The Seattle Seahawks had been hoping that a dreadful 2008
campaign was merely a momentary stumble for a franchise that had dominated the
NFC's West Division for the better part of this decade. However, a 2-5 start
and four double-digit losses in the first seven games of this season have made
it increasingly evident that the team has much work to do in order to return
to the level fans along the Puget Sound had grown accustomed to during the
Mike Holmgren era.
Seattle's latest non-competitive effort came this past Sunday in Texas, where
the injury-plagued squad was overmatched by the resurgent Dallas Cowboys in a
38-17 setback. Two weeks earlier, the Seahawks mustered a substandard 128
total yards in a 27-3 home defeat to fellow division member Arizona.
The offense performed better against the Cowboys, putting together two long
scoring drives on its first three possessions to bring Seattle within 14-10
early in the second quarter. However, the unit struggled to move the ball
consistently from that point on, with the Seahawks' only other touchdown set
up by a sack and fumble of Dallas quarterback Tony Romo at the Cowboys' eight-
yard line.
"We put two weeks into this game plan, I felt like we were ready," said
quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in reference to the Seahawks' recent bye week. "We
just didn't get it done. I feel physically drained, emotionally drained. I'm
frustrated. We're all searching for answers.
Seattle ranks just 22nd in the NFL in total offense and 29th overall in
rushing yards, having averaged a meager 88.7 yards per game on the ground. Top
running back Julius Jones has averaged just 2.8 yards per carry over the past
four games working behind a suspect offensive line that's had all sorts of
trouble staying healthy.
A defense minus standout middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu also had its woes on
Sunday, with Romo throwing for 256 yards and three touchdowns without
experiencing significant pressure.
The Seahawks did receive a very strong game out of Tatupu's stand-in, David
Hawthorne, however. The second-year pro and Dallas-area native racked up eight
tackles and both of the team's sacks of Romo in his second career NFL start.
QUICK HITS: Tatupu was placed on season-ending injured reserve on Friday after
undergoing surgery to repair a torn pectorals muscle. Perennial All-Pro
offensive tackle Walter Jones landed on IR two days earlier due to
complications from offseason knee surgery...Cornerback Marcus Trufant,
sidelined since training camp with an ailing back, saw his first action of
2009 on Sunday and recorded four tackles...Outside linebacker Leroy Hill had
five stops in his first game back from a groin tear suffered in the season
opener...Hasselbeck finished with 249 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-39
passing.
NEXT UP: Seattle will attempt to get back on track when the lowly Detroit
Lions pay a visit to Qwest Field this Sunday, the Seahawks' only home game in
November. The Lions have lost 23 of their last 24 contests and haven't won on
the road since a 16-7 decision at Chicago in Week 8 of the 2007 season.
ST. LOUIS: The St. Louis Rams began their bye week on Monday, which will allow
the club some extra time to savor a long-awaited first win under rookie head
coach Steve Spagnuolo.
The Rams managed to end a franchise-worst 17-game losing streak with Sunday's
17-10 decision over Detroit at Ford Field, combining the powerful running of
star back Steven Jackson with a little ingenuity on special teams to finally
get over the hump.
Jackson overpowered a porous Lions defense for 149 yards on 22 carries and
accounted for the go-ahead points via a 25-yard touchdown burst with 1:38 to
play. It was the fourth 100-yard effort of the season for the former first-
round pick, one of the few bright spots in what's been another rough year for
the now 1-7 Rams.
St. Louis used a little deception to earn its first touchdown of the day.
Leading by a 3-2 score late in the first half, the team lined up for 54-yard
field goal that turned out to be a fake, with kicker Josh Brown hitting wide-
open tight end Daniel Fells for a momentum-changing 36-yard touchdown that
sent the Rams into the locker room with an eight-point lead.
The St. Louis defense did surrender a game-tying touchdown early in the fourth
quarter, but held the Lions squarely in check thereafter in one of its most
solid showings of the season. The Rams allowed just 289 yards for the game and
got a key red-zone interception by safety James Butler early in the second
quarter, although the offseason addition wound up tackled in the end zone for
a safety on the play.
"I think the guys played their guts out," Spagnuolo said afterward. "I'm just
so proud and happy that they now have a reward. It's just one reward, this
isn't more than that, but I just prayed for them to have a reward for all the
work they put in and finally they got that."
Jackson's output brought his season total to 784 rushing yards, which matches
Minnesota's Adrian Peterson for the most in the NFC.
QUICK HITS: Second-year receiver Keenan Burton led St. Louis with five catches
and a career-best 54 yards in Sunday's victory...Left guard Jacob Bell and
reserve wide receiver Danny Amendola both left the game with concussions in
the fourth quarter...Right guard Richie Incognito was inactive for Sunday's
tilt after spraining his left foot in the previous week's loss to
Indianapolis...Cornerback Bradley Fletcher and long snapper Chris Massey were
placed on injured reserve last week after both endured ACL tears against the
Colts.
NEXT UP: The Rams could use the additional week of practice time with an
undefeated New Orleans team next on the docket. The Saints moved to 7-0 on the
year with a 35-27 triumph over Atlanta on Monday and boast the NFL's highest-
scoring offense at 39 points per game. St. Louis ranks last in the league with
an average of 9.6 points per week.
SAN FRANCISCO: Alex Smith's return to the starting lineup was the primary
storyline concerning the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday's matchup with the
Indianapolis Colts, but both the embattled quarterback and his teammates will
likely best remember the 18-14 loss as another that got away.
The 49ers grabbed an early lead on running back Frank Gore's 64-yard touchdown
burst less than four minutes into the game and remained on top until a trick
pass from the Colts' Joseph Addai to wide receiver Reggie Wayne in the opening
stages of the fourth quarter provided the final margin. While a flexible
defense stood its ground in the red zone and limited Indianapolis to four
field goals over the first three periods, a sluggish San Francisco offense
simply couldn't mount enough of an attack to build off an encouraging start.
San Francisco put up 208 total yards in the first half to take a 14-6
advantage into the break with Smith, making his first regular-season start
since Week 10 of the 2007 season, tossing an eight-yard touchdown pass to
tight end Vernon Davis in the final minute. The 49ers failed to score after
intermission, however, and generated only 87 yards over the final two
quarters.
"We've got to come out there, as far as an offense, we can't lay an egg in the
second half," said Smith. "We did some good things, we just didn't finish many
drives."
Smith, who put up 206 yards and threw three scoring strikes to Davis after
displacing an ineffective Shaun Hill in the second half of the Niners' 24-21
loss at Houston the previous week, amassed 198 yards with one touchdown and
one interception while completing 19-of-32 attempts against Indianapolis'
highly-regarded pass defense.
The defeat was the third in a row after a 3-1 beginning for the 49ers, who
trail Arizona by a single game for first place in the NFC West, and had a
familiar frustrating ring. Three of the team's four losses this year have been
by four points or less.
QUICK HITS: Left offensive tackle Joe Staley (sprained right knee) and
cornerback Nate Clements (fractured scapula) both left Sunday's loss with
injuries that will likely sideline both players a minimum of six
weeks...Gore's touchdown run was his third of 60 yards or greater this season,
making him the first player since 2003 to do so. Baltimore's Jamal Lewis and
Green Bay's Ahman Green both accomplished the feat that season...Davis'
touchdown grab was his league-leading seventh of the year...Wide receiver
Michael Crabtree recorded six catches for 81 yards against the Colts in the
rookie's second career game.
NEXT UP: San Francisco will begin a two-game homestand with this Sunday's
interconference clash against the Tennessee Titans, who ended a shocking six-
game skid to begin the season with last weekend's 30-13 verdict over
Jacksonville. The Titans, a team that topped the NFL with 13 regular-season
wins a year ago, also made a recent switch at the quarterback position, with
Vince Young taking over for veteran Kerry Collins in the Jacksonville game.
ARIZONA: The Arizona Cardinals were known last year as the team that couldn't
win on the East Coast. This season's edition is quickly gaining an unwanted
reputation as the team that can't get it done at home.
The Cardinals fell to 1-3 at University of Phoenix Stadium thus far in 2009
after this past weekend's head-scratching 34-21 loss to the previously-
struggling Carolina Panthers. The three home defeats are nearly as many as
Arizona experienced during its entire first two seasons under head coach Ken
Whisenhunt, whose team put together a 14-4 record (including playoffs) as the
host over the course of the 2007 and '08 campaigns.
"It's something that we've prided ourselves on over the years," said
Whisenhunt about the Cardinals' past success at home. "That's been a big
advantage for us. It's very disappointing that we aren't playing better at
home right now."
Arizona has still managed to stay on top of a mediocre NFC West crop thanks to
a 3-0 mark in road games, a stark reversal of fortune from prior years. In
Whisenhunt's first two seasons, the Cards went a combined 5-11 in enemy venues
during regular-season play.
Mistakes and defensive breakdowns doomed the inconsistent Cardinals in
Sunday's setback. Carolina came into the game with an NFL-worst minus-14
turnover ratio, but forced an off-target Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner into
five interceptions and a lost fumble while not committing a single miscue.
That outcome was an ironic twist from the most recent meeting between the
teams, when a swarming Cardinals defense picked off the Panthers' Jake
Delhomme five times en route to a 33-13 victory in last January's NFC Wild
Card Playoffs.
Equally as shocking was the way Carolina was able to move the ball on an
Arizona stop unit that entered the game ranked first in the NFL in rushing
yards allowed. The Panthers smash-mouthed their way to a whopping 270 yards on
the ground, with running back DeAngelo Williams slicing his way to a 23-carry,
158-yard afternoon.
The Cardinals had been yielding an average of 67.5 rushing yards per game over
its first six outings.
QUICK HITS: Wide receiver Anquan Boldin had three catches in the loss and now
has 537 receptions in an Arizona uniform, moving him past Larry Centers (535)
for first place on the team's all-time list...Boldin did leave in the third
quarter, however, after aggravating a right ankle sprain he originally
incurred in an October 18 win at Seattle...Warner tied a career high for
interceptions in a single game, matching a five-pick performance at Seattle on
December 9, 2007...Running back Tim Hightower had a team-best eight catches
totaling 57 yards in Sunday's loss.
NEXT UP: Arizona will attempt to keep up its road success when the defending
NFC champions head to Chicago's Soldier Field for a key matchup with a Bears
club that's won all three of its home tilts this year and is fresh off a 30-6
dismantling of the hapless Cleveland Browns. Both teams will be entering the
game with identical 4-3 records.
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