Down 17-0 to the Detroit Lions in the first quarter Sunday, Seahawks coach Jim Mora must have been spewing venom to his team.
After ripping into his players following last week’s loss to the Cowboys in Dallas, Mora had to have some choice adjectives to offer on this occasion as the Seahawks couldn’t seem to get out of their own way on the way to trailing the Lions – the Lions, for crying out loud.
“I didn’t say a word to them,” Mora said after the game. “I’ve said enough to them this week. It was up to them.”
While Mora left the talking to his players, they let their actions speak for them as they dallied and then rallied for a 32-20 victory.
A defense that had three interceptions in the first seven games picked off rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford five times in holding the Lions’ offense to 48 yards in the second quarter, 25 in the third quarter and three points in the final three quarters.
“Our backs are against the wall, so we had to come out swinging,” said second-year middle linebacker
And when that didn’t work? “All of our picks were in basic coverage, all the interceptions were in zone coverage,” said strong safety The Seahawks also played more Cover 2 than they had all season, which allowed them to use a safety to help the corners contain Calvin Johnson – the Lions’ 6-foot-5, 236-pound human highlight film that was limited to two catches for 27 yards.
“Calvin Johnson is a big-time receiver, so you’ve always got to be mindful of where he is,” Trufant said. “Sometimes you need help. And I think we came in with a good plan.”
The tradeoff was that Stafford completed 13 passes to his tight ends – Brandon Pettigrew (seven for 70 and a touchdown) and Casey Fitzsimmons (six for 41).
“In the Cover 2, there are going to be some holes sometimes,” Trufant said. “But everybody just has to rally to the ball, which we did.”
An offense that turned the ball over twice on its first two plays, meanwhile, turned up the heat by putting the ball in the hands of
“The turnovers, starting 17-0, we’ve done that once this year and we really didn’t handle it well,” Hasselbeck said, referring to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Qwest Field on Oct. 18.
“We handled it a lot better today. We stayed together on the sideline. We stayed together in the locker room. And we grew. We definitely grew. I think we built some confidence in other – kind of a ‘you can count on me’ attitude.”
Believe it or not, this was the easy part. The Seahawks now embark on a stretch where they play three in a row on the road, starting with next week’s rematch with the NFC West-leading Cardinals in Arizona. The Cardinals slapped the Seahawks with a 27-3 loss in Week 6. The Cardinals also won Sunday, pushing their record to 5-3 – just the opposite of the Seahawks’ 3-5 mark.
“We can do the math, we knew that we needed to get this one,” Hasselbeck said. “We know we need the next one, too, because we’ve blown opportunities early in the season. This next one, just like this one, is very important.”
But back to this Sunday, how is that a team can look so inept and then so efficient in a course of 3 hours, 15 minutes?
Before Hasselbeck ripped off 15 consecutive completions, he threw an interception on his first attempt and watched as fullback
What gives with this Seahawks’ team?
“I wish I knew,” Mora said. “I wish I could tell you exactly why, because then I would try to bottle it up and feed it to them every Sunday.”
Before the Seahawks were finished, they had responded with two offensive touchdowns – a 3-yard run by
Not exactly the way anyone involved with the team drew it up, or even envisioned how this afternoon might play out. But it definitely was enough to snap a two-game losing streak and pick up a desperately needed three victory.
“For us today, that was a measured step in the right direction,” Mora said. “We had to overcome some early adversity and dig in and find a way to win, and we were able to do that. So now we need to build on that.
“That will be our focus this week.”
