SEATTLE — There was no sense of urgency, no stress, no worry from the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night.

And why would there be? The Seahawks are a playoff-proven team, with a roster full of veterans who know when to turn the switch from the regular season to the playoffs.

No problem. Seahawks fans knew it all along, from the Sounder train stations to the tailgate parties to the craft beer lines to the trip home.

Seattle’s 26-6 win over Detroit in the NFC Wild Card game at CenturyLink Field was not the most compelling of games on a weekend full of stinkers. The game lacked the drama the NFL postseason is well know for. The game even lacked the major controversial play that turned the contest.

Nope, not here. The Seahawks had it all along, a win to move into the NFC Divisional round at Atlanta this Saturday afternoon.

“It’s always a new start every game,” Seattle defensive end Michael Bennett said. “Every game is a new game. The thing about the playoffs, like I was telling the young guys, there is something different about the playoffs because when you lose, you go home. You just have to keep playing and keep up the momentum.”

Behind an offensive line that pushed Detroit around, instead of pull it along, Seattle’s offense was a run-heavy, play-action pass happy unit that was content on taking over the game.

Thomas Rawls’ franchise single-game record for rushing yards was the marquee event on Saturday — 161 yards, which topped Marshawn Lynch’s effort in the 2015 NFC title game against Green Bay in Seattle. It was Rawls’ best effort since he ran for 209 yards against San Francisco in 2015.

“We had our identify,” Rawls said. “We wanted to run the ball. We wanted to do it on the ground. We wanted to maintain our identity and stay true, and that’s exactly what we did and showed.”

The running game keyed the vast majority of time possession for Seattle, which allowed the defense to get its rest and go after a conservative Detroit squad. The Lions didn’t show much urgency to get back into the game, setting for just two Matt Prater 50-plus yard field goals.

So, without the drama, Seattle had to pick up the slack. That came down to two circus, video-game style catches — one each from Paul Richardson and Doug Baldwin.

Richardson’s touchdown catch gave Seattle the lead for good — a fourth-down one-handed, fish-hook Detroit cornerback Tavon Wilson’s helmet for balance catch. It is one of the best catches — and offensive pass interference no-calls — of the season. A 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter almost felt like a regular-season 21-0 lead on this cold night.

OK, maybe the catch is a bit controversial, but it isn’t really.

“I’m just happy that I’m able to help,” Richardson said. “I like how things came together today. The offensive line played amazing for Rawls to be able to rush for as many yards as he did. Russell delivered passes and the playmakers on the outside made plays. It was amazing.”

Baldwin was the main beneficiary of the Seattle running game, because quarterback Russell Wilson was able to play-action the daylights out of Detroit’s secondary to open up passing lanes. The Lions were caught many times trying to go after Rawls, especially on the offense’s left side of the offensive line, when Wilson would play-action fake for time, space and targets.

The veteran wide receiver got his two highlight reel catches on the final scoring drive of the game in the fourth quarter — a juggling, pin-the-ball-to-my-arse catch that set up a touchdown interception in front of Jermaine Kearse.

“That ball was supposed to go to Jermaine,” Baldwin said. “I feel terrible about it. You guys laugh, but we work really, really hard. Every opportunity and every target is few and far between. I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. Fortunately enough, it worked out for us in terms of us scoring a touchdown, but I took a touchdown away from my brother and I feel terrible about it.”

By the time Baldwin got his highlights, the game was over. However, entering the fourth quarter, Seattle only held a 10-6 lead. With the way Detroit was not moving the ball, the lead was safe. No drama there, especially with two touchdown drives to finish the game for the Seahawks.

Seattle wore down and shut down Detroit, which didn’t have any answers to respond to the questions the Seahawks posed all day.

In other words, they had it all along, never any doubt.

Rob Burns: (360) 537-3926; rburns@thedailyworld.com; Twitter: @RobRVR