Seahawks happy to be at Qwest

The regular season may get a team to the playoffs.

Getting through them, however, is another issue entirely.

"The playoffs are a whole different animal," Seahawks defensive end Bryce Fisher said. "It really doesn't matter who has been the best team, and truthfully home-field advantage doesn't mean anything."

Hold it right there. So why is so much emphasis placed on earning a chance to play at home in the playoffs? Why do teams not begin resting starters until they've clinched home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs?

Well, history shows that playing at home doesn't hurt. Just how much it helps, however, has become a bigger question after three of four road teams won in the wild-card round of the playoffs last year. Road teams have won the last four wild-card games in the NFC.

Playing at home is much more significant for teams in the next round of the playoffs. Of course, a team playing at home in the divisional playoffs also has an extra week off because it earned a playoff bye, which probably has more to do with that trend than anything else.

The home team's winning percentage in conference championship games is even lower than wild-card games, further proof that when both teams have the same amount of time to prepare, the question of where two teams are playing is not nearly as important as how they're playing.

But playing at home does offer some comforts. Defensive tackle Rocky Bernard sat in front of his locker after Sunday's game in Tampa, Fla., a 5 ½-hour flight home still in front of him and smiling at the fact the Seahawks wouldn't have to fly anywhere to play their first playoff game.

"We're at home," Bernard said. "And I like our chances at home."

With good reason. The Seahawks have lost only six games at home over the past four seasons. They were 5-3 at home this season and lost their last two, but they won two home playoff games to reach the Super Bowl last season.

But it's called a home-field advantage, not a guarantee. Fisher knows that after reaching the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. The first two were with St. Louis, the last two in Seattle. In 2003, he couldn't keep himself from looking ahead, trying to figure out who the Rams might play and how they matched up best. Defensive end Grant Wistrom, his teammate in St. Louis that season, offered some advice.

"He told me, 'Look, that stuff doesn't matter,' " Fisher said.

The Rams lost at home to Carolina in the divisional playoffs that season, and the Panthers went on to reach the Super Bowl, showing that location may be the key to real estate, but it's not the primary factor in the playoffs.

"There are three different seasons in the NFL, and we're in the third phase of it," Wistrom said. "It doesn't matter who we're playing, everyone is going to pick up their game."

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com