Seahawks bruised but not beaten

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, November 2, 2003

SEATTLE – Shortly after another surprisingly hard-fought victory, cornerback Marcus Trufant moved around the Seattle Seahawks’ locker room sporting a small bandage over his left eyebrow.

The one-inch long piece of white tape seemed to signify everything his team is about. That is, nicked up but still able to walk with pride.

“We’re winning, and we still haven’t played our best ball yet,” said Trufant, whose minor injury happened as he left the field celebrating a 23-16 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. “So that’s a good thing.”

Once again, Seattle stumbled, stammered and eventually strutted its way to another victory, allowing the Seahawks (6-2) to regain sole possession of first place in the NFC West at midseason. The St. Louis Rams (5-3) lost to San Francisco on Sunday to fall a game behind the Seahawks.

If coach Mike Holmgren were to write a book about how to have a 6-2 record at the midway point, he probably wouldn’t include any chapters about dropped passes, blown leads or allowing inferior opponents to stay in games until the very end.

Yet that is the storyline that has led this team to one of the best records in football.

“Same old, same old,” Holmgren said after the Seahawks held off another late rally to win their fifth consecutive home game. ” … Maybe it’s just going to be that kind of year. That’s OK, as long as we continue to win most of them.”

If ever there was a microcosm of the Seahawks’ season, it came Sunday. Seattle’s offense couldn’t find the ignition for most of the game – three Josh Brown field goals helped the Seahawks build a 9-6 lead heading into the final quarter – then suddenly took off.

Two touchdowns in just over five minutes, including one from slick-handed receiver Darrell Jackson, put the Seahawks in front 23-13 with 7:21 remaining. After giving up a Steelers field goal to cut the lead to seven points with 3 1/2minutes left, Seattle made a key defensive stop in the final minute to secure the win.

“We’re not going to panic when we get in tight games,” offensive lineman Robbie Tobeck said. “Because if we did, we’d be in a lot of trouble right now.”

The two teams treated – or perhaps tricked would be the more appropriate word – the sellout crowd to a first half of football that was straight out of “Night of the Living Dead.” The Seahawks and Steelers combined for 213 yards of total offense and nine points as Seattle went into the locker room with a 6-3 lead.

Along the way, the Seahawks continued to be plagued by dropped passes, especially by Jackson. The 24-year-old receiver had two key drops, including a sure touchdown, and fellow wideout Alex Bannister also mishandled a pass that should have resulted in six points.

Even after Seattle got a momentum-turning blocked punt on the opening drive of the second half, more offensive miscues forced the Seahawks to settle for another Brown field goal and a 9-3 lead.

Like so many of Seattle’s opponents this year, Pittsburgh (2-6) refused to go away. The Steelers went on a 13-play, 48-yard drive on their next possession, eventually getting a 33-yard field goal from Jeff Reed with 3:24 remaining in the third period.

At that point, the two teams had combined for 278 yards of total offense and 15 points. Over the final 19 minutes, they combined for 331 yards of offense and 24 points.

“It’s funny how momentum goes,” Seahawks defensive lineman Chike Okeafor said. “I definitely could feel our offense getting that momentum, and I could feel their offense getting momentum. You just have to deal with the peaks and valleys and make sure you don’t lose that momentum.”

Seattle got the offensive explosion going with a 74-yard drive that culminated in a redemption of sorts for Jackson. His 14-yard touchdown reception with 12:28 remaining gave the Seahawks a seemingly comfortable 16-6 lead.

But Pittsburgh’s offense was just as wired. The Steelers responded with a six-play, 71-yard drive that included a 2-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Maddox to Hines Ward. That left Seattle clinging to a 16-13 lead with 9:32 remaining.

Jackson, who had to pick up the receiving load after Koren Robinson suffered a minor ankle injury in the third quarter, had another key play on the ensuing drive. His 43-yard catch-and-run to the 1-yard line set up a Shaun Alexander touchdown to put the Seahawks ahead 23-13.

The Steelers nearly kept pace, going on another long drive all the way to the Seattle 3 before an incomplete pass on third-and-goal forced Pittsburgh to settle for another Reed field goal.

That left the Seahawks leading by a touchdown and needing about three first downs to clinch the win. They only got one, and eventually had to punt the ball back to Pittsburgh with 65 seconds remaining in the game.

Without any timeouts, the Steelers started at their own 24-yard line and got as far as their 40 before things started to fall apart. An illegal formation penalty and three consecutive incomplete passes left them with a fourth-and-15 from their own 35 with 10 seconds left.

A hook-and-lateral from Maddox to Plaxico Burress to Amos Zereoue got just 8 yards before Trufant made the game-clinching tackle.

Trufant then nicked himself up in the resulting celebration, but was embarrassed so much by the damage that he refused to tell the story of how it happened.

He could have been the poster child for the 2003 Seattle Seahawks, who keep coming out of weekly prize fights looking battered but victorious.

“We may have a couple letdowns,” Trufant said, “but in the end, when we need it, we always show up.”