SEATTLE — Reasonable people rightly argued that the Seahawks’ 21-0 loss at Pittsburgh last week was hardly time to panic.
After Sunday night’s nationally televised stink bomb against previously winless New Orleans, however, many may consider it time to give the panic button a little nudge.
Under a torrent of correct and thunderous booing, the Seahawks hit a low point not seen since Dec. 6, 2004, when the Dallas Cowboys came back from oblivion to steal a 43-39 victory on Monday Night Football.
In a weekend of nearly unparalleled appalling football, the Seahawks made the Washington State Cougars look above average, if that’s possible. They made the Huskies look well nigh unbeatable. This was worse than last season’s 37-6 assault in Chicago. The 31-13 defeat in 2006 at home against Minnesota was close.
None compared to this one, though, against the sad-sack ‘Aints, circa 2007.
The Seahawk offense continued a desultory existence, stretching its scoreless streak to 102 minutes, 23 seconds and its stretch without a touchdown to 115:23.
Only after the Saints built a 21-0 lead in the second quarter did the Seahawks show any signs of meaningful life, although an earlier promising foray into Saints territory ended with a blocked Josh Brown field-goal attempt.
The good news for Seattle was that it outgained the Saints, 425 yards to 367. The bad news was that it waited too late to get cranked up.
“We were a lot better than last week,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said of the offense. “Obviously, we weren’t good enough.”
Never has Shaun Alexander been so verbally disparaged at Qwest Field. Maybe the 68,296 in attendance had him confused with Richie Sexson. Alexander finished with 35 yards on 14 carries and a bushel of razzberries from the crowd.
THIS was the 2005 NFL Most Valuable Player?
“I heard them,” Alexander said of the booing throng. “I just thing they’re feeling the same thing that we all feel. We all want the three- or four-touchdown games. We all want the 200-yard games. I can’t blame them.”
Mark yourself down for the grand prize of a pair of slightly soiled Peruvian oven mitts if you named one Boone Stutz as the player who would set the tone for the Seahawks’ evening. Moments after his first-quarter snap ricocheted off punter Ryan Plackemeier and gave the Saints’ first touchdown, the gallery serenaded Stutz and the Seahawks with elongated chants of the new long snapper’s first name virtually all game long.
“I’ve never had one get away from me like that, honestly,” Stutz said. “To have a low one on a punt snap is news to me.”
Remember, all this happened against the Saints, 0-4 going into Sunday night, a team that had scored 51 points all season and just 23 in four games’ worth of first halves.
Could the Seahawks really have allowed the Saints a 28-10 halftime cushion?
Could they have allowed Reggie Bush, ripped in the national media for his inability to run between the tackles and his 2.9-yards-per-carry average, run past and through Seattle defenders as if he were the second coming of Bo Jackson?
Bush came into the game as the 48th-leading rusher in the NFL. The Seahawks sent him rocketing vertically up the rankings Sunday night, with 97 yards on 19 carries. He also picked up 44 yards on six pass receptions for 141 all-purpose yards.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees hadn’t enjoyed this much success since he finished third in the 2000 Heisman Trophy voting at Purdue. A feeble Seattle pass rush gave him enough time in the pocket to sing complete arias of “Carmen.” As a result, Brees mauled the Seahawks’ secondary to the tune of 246 yards on 25-of-36 passing and two TDs.
This one, in the now rapidly fading hopes of Seahawks fans, should have been the one that would start a minimum six-game Seattle win streak against decidedly lackluster competition. Instead, it appeared more the continuation of a slide out of playoff contention.
“You can’t wallow around in self-pity, that’s for sure,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “You have to roll up your sleeves and keep working.”
Lorazepam, anyone?
Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper’s blog, go to www.heraldnet.com?danglingparticiples.
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