By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
OAKLAND, Calif. – The only fortunate thing about the Seattle Seahawks’ 38-14 loss to Oakland on Sunday was the fact that it didn’t come at home. Because by the time this one was over, Seahawks fans couldn’t have cheered for the backup quarterback – there was no one left.
Seattle’s top two quarterbacks went down with injuries, joining hobbled running back Ricky Watters, as the Seahawks stumbled to their second consecutive blowout loss. The Seahawks have been outscored by 48 points over the past two weeks, a bigger back-to-back margin than even last year’s team achieved.
As Brock Huard mopped up the final 13 minutes of garbage time, quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck and Trent Dilfer sat on the Seattle bench wearing baseball caps. Hasselbeck’s throbbing left leg – re-aggravated during a hit from the Raiders’ Reagan Upshaw – was stretched out atop a helmet that lay on the turf. To his right, Dilfer sat dazed, still feeling the effects of a concussion he endured when Elijah Alexander delivered a late hit.
The scene was eerily similar to what happened here last season, when third-string quarterback Travis Brown had to finish up a 31-3 Seahawks loss because Huard and Jon Kitna were sidelined by concussions. This time, Huard was the last man standing.
“It felt like we were in a fight for our lives,” said Hasselbeck, who left the game twice due to injuries. “Guys were getting banged up out there.”
Said Huard of the Raiders: “They’re a group that’s going to hit you right, they’re going to try and intimidate you. That’s the way they’ve always been. Last year they knocked out 13 or 14 quarterbacks in games. They know how to get after the quarterback.”
Sunday’s game turned disastrous for the Seahawks early in the first quarter. On Seattle’s first drive, Watters was dropped for a loss on fourth down and left the game with an injured shoulder. From there, things progressively got worse.
The Raiders piled up 239 yards in the first half and got a defensive touchdown when Eric Allen scooped up Shaun Alexander’s fumble and ran 26 yards. Through the first two quarters, the Seahawks trailed 24-0, a deficit that eventually grew to 38-0 before the Seahawks ended their 10-quarter touchdown-less streak with a couple of meaningless scores in the final 20 minutes.
Hasselbeck, who came into the game with a sore groin and heel from the beating he took at the hands of Philadelphia last week, was battered again Sunday. He was sacked six times – Hasselbeck has now been sacked 18 times in three games – before finally leaving the game for good in the fourth quarter.
After an interception in the third quarter, Hasselbeck got pulled from the game in favor of Dilfer. Coach Mike Holmgren said Hasselbeck’s health, not his productivity, was the reason for the move.
” (Hasselbeck) was hurt,” Holmgren said. “If he was healthy, I would have let him sleep in his own bed. It’s part of growing up and part of learning. I said, ‘I’m taking you out because you’re hurt.’ Then unfortunately I had to go back to him.”
Dilfer was on the field for just three plays, including a 54-yard pass to Darrell Jackson that marked the longest pass of the season for Seattle. On that play, he scrambled away from pressure, rolled to the right, and delivered the ball downfield to Jackson to convert a third-and-14. But Oakland’s Alexander dished out a late blow to the head that left Dilfer face-down on the grass and motionless for several seconds. He was helped off the field, and Holmgren opted to put Hasselbeck back in the game. By NFL rule, if the No. 3 quarterback enters the game before the fourth quarter, the top two signal-callers are ineligible to return.
“If Matt could gut it out the last three minutes (of the third quarter), then we could put Brock in and we’d still have Matt (available),” Holmgren said. “It was a calculated risk.”
When Huard finally entered the game, he moved the offense much better than Hasselbeck had. Hasselbeck’s only touchdown drive came after Dilfer’s long completion put the Seahawks in scoring range, while Huard led Seattle into the red zone twice.
Huard completed 9 of 17 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. Another apparent touchdown pass to Bobby Engram was ruled incomplete even though Engram appeared to have possession of the ball before he fell out of bounds. Due in part to Huard, the Seahawks actually won the total yardage battle 348-344 – even though they were beaten more soundly than the score could indicate.
Despite Huard’s success, Holmgren reiterated that the team will have no quarterback controversy as long as Hasselbeck can play.
“I’ve already told you I’m committed to him,” Holmgren said. “I don’t know what else I have to say. I told you why I took him out. It’s because he was hurt. I don’t care how he’s playing; that’s how he’s going to learn.”
In the past two meetings between these two teams at Oakland, the Seahawks have been outscored 69-17 and have lost four quarterbacks to injuries.
The more immediate problem is that Seattle has been outscored 65-17 over the past two weeks and is starting to look a lot like the team that finished 6-10 last season.
“It’s hard to say this, but I think we were better this week,” Hasselbeck said. “I guess that shows how bad we were the past couple weeks. But we’re growing. We’re improving a little bit. Hopefully we can improve a lot more than we are.”
The root of the problem offensively comes from protection. Seattle quarterbacks have now been sacked 19 times this season, which is more than they were sacked over the final nine games of 2000.
“We work our (tail) off in practice all week, and then to come out and play like this … it’s embarrassing,” center Robbie Tobeck said. “It’s got to change. The fact of the matter is, we’ve got a lot of time left. But we’ve got to change now. We’re getting guys killed back there. Matt’s dinged up. Trent comes in for one play and gets rocked.
“I know we’re better than that. I know we care more than that. I know we do. The last two weeks have been horrible. It’s got to change.”
In three NFL starts, Hasselbeck has yet to show why Holmgren invested his future in him. He still hasn’t taken the team on a scoring drive, even though he was on the field for Shaun Alexander’s third-quarter score following the long pass from Dilfer to Jackson.
But the struggles this season have been a true team effort, from top to bottom.
“If you don’t feel sick from a loss like this,” linebacker Levon Kirkland said, “you don’t need to compete.”
Winners of just eight of their past 25 games, the Seahawks have been feeling ill all too often.
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