SEATTLE — Thrust into the role of spoilers for as far back as anyone in these parts can remember, the Seattle Seahawks haven’t even been able to get that right this season.
The Seahawks’ bid to ruin the New England Patriots’ season ended in familiar fashion on Sunday afternoon, when Seattle gave up a late touchdown and followed that with another rally-killing turnover. The 24-21 defeat marked the Seahawks’ sixth loss in a row and their fifth straight loss at home.
“We have lost so many games this year the way we lost today,” said wide receiver Deion Branch, who had four receptions for 88 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Seahawks to an eight-point lead heading into the final quarter. “We just can’t finish a game, for some reason. I don’t know what it is.”
The Seahawks (2-11) were playing without their two best offensive players — quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones — and yet didn’t seem to miss them at the start of the game. Backup Seneca Wallace and a makeshift line marched down the field for touchdowns on the first two drives of the game to give Seattle a 14-3 lead.
Wallace played well throughout, while Branch made several big plays against his former team to lead the Seahawks’ offense to one of its most productive days of the season. After Wallace and Branch hooked up for their second touchdown of the day in the final minute of the third quarter, Seattle had a 21-13 lead and was in control of the game.
But New England responded with two long scoring drives in the fourth quarter, averaging 12.9 yards per third-down play while converting 5 of 7. One drive ended in a Stephen Gostkowski field goal to put New England within 21-16 with 12:19 remaining, and the other ended with running back Sammy Morris diving into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1 for the go-ahead score with 2:44 left. Wes Welker’s two-point conversion reception gave New England a 24-21 lead, but the Seahawks had one final chance to snap their losing streak.
Much like back-to-back home losses to Arizona and Washington, the Seahawks saw their final possession end on a turnover.
After making a nifty run for a 23-yard gain on a first-down scramble, Wallace coughed up the ball when he got drilled by Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather on a blitz. Patriots lineman Richard Seymour recovered the ball with 1:54 remaining, and all New England had to do was run out the clock after that.
The Patriots (8-5) were blitzing most of the afternoon, yet the young offensive line and Wallace’s shifty footwork were able to avoid a sack for 58 minutes. Wallace twice called timeouts in the face of a blitz during the second half, but the Seahawks were out of timeouts on their final drive (the third timeout was used after the Seattle defense couldn’t get a 12th man off the field in time).
Meriweather lined up to Wallace’s left and broke through an open gap between the center and left guard. Running back Maurice Morris, who had lined up to Wallace’s right, made a desperate dive toward Meriweather but whiffed.
“I saw him the whole time, but I also had to pay attention to the right side,” Morris said. “That was kind of like my third resort. I checked one, two, and then when I went to my third, he just timed it well.
“You hope nothing bad happens there, but unfortunately it did.”
Wallace said that the same defensive look New England showed on the final play was the one that forced him to call previous timeouts.
“It’s tough, because we don’t have an answer for it,” he said. “We go up there and try to make something up and try to protect, and they made a good play down the stretch.”
After another not-so-fantastic finish, the Seahawks were in a familiar state of disappointment. At one point in his post-game press conference, coach Mike Holmgren appeared to choke up when talking about how hard his team is fighting to get a win.
“Those of you who have been around awhile know that this is a very, very difficult year,” he said a couple minutes later, answering a follow-up question to his opening statement. “I think the deeper you get into a season like this, it becomes more difficult for the coaches and players.”
Seattle’s season has come down to draft position — as of today, the Seahawks would have the No. 3 overall pick by virtue of a strength-of-schedule tiebreaker with St. Louis and Kansas City — and the unfamiliar role of spoiler. The Seahawks’ past six opponents have been playoff contenders, and yet Seattle has been unable to derail any of them.
The Patriots moved into a three-way tie atop the AFC East with the win. A loss would have left them in third place in their division and a full game back in the wild-card race, so Sunday’s victory was crucial for the defending AFC champions.
“Definitely the biggest win of the year,” wide receiver Jabar Gaffney said after the Patriots won a game despite losing three defensive starters to injury along the way. “We have to follow it up next week with another big one.”
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