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Week 7 - Sunday 22nd October 2006 |
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Despite giving up an early drive the Seahawks kept the Vikings out forcing them to settle for a Field Goal and no real damage done. Even better on the Seahawks first possession, Hasselbeck spotted a weakness in the Vikings D and checked off to a short pass to Darrell Jackson which he took in for a 72 yard score.
With both teams failing to move the ball it was left to the start of the second quarter when any team got anywhere near and it was the Seahawks and Josh Brown with a 42 yard field goal. Seconds earlier he had missed a 39 yard effort which was whistled dead by a red flag from Vikes coach Brad Childress. It seemed like a bizarre move to risk a time out for the sake of 3 yards but he won it and the Seahawks were thankful for it as Brown drilled the kick down the centre.
Oh how we laughed in the chat room, if only we'd known that this was as good as the day was going to get for Seattle.
It all started to go wrong with a Leroy Hill sack and forced fumble. Mewelde Moore recovered for the Vikes but it had forced them into a 3rd and improbable 17. Forget the 17 it went all the way for 40 yards, 7 points and 10-10. This was the Vikes who couldn't pass the ball for toffee against the 'improved' Seahawk defense. Something was up, something was definitely up.
The Seahawks took the ball at the start of the second half and I really looked for them to stamp their authority on the game instead we got the stuff that nightmares are made of. An incomplete pass, a sack and another incomplete pass. That was bad enough but Vikings LB Henderson rolled into the knee of Matt Hasselbeck, leaving him beating the ground in frustration with one hand whilst holding his knee with the other.
Opinion is split on the degree of deliberateness attaching to Henderson. He was blocked in Matt's direction by Mack Strong but seemed, to me at least, to make an extra effort to continue his roll and make contact. That neither Mike Holmgren or Matt Hassselbeck would absolve him of blame told the story of what the Seahawks thought about it. Despite no penalty being called the NFL will be the final arbiter of blame as they could well fine Henderson if they deem it deliberate.
The next Vikings drive looked like it had the air of inevitability about it and sure enough, facing 3 and 15 RB Mewelde Moore took the ball and lofted a pass to a diving Jermaine Wiggins. The Seahawks came within an inch of breaking up the play but 10-17 it was and about to step up was a QB yet to throw a real pass in anger in the NFL.
Ever since Trent Dilfer was allowed to go to the Cleveland Browns in 2005, Seahawks fans have always had a nagging doubt at the back of their minds about what would happen if Matt Hasselbeck went down. Was Seneca Wallace really a good enough quarterback in the NFL?
The bare facts of 2 interceptions and a forced fumble recovered for a TD do not, on the face of it, bode well but in between times Seneca showed enough flashes to hold out some hope that he is up to the task. He was certainly putting some zip on the ball but most of the time he was delivering it on the money. It can only be hoped that a week of practice will be enough to get him more on track for more consistent execution.
The rest of this game slipped away from the Seahawks when for once we had the Vikings backed up on their own 5 yard line. Amazingly we allowed Chester Taylor to spring a gap and go for everyone of the 95 yards left. There was still time on the clock but it was game over.
Seneca did engineer a nice drive for a Field Goal but with 8 minutes remaining he fumbled on his own goal line and it was recovered by the Vikings for a final score of 13-31.
It was a game that promised so much and delivered so little for the Seahawks. I can take the defeat and most certainly take the 4-2 record on the season so far but with Hasselbeck likely to be out for 3 games it's a nervous sort of look that I take towards the future.
HawksHead 24/10/06
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The
Seahawks started the game unbeaten in 12 games at Qwest Field and with a
quarterback who hadn't missed a game since that run had begun. Sadly at the
end of this flat afternoon in Seattle neither the quarterback or the
unbeaten record were left standing.