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Third-and-7 became third-and-12 for the Seattle Seahawks when officials flagged left tackle Russell Okung for the first of two false-start penalties against him Sunday.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, admittedly vulnerable to turnovers this season when pressing to overcome difficult circumstances, tossed an interception on the next play.

The penalty hardly excuses the pick. The two weren't necessarily related. But in a division featuring teams with little margins for error, even little mistakes can be difficult to overcome.

Hours earlier Sunday, the St. Louis Rams' Billy Bajema, Jason Smith, Jerome Murphy, Jason Brown and Rodger Saffold committed false-start penalties during a 27-13 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs. Some of those penalties contributed to stalled drives, adding to a long list of problems for St. Louis.

The Seahawks' Stacy Andrews and the San Francisco 49ers' Anthony Davis lead NFC West players with six false starts apiece. Only four NFL players -- Michael Oher (8), Ryan Diem (8), Phil Loadholt (7) and Jake Scott (7) have more.

The chart breaks down NFC West false-start penalties by team and position. I filtered out penalties against players from defensive positions, figuring most of those occurred on special teams.

Arizona's offensive line has done a good job avoiding these penalties even though multiple quarterback changes have forced players to learn varied cadences.
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Matt Maiocco's take on the 49ers possibly having to trade up from No. 13 for an offensive tackle hits on a significant theme in the 2010 NFL draft.

Seattle might have a shot at only the third-rated tackle -- all the way up at No. 6. That would make it tough for the 49ers and teams picking later in the round to feel as good about their options.

In 2007, the 28th overall choice landed the third-rated tackle, Joe Staley, and the 49ers were happy to draft him. Joe Thomas (third overall to Cleveland), Levi Brown (fifth to Arizona) and Ben Grubbs (29th to Baltimore) were the only other offensive linemen drafted in the first round.

The 49ers' need for a right tackle shouldn't blind them to value. Right tackles are still right tackles, not left tackles or quarterbacks. But finding a good one in the second round could be tougher if a first-round run on the position depletes the pool. Massachusetts' Vladimir Ducasse projects as a possible second-round choice with the size San Francisco might like at the position, but the 49ers aren't picking until 17 choices into the round.

As the chart shows, eight of the 12 playoff teams from last season used starting right tackles drafted in the first two rounds (by other teams in two cases). Brown was the only one chosen in the first half of the first round. The Cardinals drafted him to protect the blind side for left-handed quarterback Matt Leinart, although plans have changed. Brown is moving to left tackle this year, just as Leinart has become the starter following Kurt Warner's retirement.

MIAMI -- Tony Dungy wasn't the only one who thought the Indianapolis Colts would blow out the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV.

"I did too," Colts tackle Ryan Diem said Sunday night.

The Saints' 31-17 victory proved quite a few people wrong, most notably Dungy, who should have known better than to suggest Peyton Manning would breeze through the Saints' defense on his way to a second Super Bowl title.

"I think they're going to be so far ahead," the former Colts coach had told the New York Times, "that people are going to say, 'Oh, ho-hum, he played a good game, they won by two scores, the Colts won their second championship.' "

The comments created a ripple, but Dungy mostly got a free pass while Gregg Williams, the Saints' less stately defensive coordinator, took heat for suggesting the New Orleans defense would rough up Manning with "remember-me" hits.

Dungy's prediction read more like something from Rex Ryan at an MMA event than anything befitting the man NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has anointed as league ambassador. The prediction was so strong, so unflinching, so seeming inconsistent with Dungy's usual form that I figured he had to be right. Certainly Dungy wouldn't speak out so strongly if the Saints were the better team.

"I don't think it's going to be close," Dungy had said.

The Colts were going to win in a blowout.

"A blowout?" Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. "Well, it didn't happen."

The Saints needed overtime to beat the Vikings in the NFC Championship game even though Minnesota suffered from five turnovers, critical penalties and questionable coaching decisions. Logic said the Colts would never suffer so many mistakes. But logic would also fail to explain what the Saints were feeling. From their perspective, this was the only just outcome after the organization stuck it out in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Manning and the Colts were a great team, perhaps even the better team on paper, but the Saints felt they were playing for a greater purpose.

"They are really hard to prepare for," Saints linebacker Scott Fujita said of the Colts, "but the Saints were on a mission and for us it was about much more than just football -- much more than just football.

"I think you could see the stadium, we must have had Colts fans outnumbered six, seven to one. Throughout the city all week, the black and gold just poured into Miami to take over the city. I'm getting text messages all week from friends in the U.K., friends in Italy, saying the whole football world is behind us. This is bigger than just the game. The Saints are the world's team."

The Saints defied convention with an onside kick to open the second half. They went for it on fourth down when a field goal would have been the politically safe call. Cornerback Tracy Porter jumped the route for the interception he returned 74 yards for the clinching touchdown with 3:12 remaining.

We could view these high-stakes gambles as the Saints' acknowledgment that taking chances was their only hope against Manning, but that would be missing the mark. The Saints bet big on themselves and won.

"We have been the best team in the NFC," safety Roman Harper said. "We knew nobody was going to give it to us. We have to go out there and take it. Nobody picked us, nobody believed in us but us and ourselves and our locker room and our city and our families. We went out and proved everybody wrong today."

Starting with Tony Dungy.

MIAMI -- Let's stretch our imaginations and pretend, for the sake of discussion, that each NFC West team had advanced to face the Colts in the Super Bowl.

If the Rams made it here, for example, the big story might be Peyton Manning vs. Keith Null.

(Please hold your laughter until the end.)

I've broken out the Colts' offensive starters and compared them to those for the Cardinals, 49ers, Seahawks and Rams. In the Rams' case, I wasn't sure who would start at left guard after Roger Allen suffered a serious knee injury in Week 17, so I've brought back usual starter Jacob Bell from injured reserve.

Putting together something similar for the defenses would be tough because the 49ers and Cardinals play 3-4 schemes, so the positions would not line up.

Enjoy the imaginary games.