident defense -- ranked 12th in the league -- no one expects a low-scoring game in this AFC divisional playoff.

The Patriots, with Tom Brady passing for a record 50 touchdowns and Randy Moss catching a record 23 of them, has the NFL's most prolific offense.

If they do have a soft spot -- as Garrard suggested -- it might be on defense where a veteran (read: aging) lineup ranked a not-so-perfect 10th against the rush and appeared to wear down in the latter stages of the season.

Common wisdom has the Jaguars attacking with a two-headed running game, alternating between Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. The pair led a ground game that ranked second with nearly 150 yards a game and scored three touchdowns in last week's wild-card victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said: "I think this is the biggest challenge of the year in terms of facing two running backs that are on top of their game and two running backs that can really score any time they get the ball."

If the ground game succeeds, it will serve to keep Brady and the New England offense on the sideline, but the Patriots cannot afford to overlook Garrard, who was efficient during the regular season, completing 64% of his passes for a 102.2 rating. He threw 18 touchdown passes against only three interceptions.

In the meantime, the Patriots are trying to downplay the significance of their perfect record.

"That's in the past," safety Rodney Harrison said. "We're 0-0 right now."