Week 1 - Sunday 11th September 2005

One thing about Seattle is that its climate is quite similar to the UK. Over here we like to complain about the weather but the moment the thermometer starts to nudge 75F you can be damn sure someone is going to be complaining that ‘it’s too hot’.

With pitch side temperatures said to be nudging 120F it was literally and metaphorically too hot for the Seahawks in Jacksonville.

The Hawks started the season with a possession lasting all of 5 seconds. Josh Scobey returned the opening kick off and looked to be making a nice return until a fumble which resulted in 3 for the Jags.

Another field goal put the Jags 6 up until Hass got hot with an 80 yard drive resulting in a 33 yard pass to Joe Jurevicius and 7-6 to the Hawks.

Quick TD drives were then exchanged for 14-13 at half time and a nice Hass completion to D-Jack for the Seahawks score.

When it’s hot you need to pause and cool down at half time and the conclusion was that it was looking good for the Hawks. Hass was completing passes almost at will, he’d already thrown his obligatory interception and Alexander was getting his running game going. On defense we were getting a little pressure and halting 3^rd downs.

We might have halted another on 3rd and 3 on the opening possession of the second half but Chuck Darby threw in a penalty that saw the Hawks D having to sweat it out for the next 8 minutes until Leftwich added another TD for 14-20.

The key was now to give the D some rest but on 3^rd and 9 the Hawks went to Mo Morris on a draw play. It’s the sort of play that makes you look like a genius if it works and a dummy if it fails. Sadly we ended up the dummy and it has to be said that any element of surprise had been lost as we’d already used the play for a nice gain but the Jags didn’t buy it a second time.

Despite feeling the heat the D stood up and with 6:47 remaining Hass had the ball knowing that a TD drive would win the game.

I like Hasselbeck and he is one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL but you have to wonder about his ability to do game winning drives in the 4^th quarter. Off the top of my head I remember one against the Rams in 2003 but after that I’m scratching my head. At the moment this is the thing stopping him becoming a great quarterback

What we got was another interception and effectively the end of the game. The D kept them out of the end zone but the field goal meant it was now a 2 score game and after we’d fluffed a 1 score game hopes were not high.

Depressingly it all ended in confusion and a couple of more turnovers from a fumble and an interception for a final score of Seahawks 14 Jaguars 26.

There was some consolation for the Hawks when the Rams and Cardinals both lost road games which on paper at least looked easier than our trip to steamy Jacksonville.

HawksHead