SEATTLE – That the Seattle Seahawks were able to hold off another late rally at home was quite a treat.
As for finishing the game with enough healthy bodies? Well, that was the tricky part.
In a game that saw the Seahawks knock off the Carolina Panthers 23-17 on Halloween Sunday, there were enough injuries to fill a 90-minute horror film.
Jerry Rice, Steve Hutchinson, Rashad Moore, Maurice Morris and Alex Bannister could not finish the game, adding to a list of injured players that already included Bobby Engram, Chris Terry, Anthony Simmons, Grant Wistrom and Tom Rouen.
After Rice suffered a first-half ankle injury, and Bannister broke his collarbone in the fourth quarter, Seattle had just two healthy receivers left: starters Darrell Jackson and Koren Robinson.
The Seahawks were so thin on special teams that cornerback Kris Richard was fielding punts for the first time in his NFL career – thanks to Engram’s sprained ankle and a concussion that Morris suffered on the opening kickoff.
After the game, Mike Holmgren sounded more like a surgeon than a football coach while detailing his team’s injury list.
Bannister’s injury is believed to be the most serious, as it could keep him out for up to eight weeks.
Hutchinson sprained his ankle early in the second quarter. He returned to the field on the Seahawks’ next offensive series but could not continue after halftime.
Moore suffered an allergic reaction after eating some oranges at halftime. His face was so swelled up that he could not play after the first series of the second half.
Sigh of relief: For the third time in the past four games, the Seahawks’ secondary gave up a long pass at a critical moment.
Trailing by 13 points, the Panthers got in position to score a touchdown when Jake Delhomme hit rookie Keary Colbert on a 63-yard reception. Carolina eventually scored to get within 23-17 with less than two minutes remaining.
Cornerback Ken Lucas, who was in coverage on the play, blamed himself for the mistake.
“It was a bonehead play,” Lucas said. “… I felt the weight of the world was on my shoulders because I put us in that position.”
Another “bonehead play” came a few minutes earlier, when quarterback Matt Hasselbeck fumbled a snap while holding for a field-goal attempt.
“It was a perfect snap, good spiral, and had a lot of velocity on it,” said Hasselbeck, who will take over holding duties now that Rouen has been placed on injured reserve. “I just dropped it.”
Dodging a bullet: The Seahawks made enough mistakes Sunday to give Carolina the game, but the Panthers couldn’t get a break.
Carolina was flagged for 10 penalties, including four that came when they were in Seattle territory.
The most frustrating series of mishaps came on the opening drive of the second half. After attaining a first-and-goal at the Seattle 6, Carolina had to settle for a field goal after a defensive pass-interference flag was picked up on first down. A Ricky Proehl TD catch was nullified because the Seahawks had called a timeout just before the ball was snapped. A Muhsin Muhammad TD catch was called back for offensive pass interference. And tight end Kris Mangum dropped a pass in the end zone on third down.
“That’s just the way things are going right now,” said Delhomme.
Third downs solved?: After struggling to a 31 percent conversion rate on third downs through the first six games of the season, the Seahawks looked more like themselves Sunday.
Seattle, which led the NFL in that category last season, was 8 of 17 (47 percent) on third down. That number could have been even higher, but the Seahawks were charged with a failed conversion on the final drive, when Matt Hasselbeck knelt down to run out the clock, and two previous drives in which they used third down to set up field goal attempts.
The Seahawks converted 6 of 8 in the first half.
“The last couple of years, we’ve been really good in third-down situations, and we’ve got to get back to that,” fullback Mack Strong said. “If we expect to win football games, we’ve got to sustain drives and keep our defense off the field.”
Just happy to be there: The plethora of injuries forced Seattle to show off its depth on the offensive line.
Terry missed his second consecutive game due to a shoulder injury, leaving Floyd Womack to start at right tackle. Womack did a nice job containing Carolina’s Julius Peppers, who has 19 sacks in his first two NFL seasons.
“I think I did OK,” Womack said. “The main thing is, we got a win.”
Jerry Wunsch saw his first extensive action since Nov. 16, 2003, when he played right guard in a win over Detroit. On Sunday, Wunsch stepped in for Hutchinson at left guard and played the entire second half.
“I’ve been waiting a year to get a regular season game in again,” said Wunsch, who has been released twice this season and was re-signed last Monday. “It’s been a lot of hard work, and it paid off with a victory.”
Quick slants: In an effort to correct a blocked punt last week, the Seahawks altered personnel on their punt coverage team. Marquand Manuel replaced Terreal Bierria in a punting formation, while Kerry Carter switched sides. Bierria missed a block on the play last Sunday that resulted in an Arizona safety. … Carolina, which entered the game with a record of 1-5, is the first team Seattle has beaten this season that didn’t come into the contest winless. … A chin strap problem caused Walter Jones’s helmet to continually come off Sunday. “I wasn’t trying to get some face time,” he said. “It was just popping off.”
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