RENTON — Injuries, as they say, are a part of the game.
But sometimes a rash of mangled body parts can affect some teams more harshly than others.
Injuries can turn a four-time division champion into an also-ran, as the 2-10 Seattle Seahawks have shown.
And injuries can take one of the best teams in NFL history, the New England Patriots, and leave them battling for a playoff spot.
The two teams that play at Qwest Field on Sunday afternoon have had far different seasons when it comes to postseason chances, but they do share one common bond.
Injuries have derailed their campaigns — albeit to differing degrees.
“Every team goes through that,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday. “Every team has things they have to deal with during the season, whether it’s injuries, or a variety of other things. That’s all part of the long NFL season.”
Rarely does a team go through an entire season without injuries, but there are certainly different levels of impact.
The Patriots’ unbeaten season in 2007 saw stars like quarterback Tom Brady (below), Randy Moss and Tedy Bruschi play in every game while players like running back Laurence Maroney and Pro Bowl defensive end Richard Seymour missed minimal time due to injuries. The 2005 Seahawks lost starting safety Ken Hamlin early in the season and played several games without leading receiver Darrell Jackson (who reminded reporters that season that “I still get my check.”) but still made the only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.
This season, for both the Seahawks and Patriots, has been an entirely new adventure.
The Patriots’ hopes of another perfect regular season took a huge hit when Brady went down with a Week 1 knee injury. Three New England running backs have gotten hurt, leaving undrafted rookie BenJarvus Green-Ellis to man the position for a couple weeks.
Seattle lost six wide receivers by Week 3 and has played five games this season without starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. Injuries have forced the team to use six different combinations on the offensive line, and Pro Bowl defenders Lofa Tatupu and Patrick Kerney have missed time.
“They’ve been able to sustain their losses, certainly, better than we have,” said Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, whose team is 2-10 and likely to finish with its worst record since the 2-14 season in 1992. “I don’t think the situations have been quite the same. In fact, I think they’re quite different.”
The results have been different as well. While the Seahawks are playing for pride, the Patriots (7-5) have everything to lose this Sunday.
“We have to take care of our end, and we can’t hope for someone else to do something,” Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel said during a Wednesday conference call.
Cassel made his first start since high school earlier this year, guiding the Patriots to a 19-10 victory over the New York Jets in Week 2. While he won’t make New England fans forget Brady anytime soon, Cassel has done enough to keep the Patriots afloat.
“I think we all felt confident in Matt,” Belichick said. “I was certainly confident that Matt would do a good job for us at quarterback this year.”
The Patriots might not be the juggernaut they were with Brady in the lineup, but they’re still a factor in the playoff race.
The same can’t be said for Seattle, which has won the past four NFC West titles, but already has been mathematically eliminated this year.
“I think at times you look at where you get hurt and how that has affected your particular situation,” Holmgren said. “Every team is different, and in our case it was pretty disruptive.
“… I know this: the teams that typically are left playing at the end of the year typically are the teams that have been most healthy.”
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