GLENDALE, Ariz. – For all the broken harmonies and unfortunate choreography that have plagued the Seattle Seahawks in recent weeks, it’s appropriate that the NFC West leader’s season can be summed up in the words of a cream-puff boy band.
Bye-bye, bye.
The Seahawks all but kissed goodbye their hopes of a first-round postseason bye on Sunday, losing 27-21 to the Arizona Cardinals. In addition to falling a full game behind New Orleans in the race for the NFC’s No. 2 seed and a first-round bye – plus another half game, when considering the tiebreaker of best conference record – the Seahawks have to wait at least a few more days to clinch the NFC West title.
“It hurts,” safety Jordan Babineaux said after the loss. “It was a meaningful game for us, and we didn’t get it done.”
The Seahawks (8-5) can still clinch a playoff berth and the division title by beating San Francisco (5-8) on Thursday, but the chances of getting the first-round bye are dwindling by the week. Seattle would have to win its final three games, and see New Orleans lose at least two games, to get the No. 2 seed behind Chicago (10-2 heading into tonight’s game against St. Louis).
“We had four games left, and we really needed to win out,” Seahawks defensive tackle Rocky Bernard said. “Hopefully things can still turn out our way.
“But we still control what we can control. We need to win (against San Francisco) on Thursday.”
The way things have been going of late, that’s no guarantee – despite the fact the 49ers have lost three in a row since beating Seattle on Nov. 26. The Seahawks are not exactly peaking right now, as evidenced by Sunday’s loss to the 4-9 Cardinals.
“We didn’t play like champions today, from top to bottom,” running back Shaun Alexander said, “and I led the charge of not playing like a champion. Anytime you do that, you’re going to get beat.”
Alexander, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and fullback Mack Strong, all of whom played in the Pro Bowl last February, fumbled away the football on different occasions. All-everything left tackle Walter Jones gave up a sack on the Seahawks’ next-to-last play. And wide receiver Deion Branch came a yard short of the first down on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds.
Nothing seems to be going right for the Seahawks’ offense right now.
“It’s a lot of everything,” Branch said. “We’ve got to tighten up a lot of stuff.”
One obvious area in need of improvement is the way the Seahawks start games. Seattle’s opponents have scored first in each of the past five weeks, including an early 14-0 deficit Sunday.
Arizona scored on its first offensive possession – Matt Leinart hit Bryant Johnson on a 56-yard touchdown pass – then took advantage of an Alexander fumble to score another touchdown and go ahead 14-0 just 11 minutes into the game.
Seattle responded with a D.J. Hackett touchdown reception 50 seconds later and was within 17-14 at halftime.
Hasselbeck threw his third touchdown pass of the afternoon, a 2-yarder to Darrell Jackson, with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter, but Seattle’s 21-17 lead would not hold up.
Leinart added another touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald four seconds into the fourth quarter for a 24-21 Arizona lead, and a Neil Rackers field goal put the Cardinals up by six with 3 minutes to play.
Much like the win over Denver one week earlier, the Seahawks’ offense found its rhythm in time for the final drive. Hasselbeck directed the offense 66 yards, from the Seahawks’ 17 to the Cardinals’ 17, to put Seattle in position for another last-second victory.
But this time, it was not meant to be.
On a third-and-12, Arizona defensive end Chike Okeafor, a former Seahawk, slipped past Jones for an 8-yard sack, leaving the Seahawks 20 yards from the first-down marker. Seattle took a timeout and called a pass play that called for Branch to run a 15-yard pattern and try to pick up the rest with his legs. Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson brought Branch down near the 7-yard line, effectively ending the game.
“I knew where I needed to go,” Branch said of coming up short. “The defense did a good job. … Somebody had to miss a tackle. But they did a great job. Hey, I used my best move.”
The Seahawks may have given their best on Sunday, but it didn’t result in their best performance.
“We played as average as you can get,” Alexander said. “Walter gives up a sack. I didn’t get (the first down on) a third-and-1. It’s one of those bad days.
“Thursday can’t get here soon enough.”
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