SEATTLE – A year ago at this time, talk radio and opinion columns in the Seattle area were abuzz with speculation as to whether Mike Holmgren should remain the Seattle Seahawks coach, and many fans’ fondest hope was that Trent Dilfer would recover from his torn Achilles’ tendon well enough to reclaim his spot as Seattle’s quarterback.
But a funny thing happened on the way to this team being completely overhauled in the offseason.
The offense caught fire in the final six games, young quarterback Matt Hasselbeck looked like the second coming of Joe Montana, and optimism replaced frustration as the major theme.
But even while the Seahawks won six of their first nine games this season, the offense that fueled those hopes was largely absent. There was one good outing against the woeful Arizona Cardinals, but other than that Seattle had not scored more than 27 points in a game and had topped 350 yards only once.
Until Sunday, when the Seahawks erupted for 300 yards and 35 points in the first half then rode their defense in the second half for a 35-14 victory over Detroit at Seahawks Stadium.
“It felt good. I felt like we were in a rhythm,” Hasselbeck said. “We’ve been trying to get to that point all season. We’ve been talking about it. We’ve been looking at film from last year. We’ve been trying to figure out what was different, and I don’t think anyone really knows the answer.”
Sunday’s statistics won’t win any fantasy league championships as Seattle went conservative in the second half and finished with 366 total yards. Still, that’s the second highest output of the season, and Hasselbeck’s performance of 21 completions on 28 passes for 207 yards and one touchdown was more about efficiency than highlight clips.
Statistically, it was nowhere near the last six games of last season, in which Hasselbeck averaged 344 passing yards and the team averaged 476 yards and 29 points while going 4-2.
But Sunday’s first half revived those memories and suggested that kind of production is still possible.
“If it has taken us half the year to feel that magic again, I will take it,” Holmgren said. “We have been pretty efficient for the most part. It’s nice to explode every once in a while, just to know we can still do it.”
Holmgren and Hasselbeck both said Holmgren drafted a more aggressive and varied offensive game plan this week, and it showed in the first half as Hasselbeck completed at least two passes apiece to five different receivers. The Seahawks scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions, and they got their fifth touchdown on a Bobby Engram punt return.
“We talked about opening it up this game, and Mike kind of had us fired up at the hotel the night before because we knew the plays he was going to call,” Hasselbeck said. “It was great to just keep scoring.”
Wide receiver Darrell Jackson agreed.
“That’s something we like to hear,” said Jackson, who had his first error-free game in a long time with four receptions and no dropped passes. “As receivers, we like it when we throw it around, and we like to make plays, both for us and for the crowd. Any time your coach says he’s going to throw it around, you’ve got to get excited.”
To be sure, Detroit’s defense is not the Steel Curtain. The Lions entered Sunday’s game 21st in the league in total defense, so the offensive awakening may come with an asterisk in some people’s eyes.
But there is no doubt the offense played its best game in a long time on Sunday, and several Seahawks said that kind of performance would be just fine as Seattle prepares for a stretch run that includes four road games in the last six weeks.
“Yeah, we’ll win the Super Bowl 80-0,” running back Shaun Alexander said when asked if his team’s play was good enough. “Our offense is sparky. It’ll go for a while and then all of a sudden … pop, pop, pop. It’s like fireworks. You see something just explode, and it causes a bunch of other explosions and we feed off of each other making big plays.”
Alexander expects it to keep building, just as it did at the end of last season.
“I just think it’s one of things that when it comes to the end of the season everybody starts feeling that playoff rush and that hype,” he said. “It’s the same situation.”
Well, not really. Last year, the Seahawks were 3-7 and had nothing left to lose on the field when the offense started clicking.
This year they are 7-3, and the pressure will increase each week along with the urgency to take their best play with them out on the road. The Seahawks probably need to win at least one more road game to wrap up a playoff spot and maybe two or three to nail down a favorable playoff seeding.
Next week they face one of the league’s better defenses in Baltimore.
“We have to learn, and believe, that we can go on the road and win a football game,” Holmgren said. “We did it last year, and this year our record is a lot better. I believe our team is better.”
Until now, that was undeniably true only of the defense. If the offense gets fully on board, as it was on Sunday, he will be right.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
