SEATTLE — Matt Hasselbeck passed a major test, but plenty of other questions remained unanswered after the Seahawks’ second preseason game.
Playing the entire first half, Hasselbeck was impressive throwing the ball, but even more importantly, he was quick to pop up after each of the three sacks he took. It was the first contact the Seattle quarterback had taken since a back injury ended his 2008 season prematurely.
“It’s just like I remember it,” he said. “No fun. But yeah, I feel good. In a way it was good probably to take some hits, just to do it.”
Despite Hasselbeck’s impressive outing and the 27-13 victory over the Denver Broncos in front of 67,052 at Qwest Field, there were causes for concern for the Seahawks.
Sean Locklear, who has the unenviable task of filling in for Walter Jones at left tackle while the nine-time Pro-Bowler recovers from knee surgery, was beat on one of the sacks and pushed back into Hasselbeck for another. He was also guilty of a false start.
The secondary, a major cause of concern even before starting cornerback Marcus Trufant opened the season on the physically unable to perform list — the Seahawks were dead last in the NFL in pass defense last year — allowed Kyle Orton to dink and dunk his way to 177 passing yards in the first half. Orton, who was intercepted on his first three possessions last week against San Francisco, completed 17 of his first 20 passes before ending the half with two incompletions and an interception. That interception by Ken Lucas came on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line late in the half.
“We’re capable of a lot better than we showed tonight,” Seahawks coach Jim Mora said of the defense. “Those guys are a prideful group, and they’re building something that I think is going to be pretty special, but we know we’ve got a long way to go.”
Another cause for concern for the Seahawks coming into the season was the run game, and minus Julius Jones, who sat out with a thigh bruise, the Seahawks were turned into a one-dimensional team in the early going. Seattle averaged just 2.9 yards rushing for 20 yards in the first half. Seattle finished the game rushing for 72 yards on 23 carries.
“A lot of good things, saw a lot of good individual efforts,” Mora said. “But there are a lot of things we need to work on still. Our run game is a work in progress. It’s frustrating right now for me because I’m used to being able to run the football. And I’m confident we will be able to run the football, but it’s a process… We’ve got to do a better job tackling on defense. Watching it out there I didn’t feel we played with the speed that we’re capable of playing with. I don’t know the reason for that right now, but we’ll improve on that.”
In the end, however, there were enough positives to lead to a convincing Seahawks victory and a 2-0 preseason record. Hasselbeck finished his one half of play 16 for 23 for 171 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He led Seattle to a touchdown on its first possession, hitting rookie Deon Butler over the top for a 34-yard touchdown.
After Denver quickly retaliated with a touchdown of its own, and later took a 10-7 lead, Hasselbeck led the Seahawks on an 80-yard drive in the final three-minutes of the half. He hit T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a one-yard touchdown with nine seconds left to cap the drive. Houshmandzadeh had five catches for 41 yards in his first game at Qwest Field.
Seattle’s No. 2 defense had a strong showing in the second half to help blow the game open, including early in the third quarter when Denver kept its starters in the game. Kelly Jennings caused a fumble on the first play of the quarter, which Jordan Babineaux recovered and retuned to the Denver 8-yard line. That set up a Brandon Coutu field goal, and the defense again came up big against Denver’s starters on the next drive, forcing a three-and-out and a punt, which was deflected by Nick Reed to give Seattle a short field.
Seneca Wallace connected with Joe Newton for a one-yard score six plays later to make it 24-10. Seattle stretched the lead to 17 points when C.J. Wallace forced a fumble on a punt return and Will Herring recovered. That set up a 52-yard field goal for Coutu.
Notable
In addition to Walter Jones and Marcus Trufant, Seattle was without starting running back Julius Jones (thigh bruise), linebacker Aaron Curry (groin) and receiver Nate Burleson (groin) … Center Chris Spencer suffered a quad injury in the first half, the severity of which was not immediately known … Backup defensive tackle Craig Terrill had to be helped off the field in the fourth quarter with an unknown injury … In addition to the fumble recover, Herring also had two tackles for loss … Punter John Ryan had another nice game, averaging 49.6 yards on 7 punts, three of which pinned the Broncos inside the 20 … Rookie defensive end Nick Reed, who had a sack and an interception in last week’s preseason game, had 1.5 sacks.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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