KIRKLAND – If the sight of Arizona receiver Anquan Boldin running free over the middle of Qwest Field late Sunday afternoon wasn’t enough to get the heart rate going, maybe the video replays of Santana Moss were.
Needing just two games – or, more appropriate, a span of 71 seconds during a Monday Night Football appearance 10 days ago – Moss established himself as the NFL’s most dangerous big-play receiver of the early season. Touchdown receptions of 39 and 70 yards, both within 1:11 of each other, and both within the final four minutes, led Moss’ Redskins to a 14-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys on national television.
And now the Seattle Seahawks, who have had a history of giving up big plays at inopportune times, have the daunting task of trying to shut him down.
“You have to make sure you know what he’s doing before you try to predict what he’s doing,” strong safety Michael Boulware said. “You definitely can’t predict with someone like Moss.”
Moss presents an entirely different problem than, say, Jacksonville’s Jimmy Smith or Arizona’s receiving tandem of Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. While those players are capable of slicing defenses all day long and watching them bleed, Moss is more like a machete that does all his damage with one big blow.
The former New York Jet has just nine receptions in two games this season, yet he leads the NFL with an eye-popping average of 28.3 yards per catch. Four of his nine receptions have gone for 39 yards or more, and two went for touchdowns.
“You have to be very aware of where he is,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “He is one of those really fast guys that, you could expect him to do something, and if you underestimate his speed, he can make it happen anyway.”
Game-planning for Moss takes on greater importance when considering the Seahawks’ history of giving up big plays.
Seattle fans undoubtedly remember Kevin Curtis’s 41-yard touchdown in regulation and Shaun McDonald’s 52-yard TD in overtime of a loss to the St. Louis Rams this time last season. Or Bethel Johnson’s 48-yard catch to convert a third down late in a loss to New England the week later. And who could forget Keyshawn Johnson’s controversial, 34-yard catch in the back of the end zone on Monday Night Football?
This season has seen less heartbreak. But opposing teams have been just inches away.
Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick barely missed hooking up with receiver Michael Jenkins for two long passes – one that went through Jenkins’ hands and another that was barely overthrown – after breakdowns in the Seattle secondary.
Last week, Boldin looked like he had an easy touchdown reception when he slipped past Seahawks cornerback Kelly Herndon and safety Ken Hamlin to a wide open part of the field. Although Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner hit Boldin perfectly in stride, the untouched receiver stumbled to the turf after catching the ball. By the time Boldin got up, Hamlin and Boulware had arrived, and a certain 78-yard touchdown turned into a relatively harmless 45-yard reception.
“We’ve got to eliminate our mistakes,” Hamlin said Wednesday. “It’s just about guys trusting in each other and playing together. We have to play together a lot this year.”
While no one was willing to point any fingers, Herndon seemed to be at fault after lining up against Boldin and then floating toward the sideline when Fitzgerald came on a crossing pattern.
“We just flat blew the coverage,” Holmgren said Wednesday. “We did the wrong thing.
“… What happened against Boldin, you hope that never happens, because that’s just a mental mistake.”
Mental mistakes plagued the Seahawks at times last season as well. But the deep passes that caused the most damage came when former starter Terreal Bierria was on the field. The addition of Boulware, a converted linebacker, to the starting lineup last December cut down on the number of mistakes.
“If you’re off by a little bit, they’ll put points on the board,” Boulware said of playing the safety position. “You definitely have to be perfect; there’s a lot more at stake when you mess up.
“At linebacker, when I made a mistake, I knew my safeties and corners were going to back me up. Now, if I mess up, the only person who’s going to help me is the ref.”
Boulware and Hamlin have started just seven games together, and Seattle’s secondary includes two new cornerbacks in Herndon and Andre Dyson. So the unit is still coming together while trying to cut out any costly errors.
That will be especially critical this Sunday, when the Seahawks will try to avoid any flashbacks to Moss’ Monday Night Football performance.
“It’s important, regardless,” Hamlin said. “That was Dallas, and they made those mistakes. We know that, in order for us to be successful, we can’t make mistakes like that. We can’t let him get behind us like that.”
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