DENVER – Minnesota’s Chester Taylor ran away from the Seattle Seahawks defense.
Kansas City’s Larry Johnson ran through it. San Francisco’s Frank Gore ran around it.
On Sunday night, the Denver Broncos and running back Tatum Bell found another way to pile up yardage on the Seahawks. Quite simply, they cleared a path.
Denver’s complex blocking scheme, which has been the envy of the NFL over the past dozen years, was providing Bell with gaping holes throughout the evening. Bell ran for a team-high 133 yards before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter, and the Broncos finished with 181 rushing yards for the game.
“Denver’s such a hard team to say, ‘This is what they’re going to do,’ ” Seahawks defensive tackle Russell Davis said after the 23-20 win over the Broncos. “You know it’s coming, but then they get you running sideways and the running back cuts it back and finds a big gap.”
In games against Minnesota, Kansas City, San Francisco and Denver, the Seahawks have given up 809 rushing yards. In the other eight games this season, Seattle has allowed just 601.
“It just happens sometimes,” linebacker Julian Peterson said. “The biggest thing is when teams get us going one way and then cut it back quick. Sometimes there’s a hole that nobody calls, and the guy gets out.
“It happens at times, but the good thing is that the overall defense played pretty well (Sunday night).”
With another meeting with Gore in 13 days, followed by a game against San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson, the Seahawks will continue to look for a way to find more consistency defending the run.
Turnover hounds: In Shaun Alexander, Darrell Jackson and Deion Branch, the Seahawks have plenty of players who can get into the end zone.
Yet their only touchdown of the first three quarters of Sunday’s game came courtesy of … Darryl Tapp?
The rookie defensive end took advantage of an ill-advised pass from rookie Jay Cutler, who threw a duck into the air with defensive tackle Rocky Bernard draped on his ankle. Tapp returned his first NFL interception 25 yards for a second-quarter touchdown.
Tapp carried the ball out in front of him and high-stepped the final five yards, but he wasn’t too proud of his Deion Sanders-like celebration.
“I was going to do a Deion,” he said, “but with the altitude I couldn’t breathe.”
Tapp set off a turnover frenzy that saw the Seahawks defense eventually force five miscues. Two came off Cutler interceptions, while three others came as a result of Denver’s five fumbles.
“That’s just the way we play,” Tapp said of the bevy of turnovers. “Everybody is starting to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and we’re playing off them week in and week out. We’ll truly getting better every time we step on the field.”
Brrrrrr: The official temperature at kickoff was 16 degrees, making Sunday’s game the coldest in Seahawks history.
The old record came in a 2004 playoff game at Green Bay, where it was 20 degrees at kickoff.
Four of the five coldest games in Seahawks history – all of them were played away from Seattle – have come since Holmgren took over as head coach in 1999.
Touchdown, Alexander: Denver tight end Stephen Alexander caught a 7-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, marking his second TD of the season.
That matched the total of Seattle’s Shaun Alexander, who had an NFL record 28 touchdowns in 2005.
The Champ factor: The Seahawks were wary of Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey, whom they did not test once in the first half.
The first time Matt Hasselbeck threw in Bailey’s direction, the cornerback intercepted a deep throw intended for Darrell Jackson.
Hasselbeck tested Bailey again in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 27-yard completion to Jackson.
Running kicker: Denver’s Jason Elam showed a little bit of nifty footwork by out-running Seahawks cornerback Kelly Herndon to convert a fourth down on a fake field goal.
Elam’s two-yard run did come with a price, though, as he pulled a hamstring.
Despite the injury, Elam nailed a 41-yard field goal on the next play and made good on the tying extra point with 2:37 remaining in the game.
“When he kicked that extra point, it looked like he didn’t have a lot of oomph,” said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who had punter Paul Ernster kick a few field goals during halftime – just in case. “Mentally, (Elam) was there. But I’m not sure if he was physically.”
Quick slants: The Seahawks’ inactive list included just one starter: center Robbie Tobeck (hip). Right tackle Sean Locklear was in uniform, but Tom Ashworth started for the sixth game in a row. … The Broncos played without starting right tackle Adam Meadows. Denver lost another starter early in the fourth quarter, when middle linebacker and defensive leader Al Wilson was carted off the field following a special teams play. One play later, running back Tatum Bell was helped off the field. … For the second week in a row, rookie Rob Sims saw some time at left guard. He replaced Floyd Womack in the second quarter, but Womack returned to the lineup after halftime. Holmgren said last week that he was giving Sims playing time to evaluate him for the future. … Josh Brown was wide left on a 40-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter, marking the first time he’s missed in his last 14 attempts. Brown missed another attempt, this time a 53-yarder that went wide right, a few minutes later. … The Broncos’ current three-game losing streak is their longest since 2003. They haven’t lost four in a row since the first month of the 1999 season.
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