SEATTLE — When Seattle Seahawks quarterback Tarvaris Jackson connected with Golden Tate for a 15-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass, it capped a drive that covered 88 yards in 12 plays and featured six first downs.
As it would turn out, those were the last first downs the Seahawks would earn in Sunday’s 23-17 loss to the Washington Redskins, as an offense that had been inconsistent all day was at its worst down the stretch.
After scoring their last touchdown, the Seahawks would get the ball four more times. In those four possessions, Seattle had no first downs, committed three penalties, allowed two sacks and turned the ball over once. Seattle’s longest play in those four possessions was an 11-yard pass, but that came on second-and-22.
“When we got into going quick-mode at the end, we weren’t very efficient getting our stuff done,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said. “I would think we would be better than that. T-Jack (Jackson) is doing everything he can, but we need to look at the film and see how he played and his decisions and things like that, but I know he’s trying his tail off to get it done.”
While those four possessions were the low-point for Seattle’s offense, it was hardly the only time that unit struggled on Sunday. Seattle finished the day with only 126 net passing yards, a season-low in games not quarterbacked by Charlie Whitehurst, and 250 total yards.
The Seahawks also dropped several passes, including back-to-back drops by Zach Miller and Doug Baldwin that ended one possession, and a couple of drops by Mike Williams. Williams and fellow starting receiver Sidney Rice both finished without a catch. Rice left the game in the third quarter with a head injury, while Williams played sparingly in the second half because of a sore shoulder, but also because Carroll wanted to see more of Ben Obomanu.
Other than Marshawn Lynch, who rushed for 111 yards and had a 20-yard touchdown pass, few offensive players could feel good about their performances. Seattle’s offense is hardly a unit that is confused with those in Green Bay or New England, but Sunday’s play was still discouraging.
“I’m just very disappointed right now,” said Jackson, who completed 14 of 30 passes for 144 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. “I’m kind of at a loss for words right now. I feel sick. We had the game and for us to lose it like that is very disappointing.”
For Jackson, the challenge is now recovering quickly from this loss not just mentally, but also physically. Since suffering a pectoral injury in New York seven weeks ago, Jackson has had to deal with the injury every week in practice, often only throwing one day a week. With a game looming Thursday against Philadelphia, he’ll have less time than usual to let the injury rest.
While Jackson expects to play, he also isn’t sure how his injured pectoral muscle will respond to playing on short rest.
“We talked about that a couple weeks ago,” he said. “It’s going to be a short week but I usually throw on Thursdays. I mean, it’s not Sunday. I don’t feel the same on Sunday as on Thursdays but we’ll see how it goes and just try to push it and see if we can rest it up and just try to be ready to go on Thursday.”
Jackson’s health aside, however, the rest of the offense knows it has a lot to improve upon before Thursday’s game.
“As an offense we needed to do more, especially receivers, myself,” said Williams. “Our defense, we’ve got so used to them slamming the door on teams and tonight we had a couple plays and a couple costly penalties that gave them a chance. … It just sucks.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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