Seahawks’ Chancellor lowers the boom on teammatte Burley

SEATTLE — Unfortunately for Seattle Seahawks cornerback Marcus Burley, his most memorable play in Sunday’s win over the Denver Broncos was a painful one.

On Denver’s game-tying drive, Burley found out what a lot of receivers and tight ends have learned since 2010 — that safety Kam Chancellor is one of the hardest hitters in the NFL.

On Denver’s first play of that final fourth-quarter drive, Burley was covering Emmanuel Sanders down the sideline and was in position to make a play, but so too was Chancellor, who came flying in with a hit that missed Sanders and landed squarely on Burley.

“That’s probably the hardest I’ve ever been hit,” said Burley, who could laugh about it after the game. “He just knocked the wind out of me for a second, but I’m fine.”

But Burley’s game consisted of a lot more than taking a shot from his teammate. The nickel cornerback who Seattle acquired in a trade on Aug. 30, and who now has a big role on the defense thank to Jeremy Lane’s groin injury, spent part of his day covering one of the game’s best slot receivers, Wes Welker. Welker finished the game with six catches, but not all of that came on Burley, and Burley did have two pass breakups, including one to force a punt when he made a very good play to break up a slant route intended for Welker.

“Being the new guy and who they were targeting, and with Wes Welker being a great receiver and Peyton Manning being a great quarterback, you have to prepare for them to go after me, so you have to handle your business,” Burley said.

If anything, Burley was expecting to get picked on a bit more, he said: “I actually thought they would, but they still went at (Welker) a good amount.”

With Lane on short-term injured reserve, Burley, whom Indianapolis traded to Seattle for a sixth-round pick, figures to remain a key part of Seattle’s secondary until at least midseason. Burley still has room to grow, but considering the test he faced Sunday, and considering he is only three weeks into his career with Seattle, his performance against the Broncos was almost as big as the hit he received from Chancellor.

Injury update

In addition to Burley, two other players briefly left the game, but both returned to action. Left tackle Russell Okung left with a shoulder injury and was briefly replaced by Alvin Bailey, but returned on Seattle’s next offensive series and said he was fine after the game. Safety Earl Thomas, who had to leave last week’s game with cramps in his calf, went to the locker room for an IV when he felt cramps coming on again. Thomas was briefly replaced by Jeron Johnson before returning to action.

The Seahawks were without linebacker/pass rusher Bruce Irvin, who sustained a rib injury in practice Wednesday. His absence created a bigger role for O’Brien Schofield, who had Seattle’s only sack on Peyton Manning.

Rare miss

Steven Hauschka was wide left with a field goal try late in the third quarter, and it was a rare miss for the Seattle place-kicker. Hauschka was not available for comment after the game, but punter Jon Ryan, who holds for Hauschka, said “he’s probably going to lose some sleep over it. It’s pretty rare for him to miss, but it happens every once in a while.”

Hauschka’s reaction? “He was (upset),” Ryan said.

Hauschka, who had successful field goals of 20 and 28 yards against Denver, was 33-for-35 a year ago and had not missed a field goal kick since a Dec. 22 home game against Arizona.

Trick play

The Seahawks unveiled a little razzle-dazzle early in the game with wide receiver Jermaine Kearse taking a little toss from quarterback Russell Wilson in the backfield, and then throwing back to Wilson curling out of the backfield. The play, on first down after Seattle recovered a Denver fumble, gained 17 yards to the Broncos 6-yard line. It set up a field goal for an early 3-0 Seahawks lead.

“It was fun,” Kearse said. “That’s the first pass I’ve ever thrown in a game in my life. How’d it look?”

The Seahawks had practiced the play last week “a little bit, but I didn’t think we were actually going to call it,” Kearse said. “I was a little surprised. But it was just fun to have a play like that and to be able to complete it.”