CINCINNATI – For the third week in a row, the Seattle Seahawks looked the gift horse in the mouth, only this time the mouth snapped shut.
After five victories highlighted by forced turnovers and game-winning drives, the Seahawks felt the claws of the rabbit’s foot Sunday. A key turnover on the potential game-winning – or at the least, game-tying – drive sent Seattle home with a surprising 27-24 loss to the suddenly competitive Cincinnati Bengals.
For about 58 minutes, this game looked a lot like the Seahawks’ previous two. Mistakes and inconsistency kept the team from blowing open a big lead, yet Seattle somehow found itself in position to win the game at the end.
Trailing by three points with 2:44 remaining, the Seahawks drove 45 yards, converting a fourth-and-11 along the way, before a Jeff Burris interception at the Cincinnati 24-yard line thwarted the potential game-winning drive.
“We feel like we could (come back) every week, but we don’t want to do it every week,” receiver Darrell Jackson said. “We’ve got to come out and put teams away.”
Left an opening, former Seahawks quarterback Jon Kitna engineered two long scoring drives to turn a 24-17 deficit into a 27-24 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Kitna’s 53-yard touchdown pass to Chad Johnson gave Cincinnati its first lead of the second half with 8:03 remaining in the game.
The Seahawks responded by driving all the way to Cincinnati’s 31-yard line before a Matt Hasselbeck pass got tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Brian Simmons. Seattle (5-2) eventually forced the Bengals to punt, then went 45 yards in seven plays to put themselves in field-goal range at the Cincinnati 35.
Once again, a Hasselbeck pass got tipped at the line of scrimmage, with Burris making the diving interception.
Seattle got the ball one more time, with two seconds left at its own 20-yard line, but eventually turned the ball over again after a completion to Jackson and four laterals, the last of which ended up in the arms of a Cincinnati player at the Bengals’ 44-yard line.
Seattle’s final four possessions included a blocked field-goal attempt from 49 yards out, two interceptions and the lost fumble.
The Seahawks, who entered the game ranked second in the NFC with a plus-10 turnover ratio, turned the ball over five times Sunday, while the Bengals did not commit a single turnover.
“You’re just not going to win with five turnovers,” frustrated Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said after the game. “You’re just not going to win.”
The most perplexing turnovers came on the final two interceptions, both of which were created when Hasselbeck passes were batted into the air by defenders near the line of scrimmage.
“It’s a game of inches, and those guys are always trying to get their hands up,” Hasselbeck said. “Those guys made some good, athletic plays today. I don’t know what to say. Sometimes the ball bounces your way, and sometimes it didn’t.”
Other than the turnovers, Seattle’s offense looked nearly unstoppable. The Seahawks piled up a season-high 462 yards of offense and punted just twice. Hasselbeck completed 26 of 43 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns – numbers that could have been even better if not for five dropped passes.
Unfortunately for Seattle, the Bengals’ offense was just as productive. Playing without star running back Corey Dillon, who was in a minor car accident before the game, Cincinnati still found a way to pile up 412 yards of offense.
Rudi Johnson, a third-year player who entered the game with 192 career rushing yards, stepped in for Dillon and put up a career-high 101. Kitna had quite a game of his own, completing 19 of 31 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns.
Rather than test fellow Tacoma product Marcus Trufant, a rookie cornerback, Kitna went after former teammate Willie Williams at every chance possible. Williams was victimized often, most notably on Kitna’s two touchdown throws.
Kitna’s most important pass came on a fourth-quarter drive, when he hit Chad Johnson for the eventual game-winner. Johnson slipped past Williams and caught the ball at the Seattle 45-yard line and ran untouched the rest of the way to put Cincinnati ahead 27-24.
At the end of the play, Johnson was flagged for a throat-slashing gesture, which cost his team 15 yards on the subsequent kickoff to put Seattle in good position to tie or take the lead.
But after three Hasselbeck completions, including a 15-yarder on third-and-11, the Seahawks gave the ball right back. Oliver Gibson batted a Hasselbeck pass into the air, then Simmons beat offensive lineman Robbie Tobeck to the ball for his second interception of the season.
Seattle’s next drive was eerily similar, at least in terms of how it finished. Seattle had a first down at the Bengals’ 35-yard line, which was within kicker Josh Brown’s range, when Burris made his interception. Hasselbeck’s three interceptions were one fewer than he had thrown in the first six games combined.
The mistakes that had plagued Seattle’s offense for the past two weeks finally caught up with it.
“We kind of knew we were supposed to come in here and really take care of business,” said Seahawks tight end Itula Mili, who caught two touchdown passes Sunday. “If we would have just played like we know how we can play and eliminate the little mistakes, I’m pretty sure this game would have been pretty different.”
Sunday’s game was different in that the Seahawks, now tied with St. Louis atop the NFC West, lost. But this one looked all too familiar during a second half that finally got away.
“I just think we need to go back to the drawing board and look at each individual and say, ‘What do we really need to do to put these teams away?’” Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander said. “We still don’t do that. We enjoy how we win, and we enjoy how we play because it’s better than it used to be. But I’m ready for a Super Bowl-type team, and that’s what we individually have to do.”
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