KIRKLAND – After watching Matt Hasselbeck scorch his team for 949 yards and six touchdowns in three meetings as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator, Jim Mora essentially threw up his hands this week.
Mora, now the Atlanta Falcons’ first-year head coach, conceded that he doesn’t have the secret formula to stopping the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday.
“He ripped us in San Francisco every game,” Mora said in a conference call with Seattle reporters this week. “Thank goodness for the Atlanta Falcons, I’m not calling the defenses. (Defensive coordinator) Ed Donatell is. Ed’s had a little more success against them (as defensive coordinator in Green Bay) than I have. I’m just staying out of the way.”
Mora might not have an answer for Hasselbeck, but he may not need one. The way to beat the Seahawks this season, as teams have shown time and time again, is to spot them a big lead, then wait until the fourth quarter to strike.
Of course, it’s not a fool-proof plan. The Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings used that strategy in recent weeks and came up short. Both made furious fourth-quarter rallies, only to have the clock run out on them.
If only Seattle could have been so lucky in losses to Dallas and St. Louis earlier this season. Or Baltimore last year. The Seahawks even had a lead entering the fourth quarter of their playoff loss to Green Bay.
It’s a maddening trend that begs for a solution … if only someone could find one.
“We have not played that situation in a game as well as I would like,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “It’s an ongoing process to educate the players as to what we want them to do.”
The Seahawks (8-7) haven’t shown a killer instinct late in games. They’ve failed to put teams away even when they had comfortable leads and have given up big plays at the worst possible moments.
St. Louis scored 17 points in the final 5:34 of regulation to come back and beat Seattle 33-27 in overtime on Oct. 10. Dallas scored 10 points in the final 1:45 for a memorable, come-from-behind win on Monday Night Football earlier this month.
Then came Sunday’s game, when the Cardinals fell behind 24-7 just 10 seconds into the fourth quarter, prompting one of the television analysts to go into a commercial break talking about Seattle’s “comfortable lead.”
Seahawks fans knew better, and the Cardinals scored two touchdowns in just over nine minutes to validate their concerns. Seattle barely held on for a 24-21 win.
“If we’re up by 10, or if we’re up by 14, it doesn’t matter,” linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski said. “We know we’ve got to finish the game. It’s probably not that different than any other team in the league, but we know from experience that the game’s not over until that final whistle blows.”
The Seahawks have outscored opponents 264-237 through the first three quarters of games this year, yet they’ve been on the wrong end of a 104-79 advantage in fourth quarters. Opposing quarterbacks have one-third of their total passing yardage (1,156 yards) after the third quarter. They’ve thrown 18 of their 40 passes of 20 yards or more in fourth quarters or overtime.
Even when opposing teams aren’t moving the football, Seattle’s defense has shown a propensity to be uncharacteristically forgiving. Of the modest 21 penalties assessed against the Seahawks’ defense this season, 14 have come in the fourth quarter. Three of those penalties kept drives alive after failed third-down conversions, and a fourth wiped out an interception.
Five of Seattle’s six unsportsmanlike conduct penalties have come in the final period.
The breakdowns have been so maddening that the coaching staff has run out of answers.
“You have nightmares over that,” defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes said of Seattle’s fourth-quarter breakdowns. “That’s something that you go back, and you wrack your mind, and you try to find what could you do different, how could you do this during this situation, look at every call. I’ve done all of that.”
Then again, it could be much worse. Half of the 22 interceptions by Seattle’s defense this season have come in the fourth quarter. That’s 11 stalled drives in 15 games, with six of them coming in Seattle territory. Rookie safety Michael Boulware has three of those.
So Seattle’s struggles in the fourth quarter haven’t been as devastating as they might have been, even if it seems like they’ve cost the team a dozen wins already.
“It’s made games that I thought we pretty much had in hand … we’ve lost a couple,” Holmgren said. “We’ve won our share, but we’ve lost a couple. It’s been tough that way.”
In search of answers, the coaching staff has made some adjustments. Strong safety Terreal Bierria, who was in coverage on all three of the Rams’ late touchdowns in the Oct. 10 loss and a fourth-quarter Keyshawn Johnson TD in the loss to Dallas, has been benched in favor of Boulware.
The defense hasn’t been blitzing as often in fourth quarters of close games.
And, if Sunday’s game against Arizona was any indication, the offense is a bit less conservative with a lead, throwing the ball in the fourth quarter to keep momentum going.
Still, the Seahawks continually make things interesting in the end.
“(Players) may be thinking the game’s over, but they’re just thinking like a human being,” defensive tackle Rashad Moore said. “If you’re up 21 points, you would think the game’s over too.
“But in this league, you’ve got to continue to play.”
Notes: Wide receiver Darrell Jackson (hamstring), fullback Mack Strong (ankle) and safety Michael Boulware (foot) returned to practice Thursday and are expected to play against the Falcons on Sunday. Holmgren said earlier this week that left tackle Walter Jones (ankle) was expected to practice today. … Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck took all the snaps with the No. 1 offense Thursday and was able to throw more downfield passes. … Atlanta’s injury report lists five starters who are questionable: quarterback Michael Vick, tight end Alge Crumpler, running back T.J. Duckett, defensive tackle Ed Jasper and cornerback Jason Webster. All but Crumpler practiced Wednesday.
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