USA TODAY Sports Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:44 PM

SEATTLE — Golden Tate was thinking the same thing as every Seattle Seahawks fan as he stood on the sideline after muffing an onside kick to give the New Orleans Saints one more shot in Saturday's NFC divisional playoff at soggy CenturyLink Field.

"God, I hope they don't find a way to score," Tate recalled in the locker room after the Seahawks held on for a 23-15 victory, vaulting them into next weekend's NFC Championship game.

BOX SCORE: Seahawks 23, Saints 15

FTW: Colston's lateral worst ever?

"The good news is they couldn't win the game off of that. … But at the end of the day, that could have been bad. That could have been reeeeeal bad."

It gave the Saints one final chance after Drew Brees had thrown a 9-yard touchdown pass to Marques Colston with 26 seconds to play, threatening to force overtime in a game the Seahawks appeared to have wrapped up minutes earlier on Marshawn Lynch's second TD run.

But Colston tried to lateral the ball across the field on the second play of the drive, rather than stepping out of bounds near the Seahawks 38-yard line to give Brees one heave to the end zone. The forward pass one-hopped his target, leading to a penalty and 10-second run-off to end it.

An announced crowd of 68,388 that stuck it out through the rain and wind roared as referee Terry McAulay announced the game was over, knowing they'll get a chance to watch the Seahawks wrap up their second Super Bowl trip next Sunday against San Francisco or Carolina.

"We're right there. We're right at the edge," Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson said. "I think to fine-tune everything is the most important thing. I thought we did a tremendous job today with the circumstances."

The conditions challenged both offenses. But it was the Seahawks defense that forced the game's lone turnover – a Mark Ingram fumbled caused and recovered by Michael Bennett to set up Lynch's 15-yard scoring run in the second quarter – and held the Saints scoreless until the fourth.

Seattle led 16-0 at halftime despite the loss of receiver Percy Harvin to a concussion and limited production in the passing game from Wilson, who finished 9-of-18 for 103 yards and missed several third-down throws in the elements.

But Wilson made the big throw the Seahawks needed – a fade on third-and-3 for 24 yards to Doug Baldwin, who got a step off the line against cornerback Corey White and came down in bounds to set up Marshawn Lynch's 31-yard touchdown run on the following play.

"It was unique because I didn't get as many reps at that position during the week," Baldwin said. "So, my head was spinning, but I'm just blessed to have an opportunity to make a play when it counted."

Lynch's score appeared to seal the decision with 2:40 to go before Brees directed a nine-play, 80-yard drive to cut the deficit back to eight and Tate's mishandling of Shayne Graham's onside kick gave Colston an easy recovery.

Tate said he normally would have let the ball go through to his teammates, but Graham – who missed two field goals – kicked it softly enough Tate tried to pounce.

"It should have been a very basic, easy catch," Tate said. "But it got away from me. Thankfully, there wasn't any consequences."

Colston declined to speak with reporters after the game, and Saints coach Sean Payton said he wouldn't discuss the final play until after reviewing the tape.

Brees finished 24-of-43 passing for 308 yards, doing most of his damage after the Saints went into catch-up mode. Tight end Jimmy Graham, who twice exchanged words with Seahawks players during pregame warm-ups, finished with just one catch for 8 yards.

It was a disappointing ending all around for the Saints, who beat the Eagles in Philadelphia one week earlier and had a chance to force OT in the final seconds despite falling into another early hole against a Seahawks team that routed them 34-7 here last month.

"Obviously, we planned on playing it differently," Payton said. "At the end of it, we weren't able to make enough plays."

They came out in heavy sets, determined to run the football as sheets of rain fell and winds seemingly threatened to rip the 12th Man flagpole out of the ground. But the Saints generated just 113 net yards of offense in the first half.

Seattle had been held to a pair of field goals before Bennett stripped Ingram on the first play of the second quarter and recovered the fumble, leading to Lynch's score that made it 13-0.

"I knew it was going to turn," Bennett said. "We had to come out and just be consistent. We missed a lot of tackles at the beginning. That's something we've got to work on as a defense."

The Seahawks added another field goal to make it 16-0 at halftime, thanks to a 16-yard catch by Harvin on a jump ball over White to convert third-and-8. And they went conservative in the third quarter, running the ball on multiple third downs rather than throwing into the wind.

The Saints made things interesting in the fourth, cutting the deficit to 16-8 with 13:11 remaining on a 1-yard touchdown run by Khiry Robinson and two-point conversion by Ingram.

They drove again minutes later, with a Brees heave into double coverage bouncing off the hands of Seahawks Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas and into Robert Meachem's lap for a 52-yard gain. But the Saints stalled from there, and Graham's 48-yard field goal was wide left.

Then Wilson hit the third-down throw to Baldwin, the Saints burned their last timeout on a failed challenge and Lynch stiff-armed White on a 31-yard run on a TD that made it 23-8 before the wacky final 2:40.

"We're not done yet," Tate said. "We want to continue to fight, continue to get better each day, and I think that's what separates us really – that we never feel like we have it."