KIRKLAND – It took 22 NFL games, but the Seattle Seahawks’ first-round pick from the 2005 NFL draft is finally making his starting debut.
Chris Spencer, who was drafted as a center but has since seen time at guard, is expected to start Sunday’s game against the New York Giants because teammate Floyd Womack has suffered another injury. Womack hurt his right knee, although the nature of the injury and the exact timetable for his return were unknown Monday afternoon.
“My mindset is always that I’m the guy,” Spencer said. “You never know when someone is going to get hurt. If someone gets hurt, I have to go out and play. Now is still the same mindset: I have to go out and play.”
Even before Womack got hurt, Spencer was making a serious push for the starting position. So coach Mike Holmgren isn’t too concerned about a falloff in production.
“He’s been part of the rotation a little bit, but now he’s going to be in there and he’s going to get all the snaps pretty much,” Holmgren said.
Womack hurt his knee midway through the third quarter of Sunday’s 21-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals. The injury did not appear to be serious, but an MRI revealed undisclosed damage that will keep Womack off the field for the immediate future. (Holmgren’s initial estimate was that Womack would miss about six weeks.)
Spencer replaced Womack after the injury and finished the game at left guard. He also played that position in the preseason, after Womack suffered a hamstring injury.
“It helps a lot,” Spencer said of the playing experience he’s had this year. “You get in the speed of the game. You’re going not just against your teammates, you’re getting a chance to go against other guys. Just being able to do that helps a lot.”
Oh, brother: Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and younger brother Tim will face each other for the fourth time as NFL players on Sunday.
The younger Hasselbeck has been on the sideline against Seattle while playing for Washington and the Giants, and he held for kicks in a 2002 meeting while with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“My family got in a little trouble last year,” Matt Hasselbeck said, referring to the game between the Seahawks and Giants. ” (New York tight end) Jeremy Shockey caught a touchdown pass. Tim is the middle child as it is, so he looked up and no one (in the Hasselbeck family) was cheering, so he was upset. My mom (Betsy) feels really guilty about it.
“They promised that they would always root for the offense, and that wasn’t the case, as Tim would say.”
Tim Hasselbeck is the Giants’ third-string quarterback, behind Eli Manning and Jared Lorenzen.
“He obviously could simulate me pretty well in a scout team,” Matt Hasselbeck said.
Not so special: One area of concern through two games is the field goal unit, which has broken down to the tune of three blocked kicks this season.
Holmgren reiterated that Sunday’s block was the fault of rookie punter Ryan Plackemeier, who holds on field goals but mishandled one snap in the second half.
The two blocks in the season-opening win at Detroit had more to do with protection problems than anything else.
“I’m not … used to seeing that,” Holmgren said of the three blocked kicks. “You might miss a field goal, but you don’t see a lot of that other stuff. We’ve had too many; three in two games is a lot. That’s a lot for the entire season.
“You better believe we are dealing with that.”
No MVP start: Running back Shaun Alexander, who led the NFL with 1,880 rushing yards last season, ranks 18th in the league with just 140 through two games.
But Holmgren’s not overly concerned.
“We gained (146) yards (as a team on Sunday), which was OK,” Holmgren said. “But we’ve come to expect special things from that young man all the time, and sometimes it’s hard.”
Quick slants: Holmgren is targeting the Oct. 15 game at St. Louis as a probable return for tight end Jerramy Stevens, who has missed the first two games following a second knee surgery. With Itula Mili sidelined by a minor knee injury, Will Heller could start this Sunday. … Hasselbeck said that the officials at Sunday’s game slowed down the offensive tempo. “For some reason, the refs were trying to slow us down,” he said Monday. “They kept holding us on the line of scrimmage.” … Hasselbeck, who played Sunday’s game with a flak jacket to protect bruised ribs, did not take part in Monday’s weekly run.
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