SEATTLE — A gaggle of offensive linemen, those massive and massively overlooked brutes of thankless tasks, formed a rare celebration circle around Philadelphia Eagles colleague Todd Herremans.
Herremans then gleefully went nuts in the end zone.
“Linemen don’t catch many touchdowns,” said backup tight end Brent Celek, another unlikely Eagles star in a 26-7 win over Seattle on Sunday. “I was afraid that he’d throw the ball at me rather than spiking it.”
Doesn’t matter who Donovan McNabb is throwing to these days. He’s connecting with them all.
McNabb rebounded from early problems to complete 28 of 43 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns, one on a tackle-eligible play for Philadelphia’s first TD by an interior lineman in 74 years, to rally the streaking Eagles over the swooning Seahawks.
“His eyes got as big as the Seahawk (end zone logo),” a smiling McNabb said of Herremans, whose only other touchdown came in middle school when he blocked a punt as a defensive lineman.
Philadelphia (5-3) won for the third straight time to stay two games behind the first-place New York Giants in the NFC East, and moved ahead of Dallas (5-4) for third in the division.
“We’ve got things rolling at the right time,” McNabb said. “We know we’re going pretty much into the meat of our schedule.”
The Eagles next host the defending Super Bowl-champion Giants. And Reid is already looking forward to it.
“Yeah, I’ve got a couple of notes in my bag,” he said dryly before leaving for the long flight home across the country.
His close friend Mike Holmgren needs some aspirin in his.
Holmgren’s Seahawks punted 11 consecutive times — seven after three-and-outs — following a team-record 90-yard touchdown pass on their first play from backup Seneca Wallace to Koren Robinson, who was on his couch in Raleigh, N.C., at the beginning of the season.
Seattle (2-6) spiked a pass on third down to force a punt, wasted timeouts, didn’t have enough people on special-teams plays and generally looked as lost as its season. The Seahawks lost for the third time in four home games. They were an NFC-best 42-14 at home since the 2001 season entering this year.
Robinson’s 90-yard score was the longest play from scrimmage in Seahawks’ history. But Seattle’s 31st-ranked offense gained just 143 yards over its final 54 plays.
Seattle was missing three Pro Bowl players — including quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, out for the fourth consecutive game — plus a former Super Bowl MVP in Deion Branch. Pro Bowl linebacker Lofa Tatupu was out with a groin injury, his first missed game after 55 consecutive starts to begin his career.
“There were a couple times where we looked sloppy, and that I can’t tolerate,” the coach said, sounding almost resigned to his fate in his 10th and final season as Seattle’s coach. “I can tolerate a young man maybe not winning because he is going against another good player, but let’s play smart. Let’s do what we are supposed to do — coaches and players.
“(At times) looked like, heck, if I was sitting in the stands, I would ask, ‘What the heck are they doing?’ That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
Celek, playing because L.J. Smith was out with a concussion, set an Eagles record for yards receiving by a tight end in a regular-season game with 131 on six receptions. He had eight catches coming in and his previous career highs were three catches for 50 yards, but he continually slid open behind Seahawks’ blitzes, which swarmed McNabb early but barely sniffed him after that.
McNabb had 10 incompletions and was hit four times in his first 13 throws. But he completed his next 13 passes into the second half, returning to his stellar season pace of completing 63 percent of his passes.
He was 4-for-4 on the Eagles’ drive that tied it at 7 midway through the second quarter. The final pass was a 22-yard touchdown to Reggie Brown, who beat falling cornerback Marcus Trufant for the ball and jogged in for his first score of the season.
McNabb went 6-for-6 on the Eagles’ next drive to the go-ahead score in the final minute of the half. That was the fun scoring flip to his tackle-eligible. Herremans threw rusher Darryl Tapp to the ground at the line and slipped alone inside the goal line, just like the Eagles practiced it on Friday, to make it 14-7.
Four field goals by David Akers after that left Qwest Field empty early yet again.
“We have half the season left. I assured them I will be there for them until the last play of the last game of the season,” Holmgren said of his players. “And I’m asking them to do the same.”
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