RENTON, Wash. — In one sense, the Seattle Seahawks will be facing a familiar foe Saturday when they play host to the Carolina Panthers in the divisional playoffs.

The teams met each of the past three seasons, the most Seattle faced any non-NFC West opponent.

Conversely, it will be quite a different-looking Carolina team that comes to Seattle, one that solidified its secondary and offensive line and over the last month of the regular season allowed the fewest points of any team in the NFL other than the Seahawks.

Seattle, though, is also a different team than it was when it played at Carolina on Oct. 26.

Entering that game, the Seahawks were a 3-3 team that had lost two in a row and was facing the harsh NFL spotlight from the Percy Harvin trade, which came nine days prior.

Seattle trailed 9-6 after a Carolina field goal with 4:37 left, then embarked on an 80-yard drive in the next 3:50 that culminated in a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Russell Wilson to tight end Luke Willson to win the game, 13-9.

As turning points in seasons go, it was as big as Seattle had the past few years.

Carolina faced its own turning point. The Panthers were 3-8-1 before winning the last four regular-season games to take the woebegone NFC South. They then beat the Arizona Cardinals in the wild-card round to advance to the divisional playoffs.

The Seahawks might well have faced Detroit, instead, had the Lions been able to hold on to a fourth-quarter lead against the Dallas Cowboys in a game that featured one of the more controversial calls in recent NFL playoff history.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who we play,” Seattle receiver Doug Baldwin said. “It’s just about us in this locker room, and that’s all it really comes down to.”

That’s a mantra Seattle tried to follow throughout the Pete Carroll era but one that rings truer than ever this year. The Seahawks faced some unfamiliar challenges with their slow start, and they later stood at 6-4 following a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Seahawks, though, righted their defense, allowing just 39 points in the last six games, the fewest of any team since the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers.

That allowed the Seahawks to move from the No. 8 position in the NFC following the loss to Kansas City to the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

That Saturday’s game will be in Seattle is one reason the Seahawks are as much as an 11.5-point favorite against the Panthers. However, if history means anything, the Seahawks could be in for more of a challenge.

Seattle beat Carolina each of the past three years, but all were tight defensive struggles that went down to the wire: 16-12 in 2012, 12-7 in the season opener last season, then the four-point decision this season.

The Panthers are particularly stout against Seattle’s ground game, holding running back Marshawn Lynch to 43 yards on 17 carries in 2013 and 62 on 14 this season.

Carolina also established a solid running game the last month behind a now-healthy Jonathan Stewart, and a revived secondary helped a talented defensive front seven play more to its potential.

That Seattle endured three bruising affairs against the Panthers figures to be enough to prevent the Seahawks from experiencing any sense of complacency. Middle linebacker Bobby Wagner added that the postseason is enough on its own.

“The playoffs are a new season, and if you don’t bring the same energy that you ended the season with, then you could be out,” Wagner said. “There have been a lot of great teams that came in on fire and lost the first game. So we definitely have to make sure we bring that same energy, bring that same focus so we can get to where we want to be.”

–Center Max Unger is expected to return for the playoffs after missing the last six games of the regular season with knee and ankle injuries — a high ankle sprain that was particularly troublesome. If he makes it back, then Seattle could have available its projected starting offensive line for the first time since the Washington game on Oct. 6.