SEATTLE – At the moment that Oakland Raiders defensive lineman Tyler Brayton did the unthinkable, Seattle Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens was thinking about only one thing.
Coach Mike Holmgren.
Stevens laughed, threw up his arms and walked away after Brayton kneed him in the groin, mainly because he preferred that pain to the ire of Holmgren.
“Obviously, coach Holmgren doesn’t like unsportsmanlike (penalties),” Stevens said after Monday’s 16-0 win over the Raiders. “Me already having one, I wasn’t going to lose my cool.”
Stevens already got a tongue-lashing earlier in the game, when his unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty following a head-butt of Raiders safety Stuart Schweigert cost the Seattle offense 15 yards. Holmgren temporarily pulled Stevens from the game and gave him a piece of his mind.
“He told me I can’t afford to do that stuff and take our team out of field position,” Stevens said. “Obviously, I was frustrated about not making a play.”
After the game, Holmgren told reporters: “We were down there ready to score. It was a huge thing, so I took him out.”
Stevens took the benching to heart, holding his cool in the final minutes of the game.
He and Brayton had been going at each other during the entire drive, and things finally came to a head when the duo got tangled up after a play with less than two minutes left in the game. Brayton grabbed Stevens, appeared to head-butt him, then kneed him in the groin. Stevens said that the kick missed its intended target – “lucky for me,” the tight end said – and was able to laugh it off afterward.
“Football’s a rough sport,” Stevens said. “I was getting after him a little bit, and he started getting upset about getting beat. It happens.
“… I was shocked that he tried to do that. But what am I going to say?”
Brayton, a Pasco native, was ejected from the game and was apologetic when speaking to reporters afterward.
“I made a mistake,” he said. “I’ll be the first to admit that I made a mistake. I let my emotions get the best of me, and that’s not a good thing when you do that.”
Stevens said he could feel Brayton’s frustration growing, but he didn’t expect the reaction that he got.
“We were tussling that whole (final) drive,” Stevens said. “I knew he was getting pretty hot about it. I didn’t want to talk to coach Holmgren again, so I got away from it.”
Hasselbeck in the house: After watching the loss to Kansas City on television, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was on the sideline for Monday’s win.
“There was a lot of emotion, and the stadium was electric, so it was hard to watch,” said Hasselbeck, who has not played in the past two games because of a sprained right knee. “But it made it a lot easier because the guys were playing so well.”
Hasselbeck, who is no longer using crutches, said that he’s still targeting the Nov. 19 game at San Francisco for his return.
“That’s my hope,” he said. “But we’ll see. I’ve never had this injury. I’m just doing what I can to try to stay on schedule, hopefully get a little ahead of schedule. But we’ll see.”
Punting adjustments: After one of the most frustrating halves of his short NFL career, rookie punter Ryan Plackemeier got some key advice from special teams coach Bob Casullo before turning it around after halftime.
“He told me to stop worrying about the weather,” Plackemeier said. “He said, ‘That’s what we got a young, strong punter for.’ That gave me a little bit of confidence going into the second half.”
Plackemeier punted just three times before halftime, but one of them went out of bounds at the Oakland 42-yard line, while another traveled just 19 yards. He admitted that the 19-yarder went off the side of his foot due in part to the wind, but he refused to use that as an excuse.
“I can’t blame my day on the wind,” said Plackemeier, whose five second-half kicks included a 63-yarder. “It makes me concentrate a little more, but the fact that we play in Seattle, we’ve got to use that to our advantage.”
Temporary replacement: Wide receiver Nate Burleson, who handled all the punt-return duties for the first time this season, said that his new role was not necessarily a permanent thing.
“Jimmy (Williams) has been doing a great job, so I’m not replacing Jimmy by any means,” said Burleson, who averaged 9.8 yards on four returns Monday. “I think it’s just an opportunity for me to go out there and make something happen.
“… He didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not like he made a mistake. Either one of us could be there next week. You just don’t know. Having two good returners on the team can’t be a bad thing.”
Monday maniacs: The Seahawks’ nine sacks were two shy of the Seattle team record of 11, set in 1986, also in a Monday night game against the Raiders. Seattle won that game 37-0 and now has four shutouts in just 22 Monday night appearances all-time, a remarkable ratio.
The Seahawks also shut out San Diego 24-0 on a Monday in 1984 and Philadelphia 42-0 in a Monday night game last season.
Crazy legs: Seattle quarterback Seneca Wallace’s 37-yard run in the third quarter was Seattle’s longest run of the season. Wallace dropped back to pass, but the middle of the field opened up and he took off, recalling his college days when he ran for 15 touchdowns at Iowa State.
He said he has coach Mike Holmgren’s blessing to do that sort of thing.
“He says that if you have the opportunity to use your legs and pick up the first down, do it,” Wallace said. “Go through your reads, and if nobody is open for you, then try to make a play. That gives me a lot of confidence knowing that he is going to give me the opportunity to do that.”
Quick slants: Seahawks linebacker Leroy Hill aggravated a neck stinger late in the first half of Monday’s game and did not return. Kevin Bentley replaced him for the second half. … Center Robbie Tobeck sprained his knee in the second half but just missed a few plays. Chris Spencer stepped in while Tobeck was sidelined. … Right tackle Sean Locklear (ankle) did not play, giving Tom Ashworth his second start in a row. Ashworth held his own against Oakland defensive end Derrick Burgess, whose only sack came at the expense of right guard Chris Gray. Ashworth didn’t have a perfect game, however, as he got flagged for three false-start penalties. … Craig Terrill’s three sacks marked the most by a Seahawks defensive tackle since Cortez Kennedy had three in a 1999 game. Terrill got all three of his in the first half Monday.
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