Hasselbeck

With four games, featuring the top four seeds hosting the four winners from the wild-card round of the playoffs, there’s many an NFL fan who considers this to be the best weekend of the year.

Whether it’s better than Super Bowl Sunday is debatable, but there’s no question that this conference semifinal weekend boasts a quartet of potentially super games.

Here’s how a couple of NFL personnel experts see the matchups:

•SEATTLE AT GREEN BAY

It was four years ago that the Seahawks and Packers went into overtime in the playoffs in Green Bay.

Seattle won the toss and confident quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said: “We want the ball, and we’re going to score.”

Open mouth, insert foot.

On the opening possession in overtime, Hasselbeck was picked off by Al Harris, who returned the interception 52 yards for the winning touchdown.

Now, having disposed of the Redskins last weekend, Hasselbeck and the Seahawks return to Lambeau Field.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Seattle coach Mike Holmgren, who led the Packers to the NFL championship in 1996, when they beat Bill Parcells’ Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.

Holmgren’s QB then was Brett Favre, who, at the age of 38, is still pitching for the Packers. He threw for 4,155 yards and 28 touchdowns this season.

“The Packers have a great quarterback,” said one NFL general manager, “and they’ve got everything rolling. If they protect Favre, he’s going to make some big plays. But Hasselbeck can do the same for Seattle. He’s solid, and the Seahawks have a great coach in Holmgren.

“That said, I just don’t think the Seahawks are hitting on all cylinders. I don’t trust their running game. And it helps that the game’s in Green Bay.”

•JACKSONVILLE AT NEW ENGLAND

Of the three teams the Patriots could have faced — the Steelers and Titans were the other possibilities — the Jags appear to be the toughest.

“The last third of the season,” Pats coach Bill Belichick said this week, “[Jacksonville] pretty much led the league in just about everything, offensively and defensively — points, points scored, points allowed, yards, yards allowed — you name it.”

Suffice to say, if the Patriots had been able to name their opponent, it’s unlikely they would have picked the Jaguars, who feature a potent 1-2 punch offensively in running backs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew, along with an underrated — except in the NFL QB ratings, where he finished third, behind Patriots record-setter Tom Brady and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger — David Garrard.

Jags coach Jack Del Rio surprised many this summer when he waived veteran starter Byron Leftwich and gave the job to Garrard, who rewarded that show of confidence by finishing the season with the second-lowest interception percentage in NFL history for any QB with at least 300 passing attempts — he had only 3 of 325 passes picked off.

Garrard can be as dangerous with his feet as with his arm. It was his fourth-down scramble that set up the game-winning field goal last weekend in Pittsburgh as the Jaguars came from behind after blowing a 21-point lead in the second half.

“The key,” one NFL personnel expert said, “is: Can New England stop Jacksonville’s running game and put the game in the hands of the Jaguars young quarterback? He [Garrard] was a little erratic in their last game [in Pittsburgh, when he threw two interceptions], although he pulled the ball down and made that big run on fourth down in the fourth quarter.

“I think ‘the master’ [Belichick] is going to have a defensive scheme, with plenty of pressure and disguises, that will fool him — if the Patriots first can stop the run.

“It’s going to be a physical game. The Jaguars are tough on defense. They know they’re going to hurt you, even if they don’t beat you. Whoever wins this game is going to pay a price.

“The Patriots are very good, they’re experienced, they have an attitude, they can intimidate you — they’ve got the whole thing going on.

“I’ll be shocked if it’s a blowout. I think New England will win, in a dogfight.”

•SAN DIEGO AT INDIANAPOLIS

The Colts are the defending Super Bowl champions. The Chargers, who hadn’t won a playoff game since 1994, finally broke through in a tough game with Tennessee last Sunday in San Diego.

These two teams met in November in San Diego, when the Chargers intercepted Colts’ QB Peyton Manning six times in a 23-21 victory — a game in which Indy’s clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri missed a 29-yard field goal with 1:31 left to play.

“The key here,” said one NFL general manager, “is quarterback play. Of course, it’s always about quarterback play — only more so, in the playoffs. One guy is unproven.”

That would be San Diego QB Philip Rivers.

“He’s been erratic this year,” the GM said, “although he came up big in the playoff game last weekend, when he had to. But now he’s going to be showcased again in a pressure situation.

“Pressure is no problem for the other QB [Manning]. He’s immensely talented, one of the top two in the business, a Hall of Famer. In order to have a chance to win, the Chargers will have to make Manning uncomfortable, make him rush his passes. If they do that, they’ll have a chance, but only a chance, because he’s so exceptional at throwing the ball under duress. That’s part of what makes him remarkable.

“But the Chargers have done that in the past. They have a little bit of history with that. They have an outstanding cover guy in Antonio Cromartie [who led the NFL with 10 interceptions, three of them against the Colts] and they have a good blitz package.

“Offensively, San Diego absolutely has to run the ball, with LaDainian Tomlinson, in order to keep it away from Manning. They can’t have many three-and-outs. You know the Colts are going to try to take away ‘L.T.’ and put the game in the hands of Rivers. It’ll hurt the Chargers if [tight end] Antonio Gates doesn’t play.

“If it’s a high-scoring game, Indianapolis will win. But I believe it’s going to be closer than most people seem to think.”

•NEW YORK GIANTS AT DALLAS

Tomorrow’s game will be the third meeting of the season between these two NFC East rivals.

The Cowboys won the first two — 45-31 in the season opener in Dallas, and 31-20 two months ago in Giants Stadium.

But that doesn’t mean the Cowboys have the Giants’ number.

There are a number of reasons why New York, which has played better than Dallas in the last few weeks of the season, can come out on top this time.

Foremost among them are the play of Giants quarterback Eli Manning, along with a fearsome pass rush featuring Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan, and Jason Tuck that can harry Dallas QB Tony Romo, who spent the bye week vacationing in Mexico with his glamorous girlfriend, Jessica Simpson.

Not everyone, however, has confidence in Manning, even though he completed 20 of 27 passes, for 185 yards and 2 touchdowns, without an interception, in last weekend’s, 24-14 wild-card win over the Bucs in Tampa Bay — the Giants’ eighth straight road victory.

“Eli has had back-to-back good games,” said one NFL executive, noting that Manning also played very well in a season-ending, 38-35 loss to the undefeated Patriots in Giants Stadium. “But the Bucs stunk. They were terrible. They didn’t meet the challenge. Still, you’ve got to give credit to the Giants — they’re on a roll.

“Dallas has the people to make Eli uncomfortable. You know they’ll bring pressure. But the Giants will do the same to Romo. They’ve got some great pass rushers, and they’re hungry.”

It doesn’t help the Cowboys that big-play wide receiver Terrell Owens is hobbling with an injured ankle.

“If the Giants find out, as the game unfolds, that T.O.’s not much of a weapon, they’ll really bring the heat and try to disrupt Romo’s rhythm. I don’t know if New York can stop Dallas’ running game, but the Cowboys weren’t playing well down the stretch. Romo has got to bring his ‘A’ game if Dallas is going to beat the Giants a third time.”

jdonalds@projo.com