KIRKLAND – Shhhhh.
Don’t tell anyone, but the hottest team in the NFC has a little bit of a concern. On offense, no less.
The Seattle Seahawks miss their go-to receiver.
Sure, they’ve won eight games in a row. And, yes, they still have the top-ranked offense in the NFC.
But the Seahawks’ passing offense could really use a shot in the arm, and Darrell Jackson might be just the man to provide it.
“I think we’ve missed him a great amount,” said quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who also had to endure the loss of Bobby Engram for three games earlier this season. “I think we’ve done really well with Bobby and Darrell out, but to say that it’s just been easy, that’s not true. The amount of experience that I have with those two guys – we’ve played years together – is hard to replace.”
That symmetry could start rebuilding today, when Jackson is expected to return to practice for the first time since Sept. 29. His last official action came in the Oct. 2 loss to Washington, after which Seattle started its current winning streak of eight consecutive games.
“Have we missed him? Yes,” coach Mike Holmgren said earlier this week. “But to have him out nine weeks, and then just throw him in there (on Sunday) and expect him to play 65 snaps, I don’t think that would be the prudent thing to do.
“But we need him back, and I need him to play.”
While the Seahawks have continued to ride Shaun Alexander’s running, their passing game has struggled to find consistency lately without its top receiver. Since fill-ins Joe Jurevicius and D.J. Hackett helped Seattle pile up 299 passing yards in a Week 5 win over St. Louis, Seattle’s air attack has quietly come back to earth.
The Seahawks averaged 35 passes and 261.6 passing yards in the first five games of the season, but have averaged just 28 attempts and 187.9 yards in the seven games since. While much of that has to do with Seattle’s need to protect big leads – Monday night was the most obvious example, with the Seahawks throwing just 17 passes in a 42-0 blowout win over Philadelphia – there also have been times when the offense hasn’t run as smoothly:
* In an Oct. 23 game against Dallas, Seattle had just two first downs over three drives in the fourth quarter before Hasselbeck led the team on an 81-yard drive in the final 2:01.
* In a Nov. 20 game at San Francisco, the Seahawks couldn’t put the 49ers away – in large part because they had three-and-outs on all four of their drives in the fourth quarter.
* The overtime win over the New York Giants on Nov. 27 saw Hasselbeck misfire on his final three passes of regulation, and four of his first seven in overtime, before he hit Hackett on a 38-yard reception that set up the game-winning field goal.
* Monday night, for all its defensive heroics, saw Hasselbeck complete just two of his final eight passes after going 6-for-7 on the opening drive.
Of course, every one of those games ended in a Seattle victory. And that tends to overshadow any potential pining for Jackson, who has been the team’s leading receiver in three of the past four seasons.
“Although Joe and Hackett and those guys have played really, really well, it’s hard to substitute years of experience with a guy,” Hasselbeck said. “I think it’s been difficult; it really has. But we’ve done the best we could with it; I think better than people expected.”
Holmgren has not been disappointed with the Seahawks’ passing game, even though the team has not thrown for more than 243 yards in a game since the Week 5 win over St. Louis.
“Matt’s making good decisions, (and) we’re still completing a fair amount of our passes,” he said. “… I’m OK with what we’re doing throwing the ball and what we’ve been doing.”
But Holmgren is just as quick to admit how eager he is to get Jackson back.
Jackson is currently listed as “questionable” for Sunday’s game against San Francisco, meaning he has a 50-50 chance of playing. The team probably will know more after today, but it’s expected to be a game-time decision.
“We’re always optimistic,” Alexander said. “But our eyes are on a bigger prize than just getting him for this week, or even next week.
“We want to make sure that he’s ready to go for the playoffs, so we don’t get him partially back and then have him hurt himself. That would be a bigger blow to us than having him come back early.”
Whenever Jackson returns, it should make the Seahawks that much more dangerous.
And that’s no secret.
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