ST. LOUIS – Not often does a linebacker have such a profound effect on his team’s offense. But there was Isaiah Kacyvenski, spending most of Sunday’s game whispering in the ears of the St. Louis Rams’ backup quarterbacks.
And for a full half of football, it seemed to be working.
The former Seahawks linebacker was doing everything in his power to give the Rams’ offense an advantage over the Seattle defense on Sunday afternoon.
“I saw that bald head over there, trying to whisper to people,” Seahawks linebacker D.D. Lewis said with a laugh. “But we had a little setup for him. I don’t think he was getting all the signals.”
Fifteen days after being released by the Seahawks, Kacyvenski was back facing his former teammates in a key NFC West game. While he was not exactly forthcoming about his role as an informant, the man nicknamed “Kaz” did admit that he was helping out the St. Louis play-callers in any way possible.
“I was there seven years, so you kind of know what to expect in a certain situation,” Kacyvenski said after his new team lost 30-28 to the Seahawks on Sunday. “All I can say is that now I’m on the Rams.”
Kacyvenski seemed to be having success helping the offense in the first half, when St. Louis scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions. During one TD, a 2-yard run that saw Rams running back Steven Jackson reach the end zone untouched, television cameras caught Kacyvenski whispering into the ear of one of his teammates and giving an I-told-you-so look after Jackson scored.
But few of the Seahawks believed that the so-called “Kaz Factor” had any effect on the game. While Lewis said that the Seahawks adjusted their defensive calls just in case Kacyvenski had tipped off his new teammates, most of the Seahawks were unwilling to credit their former teammate with affecting the game.
“It had nothing to do with Kaz,” defensive end Bryce Fisher said. “It had to do with the fact that their guys were making plays and all we were doing was letting them march down the field.”
As proof, Fisher pointed toward a second half that saw the Rams’ offense stall until the Rams’ final drive.
“At halftime, we made absolutely no changes,” Fisher said. “… There was almost no coaching going on. It was pretty much: ‘Play better.’”
Kacyvenski said he has no hard feelings for his former team, but that he wanted to help the Rams in any way he could.
He enjoyed seeing his former teammates – “I never got to say good-bye to them,” Kacyvenski said of his Sept. 30 release – but he did have one difficult moment during pre-game warm-ups.
“I can honestly tell you that I almost went to the wrong bench,” he said. “I was looking for something to drink and I started going over there out of habit. But I caught myself.
“It was an emotional day for me, and I’m an emotional guy. I didn’t sleep well this week.”
Historical interception: Lofa Tatupu cut off Marc Bulger’s run at history Sunday afternoon, and he nearly clinched a victory in the process.
But in the end, Tatupu’s fourth-quarter interception amounted to very little.
“It turned out to be pretty insignificant,” Tatupu said, referring to the fact that the Seahawks failed to score off the turnover and eventually relinquished their six-point lead. “But it was a route I was anticipating. (Safety Michael) Boulware was over there going, ‘It’s coming. It’s coming.’ I was like, ‘I know. Don’t tell them I know.’”
Tatupu dropped into deep coverage on the play, stepping in front of a pass intended for wide receiver Torry Holt.
Until that interception, Bulger had thrown a franchise-record 248 passes in a row without being intercepted. The NFL record is 309 consecutive passes without an interception, held by Bernie Kosar during the 1990 and 1991 seasons.
The joy of sacks: The Seahawks had a season-high six sacks on Sunday, including two apiece from Julian Peterson and Bryce Fisher.
Fisher celebrated both of his sacks by displaying the front of his jersey to the Rams’ sideline, then flipping around and pointing to the surname on its back.
“This is the number, and this is the name,” Fisher said in the locker room afterward, explaining why he was making the gesture to his former team. “If I had one more, I was going to tell them to write it down.
“… Getting a chance to play for a team you played for before, I really wanted to remind them that all I was looking for was a chance to be a starter. (Seahawks president Tim) Ruskell did that for me, thank goodness.”
Fisher now has three sacks on the season. Peterson has a team-high four.
Shot-what? Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was in an unfamiliar position Sunday, lining up in the shotgun for two plays while the team was backed up near its own end zone.
“That’s always been there if I wanted to do it,” Hasselbeck said. “We practiced it so much this week that I said, why not try it? It helps. It changes our look a little bit. If you’re a pass rusher, you can’t know exactly where we are every play. It changes things for the quarterback, just a little bit.”
On second thought …: After spending most of last week talking about Jerramy Stevens’ clean bill of health, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren opted not to suit him up for Sunday’s game.
Holmgren said that Stevens was feeling discomfort in his left knee on Sunday morning, and after a short pre-game warmup, the tight end was ruled inactive for the game.
Stevens, who has had two surgeries on that knee in the past eight months, is expected to resume practicing this week and could make his 2006 regular-season debut this Sunday against Minnesota.
Good timing: Seahawks linebacker D.D. Lewis fought through the pain of turf toe all week, and it paid off with a key turnover. Lewis forced a Kevin Curtis fumble on a kickoff return early in the fourth quarter, and teammate Kevin Bentley recovered the loose ball to set up a Deion Branch touchdown.
“I had to fight through” the injury, Lewis said. “But I told myself before the game: ‘I’m not going to say nothing (about the pain).’ So to go out there and make a play, it’s that much better.”
Quick slants: Through the first half of Sunday’s game, the Seahawks had been outscored 85-13 over a span of seven quarters. Branch’s first-quarter touchdown marked the first TD the Seahawks had scored since the third quarter of the New York Giants game on Sept. 24. At one point in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game, the Seahawks scored two field goals and a touchdown in a span of 3:48. … The Rams opened Sunday’s game with six consecutive third-down conversions. They were 8-for-15 for the game. Seattle converted 9-of-17. … The odd man out in the Branch acquisition appears to be Nate Burleson, who opened the season as the starting split end but has seen his playing time diminish. Burleson was on the field for less than 20 plays Sunday.
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