The Seattle Seahawks will have no media availability today, and head coach Mike Holmgren will have his regular press conference on Monday.

The players have the weekend off, so there probably will be no updates over the weekend unless there's some breaking news, then of course we'll update the blog.

If you have any pressing questions concerning the state of the team or moves that will be made in the future, either concerning the draft or free agency, post them in the comments section below and we'll answer some questions over the next couple days. Enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend.

Julian Peterson was asked about Tony Romo's supposedly injured pinkie finger, to which he responded:

"All he had was a pinkie. It wasn’t like his leg was messed up. He could still run around. All he had was a little pinkie. Look at my pinkie. If you can't play off a damn one pinkie then something is wrong. Other than that he is pretty healthy, if all he has is a pinkie. I mean, I know he plays quarterback, but c’mon, damn."

“That’s a good team, give those boys all the credit. We got behind. The defense isn’t stopping them when we need to. The offense gets the ball and isn’t scoring. Special teams can’t score. It makes for a long day. That’s what it was, a long day.”

On the season: “The defense knew what we had coming back, but we didn’t know how to play to our strengths. We’re still figuring that out: what’s our strength? Some of the players know what the strength is. Some of the coaches know what the strength is. But we just haven’t put it together. I hate losing. I hate not being in the top 10, top 5.”

=> Read more!

On Julius Jones: “Well I think he was ready to play. I think everybody came here ready to play. But that’s a great team. You know what I’m saying? And its going to be tough like that throughout. You know everybody we play is jockeying for position in the playoffs, so its not going to get any easier to the end.”

On the effectiveness of the Dallas pass rush: “I don’t think it was anything about their alignment. You know he [Romo] makes good plays. Their offense jumped on us so fast. Anytime a team gets you in a situation when they know you have to drop back and throw the ball, it puts them at an advantage.”

=> Read more!

On The Loss
I think Dallas really is a good football team. They are tough to play against, very explosive offensively. I don’t think the short week and the travel were to fault, they are good and I will give them that. It’s a tough year for us but we are going to keep it going.

Normally speaking I think we would have pass contested a little bit better than what we did today. At one point I did think our pressure on Romo helped slow him down. Yes, I think it could have helped to start the game but who’s to say that wouldn’t have worked. Dallas has a charismatic QB that they believe in and explosive team. They have a good group over there.

=> Read more!

This is the unedited version of my game story that will appear in tomorrow's News Tribune:

By Frank Hughes
Frank.hughes@thenewstribune.com

IRVING, Texas – Basement, meet the Seattle Seahawks.
Seattle Seahawks, meet the basement.
It certainly felt like the woebegone Seahawks bottomed out on Thursday afternoon, dropping a nationally televised 34-9 decision to the Dallas Cowboys in the last Thanksgiving Day game played at Texas Stadium.
Though Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren insisted his players had been performing better in the past few weeks, he certainly could not make that claim about what became Seattle’s fifth consecutive loss, dropping its record to 2-10.
Whether it was because the Seahawks have nothing left to play for or because their talent level is far inferior to Dallas’, they were thoroughly dominated in every aspect of the game, leaving very little about which they can actually feel good as they head into the final quarter of what has become an acutely long season.
“It’s going to be tough like that throughout,” said offensive tackle Walter Jones, who was uncharacteristically beat for two sacks by DeMarcus Ware. “Everybody we play is jockeying for position in the playoffs, so it’s not going to get any easier to the end.”

=> Read more!

Well, things are starting to get a little testy there in the 2-10 locker room. The most obvious question of the game was since the defense had so much success when it pressured Tony Romo, why did it wait until the middle to end of the second quarter to start blitzing him.

The answer: John Marshall is not utilizing his players correctly. Julian Peterson said this is a team that is built to pressure. Deon Grant was more pointed, saying that they would have met the expectations of 11 returning starters if they had been playing to their strengths. When asked what their strengths were, he said he didn't want to say. "But you all know what time it is," he said.

=> Read more!

Seattle is trailing 34-9. I'm heading to the field. I'll be back up with postgame stuff in a bit.

Terrell Owens made an incredible one-handed grab for 33 yards, then was rewarded for it by getting a 19-yard TD on the next play, giving Dallas a 31-9 lead.

Julian Peterson was covering TO on the play, which is a mismatch every time. He also got no safety help from Deon Grant. And Josh Wilson is now 0-3 on corner blitzes, Romo either stepping aside or shrugging him off.

Tony Romo tried to go deep to Terrell Owens, but the pass was picked off by Marcus Trufant in double coverage, his first interception of the season and Seattle's sixth of the year. It looked to me like TO gave up on the route, allowing Trufant to snare the overthrown ball.

With three shots at the end zone from inside the 10, the Seahawks came away with their third field goal of the game, trimming the lead to 24-9. It was a well-maintained drive that netted only three points because Hasselbeck had one pass knocked down by Jay Ratliff and then just missed Bobby Engram on third down. Now we get to see if the D made any adjustments at halftime.

They were not specific about the type of head injury. His return is questionable.

His return is questionable.

As Dave Boling said, this looks like a college team vs. a pro team. The Cowboys have utterly dominated Seattle, Tony Romo picking apart their defense to the tune of 210 yards passing and two TDs. Seattle started to get some pressure on Romo at the end of the half, but by then it was too late. They had already scored 24 points. Dallas almost looks as if it has lost interest because the first quarter and a half were came so easily.

The offensive line has struggled as well, with Matt Hasselbeck getting sacked five times, even Walter Jones getting beaten on national TV by DeMarcus Ware, who now has 14 sacks for the season. Matt looks pretty good when he has the time, and John Carlson is having a good day, but each time they make some nice plays to get a drive started they make a mistake to stall it.

I'm guessing MIke Holmgren jumps them at halftime regarding their pride. Let's hope they sustain some of the pressure they got in the second quarter and are able to figure out their protections.

Matt Hasselbeck looks very good -- when he can get the ball off. He continues to be pressured and harrassed, the reason a promising Seahawks drive ended with an Olindo Mare field goal for 24-6. Once the Seahawks got to the 10, Hass was sacked twice. Dallas now has five sacks, two with DeMarcus Ware beating Walter Jones, two by Bradie James, who beat Carlson on one. And one by Tank Johnson, who beat Vallos.

This is what we have resorted to in this game:

There is a young girl -- about 18 or 20 -- standing right in front of the press box holding up a sign that reads TONY IS THE FOX 4 ME. She is blocking the view of Jim Moore from the PI.

Jim knocked on the window and told her she was already on TV and that she can put down her sign. So she just stood up on her seat and is holding the sign even higher so he really can't see. Gotta love Texans.

The Seahawks got a stop -- sort of. They limited the Cowboys from getting into the end zone, forcing them to settle for a 41-yard field goal that gives them a 24-3 lead.

The Seahawks are starting to try to pressure Romo by blitzing. Lofa did on first down, didn't get there and Romo found Roy Williams for 38 yards. On second down, Marcus Trufant was called for PI on Terrell Owens. Then they got more pressure on Romo, and Deon Grant should have had an interception in the end zone but dropped it.

Dallas just scored again. With 11:57 left in the half, the Seahawks are down 21-3. It is starting to feel like 1980. This one was a pass from Tony Romo to Jason Witten, who already has six receptions for 87 yards. The defense is getting no pressure on Romo and he is picking apart the zones, especially taking advantage of the Witten on Lofa matchup.

Olindo Mare hit a 44-yard field goal to get the Seahawks to within 14-3.

The Seahawks are hurting themselves with mistakes though. Beyond Julius Jones' fumble, the Seahawks were driving and got a false start call against Pork Chop. Then Walter Jones gave up a sack to DeMarcus Ware, effectively ending the threat of a TD.

D.D. Lewis is on the field for Leroy Hill.

Leroy Hill suffered a shoulder injury and his return is questionable. Team doctors continue to attend to him on the sideline, and he keeps moving his right arm up and down. He looks like he is trying to shake something out of there, and seems pretty agitated. His return is being listed as questionable.

After Julius Jones fumbled away the ball on his second carry of the game, the Cowboys drove down the field easily and scored on a two-yard run by Marion Barber, taking a 14-0 lead with 4:50 left in the first quarter.

Worse, Leroy Hill was injured on a goal line play in which he stuck his head into Barber's chest to knock him a yard back. He is on the sideline right now and is not being examined by doctors, so he may be alright. I'll keep an eye on him and update the blog with his status.

The Cowboys won the coin toss, and now it's 7-0. Aided by a head slap penalty against Josh Wilson, Dallas drove down the field in a little over two minutes, with Tony Romo hitting rookie tight end Martellus Bennett in the front corner of the end zone for a score. Lofa Tatupu just missed the ball, allowing Bennett to grab it.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Here are today's inactives:

Charlie Frye
Brandon Coutu
C.J. Wallace
Chris Spencer
Mike Wahle
Red Bryant
Jordan Kent
Brandon Miller

This is the Seahawks' release:

The Seattle Seahawks have signed tackle Kyle Williams to the active roster from the practice squad. Williams is a second-year player from USC, acquired by the Seahawks as a free agent in 2007.

In order to make room on the roster for Williams, the Seahawks released tight end Jeb Putzier, who joined the Seahawks as an unrestricted free agent from Houston this off-season. Putzier was active in seven games for the Seahawks this season and had no catches.

OUT

Mike Wahle

DOUBTFUL

C.J. Wallace

QUESTIONABLE

Red Bryant
Chris Spencer

PROBABLE

Matt Hasselbeck
Koren Robinson

He says he’s not bitter about how his career ended in Dallas, but running back Julius Jones cannot hide his excitement in returning to face his former team on Thanksgiving Day this Thursday. Jones' return to Dallas was the main story today, as several papers, both here and in Dallas, wrote features about Jones’ departure and Marion Barber’s ascension to the starting spot.

Frank Hughes of the TNT writes that Jones still faces a similar issue in Seattle, where he now shares carries with Maurice Morris. That could change in 2009, though.

Scott Johnson of the Everett Herald says revenge will be a factor in Jones’ motivation to play well against his former team.

Jones tells Dallas reporters, including Brian Davis of the Dallas Morning News, that he had this game circled for months.

Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says Jones departure from Dallas was inevitable.

=> Read more!

It was a loose, upbeat practice for the Seahawks this afternoon as they quickly worked through individual and team drills in preparation for Dallas on Thursday.

Center Steve Vallos worked extensively with the first team, and it appears he will get his first career start with Chris Spencer still nursing a bad back. Spencer did not practice today.

=> Read more!

The Seahawks' QB met with the media today, and it was relatively non-revelatory. It was, however, funny. He was meeting with the media right outside the auditorium where Holmgren has his news conferences, and in the middle of it the special teams units' meeting had broken up, and about 30 guys come rolling out of the auditorium. Since there are so many cameras and reporters, the players have to squeeze past the group one by one -- each of whom made a remark to Hasselbeck as he passed. "I love bald guys," somebody yelled. Hasselbeck actually blushed for well over a minute, until everybody passed through.

As for anything newsy, well, not much luck there. He said DeMarcus Ware is his biggest concern, and that Dallas' front seven if very good. He is looking to atone for his two interceptions at the end of the last two games. He doesn't pay much attention to rumors so had no idea about Adam Schefter's NFL.com report. He considers this season an aberration that has explanations for their 2-9 record.

He also was asked about his state of mind after the Arizona game, which Holmgren discussed. Matt said, "If you are the guy who is dinged, how would I know? I don't have a good answer."

Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy is among 25 semifinalist for the 2009 Hall of Fame class. John Randle also is a candidate. Here is the complete list:

* Cris Carter, WR – 1987-89 Philadelphia Eagles, 1990-2001 Minnesota Vikings, 2002 Miami Dolphins
* Roger Craig, RB – 1983-1990 San Francisco 49ers, 1991 Los Angeles Raiders, 1992-93 Minnesota Vikings,
* Terrell Davis, RB – 1995-2001 Denver Broncos
* Dermontti Dawson, C – 1988-2000 Pittsburgh Steelers
* Richard Dent, DE – 1983-1993, 1995 Chicago Bears, 1994 San Francisco 49ers, 1996 Indianapolis Colts, 1997 Philadelphia Eagles
* Chris Doleman, DE/LB – 1985-1993, 1999 Minnesota Vikings, 1994-95 Atlanta Falcons, 1996-98 San Francisco 49ers
* Kevin Greene, LB/DE – 1985-1992 Los Angeles Rams, 1993-95 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1996, 1998-99 Carolina Panthers, 1997 San Francisco 49ers
* Russ Grimm, G – 1981-1991 Washington Redskins
* Ray Guy, P – 1973-1986 Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders
* Charles Haley, DE/LB – 1986-1991, 1999 San Francisco 49ers, 1992-96 Dallas Cowboys
* Lester Hayes, CB – 1977-1986 Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders
* Cortez Kennedy, DT – 1990-2000 Seattle Seahawks
* Bob Kuechenberg, G – 1970-1984 Miami Dolphins
* Randall McDaniel, G – 1988-1999 Minnesota Vikings, 2000-01 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

* Art Modell, Owner – 1961-1995 Cleveland Browns, 1996-2003 Baltimore Ravens

* John Randle, DT – 1990-2000 Minnesota Vikings, 2001-03 Seattle Seahawks
* Andre Reed, WR – 1985-1999 Buffalo Bills, 2000 Washington Redskins
* Shannon Sharpe, TE – 1990-99, 2002-03 Denver Broncos, 2000-01 Baltimore Ravens
* Bruce Smith, DE – 1985-1999 Buffalo Bills, 2000-03 Washington Redskins
* Ken Stabler, QB – 1970-79 Oakland Raiders, 1980-81 Houston Oilers, 1982-84 New Orleans Saints
* Paul Tagliabue, Commissioner – 1989-2006 National Football League
* Steve Tasker, Special Teams/WR – 1985-86 Houston Oilers, 1986-1997 Buffalo Bills
* Derrick Thomas, LB – 1989-1999 Kansas City Chiefs
* Ralph Wilson, Owner – 1960-current Buffalo Bills
* Rod Woodson, CB/S – 1987-1996 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1997 San Francisco 49ers, 1998-2001 Baltimore Ravens, 2002-03 Oakland Raiders

A number of issues were covered in Mike Holmgren's press conference, which was pushed ahead to Tuesday because of the Thursday game.

First, Chris Spencer is missing practice today because of his sore back. Steve Vallos is standing in for Spencer, who is questionable for the Thanksgiving Day game.

Also, Holmgren said he does not expect Mike Wahle back until the New England game. That was pretty much it on the injury front.

=> Read more!

Jason LaCanfora of the Washington Post is reporting Shaun Alexander will be released this week by Washington. Check out the report here.

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo and head coach Wade Phillips talked to Seattle-area reporters this morning during a conference call. Nothing earth shattering was revealed during the 20 or so minutes we spent talking to the two individuals.

Romo said he feels like he’ll play without the splint on his finger on Thursday, if the doctors and trainers allow him to. He said he can make all of the throws, which was evident by his performance against San Francisco last week.

But of course, Terrell Owens still would like to see the ball more, which is the talk down in Dallas. Romo had this to say about getting Owens more involved in the offense and how it opens up other things for the Cowboys.

=> Read more!

TNT columnist Dave Boling does a nice job of breaking down some of the numbers so far in Seattle’s 2-9 season Here’s an excerpt:

The Seahawks might want to worry less about their schemes and more about what they do at halftime.

They’ve scored only one third-period touchdown in 11 games, and have been pummeled 81-19 in that quarter this season. They’ve played teams almost evenly (trailing only 196-188) in the other three quarters.

Bad orange slices? Muzak piped into the locker room? This requires investigation.

Read more here.

=> Read more!

Normally these are available on Tuesdays. But with the short work week, everything is getting pushed ahead.

The Seahawks' scheduled game at Qwest Field against the New England Patriots on Dec. 7 has been moved to a 1:05 p.m. start under the rule of the league's flexible scheduling.

Replacing the Seahawks-Patriots in the 5:15 p.m. slot will be the Washington Redskins-Baltimore Ravens game. It is the first switch of a game from afternoon to prime time this season.

The Redskins-Ravens game is between two teams in the playoff race with 7-4 records. While the Patriots, also 7-4, remain in contention, Seattle (2-9) is out of it.

The flex scheduling was instituted with the new television contract in 2005 to allow more attractive games to be switched to prime time in the last two months of the season.

(On playing at Qwest Field for the visitors…) It’s definitely weird to be on the other tunnel. I was watching the game, I was watching the game, watching Matt audible, watching Bobby make catches, watching Deion catch the slant on third down. I can call the whole defense. Every time the defense had to call a defensive play, I was could say that this was the play they were going to run next. It was really exciting to be here, but definitely weird to be on this side.

(On helping out with the game plan…) Nah, Coach Zorn was a coach.

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(On losing a big play to Bobby Engram early in the game and then making the big interception at the end of the game…) “That’s Bobby. He made a catch that I think was like, 15 yards. Sometimes you win some and you lose some. We used to go at it in practice every day, so I knew he was their guy. I knew we’d have to make a play.”

(On how he felt making such a huge play at the end of the game after missing a few games…) “You know, Coach Blache, Coach Zorn, when they put me in, they expect me to make plays. That’s my role. I was just trying to shake off a little rust and I was happy to help the team win.”

=> Read more!

COACH JIM ZORN

(Thoughts on the final Seattle drive…) I couldn’t believe that we gave them the ball back. We were trying to do right and were trying keep that ball in our possession. We were working for another first down. Ladell (Betts) tried to strain for that extra yard. What happened was that he got on somebody’s back and wasn’t on the ground and somebody ripped the ball out. That was tough.

And then to have Shawn (Springs) be able to contort his body the way he did to get the pass. Matt (Hasselbeck) had to throw quick and we just came up with it. What a huge play. It really took making a few of those plays to win this football game. Because it was hard fought on both sides. We were really banged up on our d-line. They were warriors out there today. Everybody seemed to have something going on the defensive line that was hurting but they stayed in there.

=> Read more!

(On how the defense looked better today and then struggled against the run late in the game…) “It’s really hard to say. You got a good running back, so if anybody’s out of position, he’s able to find the hole. That’s pretty much what it was. We were flying around, we’re trying to make plays, and every now and then, you may get on the wrong side of the block or whatever, and a good running back’s going to find the hole.”

(On the defense being on the field much more than the offense during the game and how that affects the players…) “Sometimes it’s hard. On defense, you really just go out there, you don’t worry about time of possession. You just try to keep fighting. That’s all you can do. You try to make plays, you try to get off the field, and if you don’t, you keep fighting, you keep going. That’s what we’ve been doing, and that’s what we’re going to try to do. We got to work on getting off the field, getting the ball back to our offense. It’s just been rough for us, it’s got to turn over for us. We just got to keep going.”

(On the fumble recovery in the last few minutes and how emotional it was to then lose the ball…) “Man, of course that’s a roller coaster. You tried hard, you go out there and get a turnover, and you get the ball back to the offense, and things don’t go exactly as planned. But that’s football. Plays are going to happen. Good plays are going to happen, bad plays are going to happen. So you move on.”

(On the final interception…) It was my fault. I misread the route by Koren. I think he did everything he was supposed to do. We had run similar routes earlier in the game; they had covered it a certain way, and I was obviously anticipating something else. It was very very costly mistake; huge mistake and it ended our chances. Our defense gave us a great chance to come back and tie or win the game, and I made a poor decision and ended that chance. Ended the game, really. When I threw it, he had his back to me, but I really didn’t foresee that ending that way. It was a poor decision with the football. I am trusted with the ball, and I am trusted in those situations, and I am definitely kicking myself right now. It was sloppy.

=> Read more!

(On the final offensive play… ) It wasn’t supposed to be an interception , I’m fairly certain about that. We were in a two minute offense. It didn’t look like the play had much of a chance on the throw. I think he probably wanted to take it back. I believe he was throwing it to Koren.

(On whether Koren is supposed to always take a high angle on the corner…) It depends upon the coverage. If it is man to man coverage, depending upon where he has body position on the defender, then we like him to keep it high. If the guy is over the top, then he can flatten it off. But, if it is straight man-to-man, he probably should keep it high.

=> Read more!

The postgame stuff was more analytical than emotional. I think that part of the season is probably over with. Mike Holmgren came up to the podium and didn't make a statement, as he usually does. He just said, "Questions?"

Matt Hasselbeck took all the blame for the last throw. He basically said it was a misread between he and Koren, and he never should have thrown the ball. I asked him what he should have done instead, and he said he should not have made that throw. He is not sure whether he should have gone through his progressions or thrown the ball away, but that was definitely the wrong decision. Essentially, they had run the play earlier and Matt made the same read even though Washington was covering the play differently.

=> Read more!

I'm heading down to the field, but the Redskins are leading 20-17 and driving. There are two minutes left. Washington is on the Seahawks' 29. I'll have postgame stuff after the game.

The Redskins answered Seattle's last drive with one of their own, Suisham kicking a 22-yarder for a 20-17 lead. They should actually be up 24-17, but Mike Sellers dropped a pass at the 3 that likely would have been a TD. Leroy Hill held Sellers on the play and got away with it. It was just enough to throw Sellers off and he could not grab Campbell's pass. There is 9:19 left in the game.

Seattle just put together a very nice drive, which ended with Matt Hasselbeck hitting tight end John Carlson on a flag pattern. Carlson beat Rocky McIntosh, after which he spiked the balls so hard it bounced off the ground and into the fifth row in the stands. The score is tied at 17.

Following a Matt Hasselbeck interception, the Redskins scored a touchdown four plays later. Jason Campbell hit Antwaan Randle El on a crossing pattern, beating Josh Wilson.

I'm not sure what Hasselbeck was trying to do on the interception. He looked like he was trying to get cute throwing it away and LaRon Landry made a nice diving catch of the errant pass.

Afterward, Matt was complaining to the official that Demetric Evans had cut him at the knees on the play. He didn't get much sympathy.

After Olindo Mare missed a 53-yard field goal attempt, only his second miss of the season, the Redskins drove to Seattle's 8, from where Suisham kicked a 26-yard field goal, tying the game at 10.

In retrospect, the Seahawks probably should have punted rather than give Mare the opportunity for the field goal, particularly since he was kicking into the north end of the stadium, against the breeze. It left Washington with a short field.

The rumors of Tapp's demise were greatly exaggerated. Tapp, who injured his knee in the first half, is back playing in the second half.

Matt Hasselbeck threw a four-yard screen pass to Mo Morris that resulted in a touchdown, giving the Seahawks a 10-7 lead with 30 seconds left before the half.

Matt Hasselbeck started the game 1-for-7, but he was 5 for 5 on that drive -- though his passing total is still a meager 38 yards. Mo Morris looks really good today, hitting holes, dodging tacklers, using bursts of speed. He has 72 yards rushing.

And the defense looks pretty good as well. It has put pressure on Jason Campbell, though it remains to be seen what happens in the second half without Darryl Tapp. This is the opportunity for Baraka Atkins to show what he can do. The secondary has done a nice job on Washington's receivers, and Clinton Portis has been productive but not overly explosive. Plus, he has a hip injury now that could limit him in the second half.

Redskins RB Clinton Portis has a strained muscle in his hip. He is probable to return.

Tapp has been on the sideline trying to do some work for the trainers. He has a knee injury. His return is questionable.

Also, Julius Jones just got his first carry of the game. It came with 2:09 left in the first half. He picked up 19 yards so his calf must be feeling better.

Aided by a pass interference call against Kelly Jennings, the Redskins scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run by Ladell Betts to take a 7-3 lead with 4:32 left in the half.

The PI call on Jennings appeared to be a little ticky tack to me, but the guy is getting the benefit of zero doubt right now.

Mo Morris has gotten all the carries for the Seahawks in this game, and Julius Jones just got on the training table and is having his left calf massaged. I'll keep an eye on it but he looks to be in a little pain right now.

The Redskins drove to Seattle's 25, but Shaun Suisham missed a 43-yarder to keep the score at 3-0. There is not a lot of wind, it appears, but the kick was poor from the start. I'm waiting to see a replay, but Howard Green reacted as if he had gotten a hand on the ball. It hit the crossbar, so it came up way short for some reason.

After a few series going back and forth, a 44-yard run by Mo Morris set up a 45-yard field goal by Olindo Mare, allowing Seattle to take a 3-0 lead.

Matt Hasselbeck looks rusty at this point. He has underthrown Koren Robinson on one pass early on, then overthrew Deion Branch on a third-down pass and Bobby Engram in the end zone. He's also been flagged for intentional grounding.

Got your attention, no? It's a joke. But it's a pretty funny concept that somebody brought up to me earlier today. Shaun trots up there in his Washington uni, gets is ovation, waves a flag around, gets the crowd riled up and then heads down to the Redskins sideline.

UPDATE: Hope Solo raised the flag.

Looks like running back Clinton Portis will play today, as Washington has put him on the active roster. Shaun Alexander also is on the active list. Center Chris Spencer also is on the active list, so it looks like he'll play today.

Seahawks

Inactives:
#7 K Brandon Coutu
#39 S C.J. Wallace
#68 G Mike Wahle
#79 DT Red Bryant
#82 WR Jordan Kent
#88 TE Jeb Putzier
#90 DE Brandon Miller

#5 QB Charlie Frye will serve as the 3rd QB

Redskins
#53 LB Marcus Washington
#69 G/T Jason Fabini
#75 G/T Chad Rinehart
#78 DE Erasmus James
#86 TE Fred Davis
#94 DT Anthony Montgomery
#98 DE Rob Jackson

#5 QB Colt Brennan will serve as the 3rd QB

Defensive lineup change: #54 H.B. Blades will start for #53 Marcus Washington

Washington’s offense has struggled of late, failing to score 20 points in five consecutive games, three of which were losses. If Clinton Portis, who is a game-time decision, can’t play, then Washington will have even more trouble moving the ball.

Regardless if Portis plays or not, Seattle’s defense needs to stack the box and force quarterback Jason Campbell to beat them through the air. Washington coach Jim Zorn has helped to improve the young quarterback by focusing on the short passing game. Washington will play it close to the vest offensively and try and let their defense win the game for them. So if Seattle’s defense can keep it close and create a turnover or two, the Seahawks should be in the game with an opportunity to win at the end.

Check out a video preview of the game here.

=> Read more!

The Seahawks added center Chris Spencer to the injury report on Saturday because he is suffering from a bad back.

Steve Vallos actually was getting reps in practice on Friday, which led to some questions about whether he and Spencer were going to split time during tomorrow's game. Mike Holmgren laughed and said he didn't even realize Vallos had been taking snaps. Now we know why.

Spencer missed a bunch of time during training camp because of the back, though it has not bothered him since, at least not that we have been told. This may not be the worst thing, though, because it could give the coaches an idea of what Vallos can do in a regular-season game.

This is from the Seahawks:

The Seattle Seahawks, KIRO Radio and Northwest Harvest are encouraging fans to bring nonperishable food or cash donations to the Seahawks game at Qwest Field this Sunday, November 23.

Volunteers from Northwest Harvest will be available at all gates to accept contributions. The donations assist Northwest Harvest, the only statewide hunger relief organization in Washington. Each year, about 18 million pounds of food are distributed to approximately 300 food banks and hot meal programs throughout the state.

In honor of Brenden Foster, the 11-year old Bothell boy whose dying wish is to feed the homeless, the Seahawks have added additional option for fans to contribute. Seahawks personnel, Sea Gals and Blitz will also be available to take food or cash donations on Saturday, November 22 at the team’s Renton headquarters from 11 a.m. -1 p.m. The Virgina Mason Athletic Center is located off the 44th Street/Exit #7 on Highway 405 at 12 Seahawks Way.

Items that are most needed by Northwest Harvest:

General Food Items – canned fruits and vegetables, hot and cold cereals, tuna fish, canned meats, peanut butter, and soup.

Whole Meals – chili, stews and hearty soups, pork & beans, raisins, macaroni & cheese.

Infant & Baby Foods – baby formula, canned milk, powdered milk, jars of baby food, infant cereal (diapers are also needed).

NFL quarterbacks so far have completed 61.4 percent of their passes this season. If it stays that way, it will be a new single-season record. In fact, a new record has been set in eight of the last nine years.

By comparison, Matt Hasselbeck is completing just 51 percent of his passes.

**

Mike Holmgren was critical of the team's pass rush this week, even though they are tied for ninth in the NFL with 24 sacks.

The NFL record for fewest sacks in a season? In a 16-game season, the 1981 Baltimore Colts had just 13 sacks. The Kansas City Chiefs have only six this year, largely because they traded Jared Allen to Minnesota.

**

Arizona's win in Seattle on Sunday marks the first time since 1968 that the Cardinals have won all of their road games against division opponents in a single season. The Cardinals were members of the NFC Century division in 1968 and beat Cleveland, New Orleans and Pittsburgh all on the road.

The Seahawks practice for over an hour today in preparation for Sunday's game.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck went through the entire practice and appears ready to go on Sunday. Fullback Leonard Weaver, along with wide receiver Koren Robinson, worked with the first team and should be ready to go.

Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren said Hasselbeck bounced back and had a good week of practice after his first game in six weeks.

Left guard Mike Wahle (shoulder) and safety C.J. Wallace (hamstring) did not practice and probably will not play Sunday. Red Bryant (ankle) also did not practice and probably will not play.

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Our man Frank Hughes offers an interesting take on wide receiver Deion Branch and his future with the Seattle Seahawks. In today’s story, Hughes compares Branch’s situation with what Seattle faced with Shaun Alexander a few years ago.

Branch will earn $5 million if he returns next season, and the Seahawks will have to decide if it’s worth their while production-wise to bring Branch back. Several of you have expressed your reservations about keeping Branch around because he’s been injury prone the last couple seasons.

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Cornerback Josh Wilson, who turned his ankle in Wednesday's practice, was back at practice on Thursday, mostly in the nickel package. Kelly Jennings took care of a lot of the stuff in the straight-up defensive sets. But Wilson looked like there was not much residual effect from the twist a day before. Coincidentally, practice squad receiver Michael Bumpus seemed to get banged up on the same route that Wilson got hurt on the day before. Bumpus laid out for a pass and seemed to stretch his shoulder a bit. He lay on the ground for perhaps 30 seconds before getting up and going slowly back to the huddle.

Also, QB Matt Hasselbeck was back as well after taking Wednesday off to rest a sore body. He will start on Sunday.

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Some links to start your day. Also, the Washington Redskins have returned a portion of their ticket allotment and those tickets have now been made available by visiting seahawks.com or calling 206-628-0888.

Seattle Seahawks

Ex-Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander, now a reserve with Washington, believes he could still be an effective starting running back if given the opportunity.

After having an MRI on his re-injured left shoulder the Seahawks decided to place defensive end Patrick Kerney on the injured reserve, ending his season.

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Your secondary was probably the biggest improvement last year. What has happened where they have given up the big plays?

"I think we have given up some because of size problems. We have a couple guys in the secondary who are try-hard guys and they are talented, but we have been victimized by that a little bit. Our pass rush hasn't been what it has been in the past, so in an effort to get to the quarterback we have gambled more than we have in the past. The irony of that is that we sometimes have been criticized for not blitzing enough. My feeling is this year we have been hurt more than helped by doing that because we have been in a lot of one-on-one situations and they have converted against us. I am surprised because I felt that would be a strength of our team this year and we struggled a little bit."

Some of the players will point out that they're in the top 10 in the league in sacks.

"In those situations where we have emptied the post as an example and put those young, our corners on an island, we've been burned. There are two or three plays that come to mind where we had the all-out blitz and we didn't get home. We didn't win our one-on-one battles. We saw one last week where the defensive end had a sack on Warner, and he jumped out. Warner did a whoop. Same thing with Pennington the week before. Had a sack, jumped. It's the little things, it's the detail, and those plays hurt us. Statistics by themselves, numbers by themselves, don't tell the story. Lack of numbers do sometimes, but to be in the top third in sacks, that's great. That's great. Maybe we should be number one in sacks if you study the film and then maybe those 10 or 12 sacks that we should've had that would've put us there, maybe they've cost us four games. Believe me, that's why the stats, the numbers, I don't, I used to, I don't do it so much anymore. Because you can play with those and kind of make a case for most things."

Defensive end Patrick Kerney was placed on injured reserve today and was replaced on the roster by Brandon Miller, who was claimed off waivers from Atlanta.

Kerney said he got another MRI yesterday and it revealed his shoulder has not been healing properly. He also said it was more of a pain issue. He said Matt Hasselbeck asked him if the Super Bowl was this week, would he be able to play. And he said he told Matt he couldn't.

He said he injured the shoulder on one of the final plays of the San Francisco victory, where he was trying to reach out for Shaun Hill for a sack and his arm got bent back. He said the symptoms for this one are a lot different than the prior injury, which also required surgery. That it was in the same game that he had a 50-yard fumble return, he said, was like the whack-a-mole game: "Every time you pop your head up, you get it beat back down." He said it is yet to be determined if he has additional surgery.

Here is a brief bio on Brandon Miller.

The Seattle Seahawks are starting to wind down with the end of the season nearing. Seattle practiced for just over an hour today, as Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren chose to rest his players legs with his team facing two games in eight days.

As Holmgren stated during his talk, Matt Hasselbeck did not practice, but was out on the field watching with the rest of the team.

Others who did not practice included Koren Robinson (knee), C.J. Wallace (hamstring), Mike Wahle (shoulder) and Patrick Kerney (shoulder).

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In his weekly press conference, Mike Holmgren said QB Matt Hasselbeck will miss practice today because he is beat up and sore from Sunday's game. He is expected to practice tomorrow, though, and will play on Sunday.

The 34-minute proceedings were dominated mostly by discussions regarding Washington coach Jim Zorn, for obvious reasons. One of the more humorous items was Holmgren discussing some of Zorn's unorthodox techniques, including having Matt work on the slip-and-slide. "Basically, when he tried to slide, Matt was a train wreck," Holmgren said.

One of the most interesting items though came about with Holmgren discussing the defense (the exact quotes of which I will have later). He said the secondary has been victimized by a lack of size. He called some of the players talented, try-hard guys, but said they are just too small in some instances. He also said the pass rush has not been very good, or not near what it was last year. When I brought up the point that some players have pointed out that they are still top 10 in sacks, Holmgren said that is why he doesn't follow the stats; you can get them to say whatever you want. He said if they are top 10 in sacks, then the 12 they should have had would put them first in the league. He cited specifically Baraka Atkins last week, jumping and missing Kurt Warner, and Deon Grant the week before jumping and missing Chad Pennington. That does not even take into account the three additional they should have had against J.T. O'Sullivan, as well as the all-out blitzes that were picked up, including against Tampa Bay and Green Bay that resulted in touchdowns. I'll post the quotes later, as I said, but they are pretty interesting comments.

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Ex-Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander talked to Seattle-area reporters for about 20 minutes this morning. Alexander, released by Seattle last spring, was picked up by the Washington Redskins midway through the season.

Alexander said he was not surprised at how long it took for him to get picked up because he was still recovering from a wrist injury that did not fully heal until the beginning of the regular season.

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The league responded to my inquiry regarding Cardinals defensive back Adrian Wilson. They confirmed that Wilson will not be fined for his on Matt Hasselbeck. It was, they said, a legal hit.

I called the league to see if they had an idea about whether Adrian Wilson's hit on Matt Hasselbeck was an offense warranting a fine. I have not heard back from them.

Just to add perspective, when there was a question of whether Leroy Hill would be fined for his big hit in Tampa Bay, the league responded almost immediately, saying that Hill's hit was legal and he would not be fined.

Not sure if that means anything, or if it means they are looking at Wilson's hit more closely since he was fined earlier this season. But if the league gets back to me, I'll post it.

Here are the quotes from Mike Holmgren to which I was referring earlier:

(On whether there are general fundamental changes that need to be made next year, or if the problems on the team can be chalked up to injuries…) “Well, I think for me to comment on that is probably not the right thing to do, to be honest. If I was coming back next year, it would be absolutely the right thing to do. But those decisions are no longer going to be my decisions to make, or even be involved in those decisions, really. So, my own feeling is, if we had not had the type of injuries this season [that we had], then our expectation level was high and there was no reason to think that we couldn’t have a real good season. Take from that what you want. But that’s not the only thing, now. We got to look hard at this thing. People are going to have to look hard at this, and be real honest about it, like I asked the players to be when they looked at the film, and see: Do we have enough? Is it good enough? If it is, let’s go. If it isn’t, you make changes.”

(On why he thinks the defense has struggled so much since, aside from Kerney, the injuries have largely happened on offense…) “Well, clearly…if you count the numbers, there were more offensive injuries than defensive injuries, yeah. I don’t think any of us are real happy with the yards we’re giving up and what’s happening, particularly in pass defense. But those decisions are best made not now, when everyone’s kind of upset and running around and doing stuff. That’s why you have those really hard meetings in the offseason, and use the draft, and use free agency to fix things you think need to be fixed. That question is really a question [to pose] in a few weeks, not now.”

Matt Hasselbeck just met with the media, and was far more lucid today than he was last night. He even joked about how out of it he was, saying they probably should not have allowed him to speak to the media while he was in such a goofy state.

The one thing he did do was apologize to the Cardinals for his comment about expecting fines to come down. He said they played hard, they played within the rules and, though there were some hard hits, he did not hope that anybody gets fined. Mike Holmgren said he thought Adrian Wilson's hit was borderline, but the rule dictates that the QB is not be hit in the helmet.

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Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt responded today to Matt Hasselbeck's assertion after the game that he thinks fine will be coming down this week for some hits in the game.

Here is a link to Pro Football Talk's take of it, which includes the comments from Whisenhunt, who goes on to say that Hasselbeck had been out for so long that he forgot what it was like to be hit.

Any chance of the Seahawks making an improbable playoff run was eliminated on Sunday with Arizona defeating Seattle 26-20 at Qwest Field. With the loss, Seattle is now five games back, with Arizona having a chance to clinch the division next week.

This is definitely not the way Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren envisioned his final season in Seattle. But with six games left, the Seahawks must begin evaluating their roster for next season so they can plan for the future.

The play from youngsters like cornerback Josh Wilson, defensive tackle Brandon Mebane and defensive end Darryl Tapp gives you hope for the future. Rookie tight end John Carlson continues to show promise, but dropped another critical pass. Justin Forsett looks solid returning punts.

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Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck got the pass off before the defenders got to him in the second quarter. The Seattle Seahawks lost to Arizona Cardinals at Qwest Field, 26 - 20, on Sunday, November 16, 2008.
(Peter Haley/The News Tribune)

A slide show from the game.

Here is a minute and a half of Matt Hasselbeck answering questions in his postgame press conference. As you can probably see, he seems a bit out of it. After the last question, he partially describes his thinking on his last interception.

(On finally winning in Seattle…) It was big. I’ve never won here, and I’ve been here five years. So it was important for us to get this victory, and it was just a great team win. Neil did a great job finishing off some drives we weren’t able to be successful on. DRC (Domoinique Rodgers-Cromartie), the defense, (Karlos) Dansby, and those guys just played outstanding for us.

(On making big plays…) Guys have just been anxious in practice. You see guys making plays finishing, the defense has been doing a great job. It’s been a total team effort. When you’re winning, everybody wants to have their part in it. Our coaches are doing a great job of designing new things for us to keep us hungry and keeping the tension high, and this is so much fun.

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(On the game being closer than it should have been…) It doesn’t really matter now. That is the good part. We wanted to go out and earn it and we definitely earned it today. Maybe made it a little tougher than we needed to but guys stepped up and that’s the fun thing. Guys continue to step up. Different guys different games. Its fun. We are really starting to come together as a team. It is fun to watch.

(On if he will buy Rodgers-Cromartie a meal for his interception…) Probably not. He is still a rookie, he should still be buying us lunch I think. But what a great play there at the end to finish it. The fun thing is he is only going to get better. We have only seen signs of how good he can be in practice, in training camp and now we finally get to see him on the field a little bit. He is going to get better and better, it is fun to see that.

(On if he exorcised some demons here at Qwest…) I know I did. I have struggled in here before that is for sure. This was a huge win. Not only because we came out and played well but the significance of this win for us at this point in the season…a lot of things were riding on this game so it was huge. So it is a good start for us. But we still have a long long way to go but we took one step closer today.

(On if the win was more significant because it came at Qwest…) You know I don’t know. I don’t know if I really think about that stuff. To me its more just about doing it as opposed to where. You know with this team being as good as they have been over the years and us having as many problems as we have had it is nice to come in here and get a victory. I think the big thing for us is that we are starting to win some big games on the road and we are playing better on the road. I think that is the big thing for us is the next step that we needed to take. We did some good things at home last year but the next step we needed to take was to bring that intensity on the road and I think that we have done that three straight games now. Not all victories but we have brought that intensity and shown some signs of maturity and coming of age a little bit.

(On if he saw Boldin against Tatupu…) Just kind of as the game progressed. It was more of a zone coverage. They went to what we call the Tampa 2 where they put the middle linebacker down deep middle and put the safeties out wide. And so they happened to rotate to Tampa 2 there and with the play fake Lofa (Tatupu) still has to respect that to a degree so we got the big shot down the middle. If I had seen it a little earlier, they had kind of rotated coverage as I turned my back to make a play fake so it wasn’t early enough on that or we may have gotten a touchdown out of that. But obviously it was still a huge play for us.

(On the game today…) What we have done today speaks for itself. To come up here and beat the NFC West Champion for the last four years we came through here and took care of business.

(On being pushed out of bounds on the last drive…) Of course I would have liked to stay inbounds but I felt that I had an opportunity to turn the corner and get the first down. So my thinking is I get the first down in that situation and the game is over. I tried to stay in but unfortunately I got pushed out of bounds.

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(On how he feels…) I feel pretty good. My legs are all right.

(On getting in rhythm with Hasselbeck…) It was all right. The play down in the end zone, where we checked out, the coverage dictated what happened. I thought I had a chance. Matt threw it up to give me the opportunity to try to make a play, but I was double teamed. Other than that, I think it was all right.

(On whether he thought the Seahawks would rally to win…) I am always thinking that we have a chance to win it. It was unfortunate that different things happened. The guy made a good play on the ball, that’s what happens.

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(On what he’s thinking about when he’s returning kicks…) “Man, I’m just running out there. I don’t care who’s hitting me, who’s trying to tackle me. I just go out there and tell them, ‘If you can go block—I don’t care if it’s your man or anybody else’s man—if you can get a block, I’ll try to make something happen.’ That’s what I try to do every time. It’s not going to be perfect every time. You got to be able to make a play and break some tackles every once in a while.”

(On the defending against the taller Cardinals receivers…) “Obviously smaller must be doing something right because there are a lot of in the league. It’s all just playing football you can have the height, speed, and physical style but you still have to play football. Some people have their advantages here and there but in the end it all evens out.”

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(Opening…) Well, you all saw the movie “Groundhog Day.” It’s starting to feel like that just a little bit. This game was decided, though, like most games, on turnovers, and they got a couple very, very important turnovers; more than a couple, and we got a couple too. That’s kind of what decided it. I think that , once again, the team battled back from a little bit of a hole, but it was a bit of too little, too late. But, I love them. But, now our goals have changed. We came into the season with very high expectations, it has been a difficult season. I just told them, that it is very very important, it will be important to them not only this season but in future Seahawk seasons, and really after they finish playing football, is how they approach the last part of this year. I will talk to them at length about it tomorrow, and we’ll establish some new goals. But, how they approach it is going to be very important, it is important to this team. I think we’re victims, a little bit, of rust, from the guys that came back, but bless their hearts they played hard; Matt and Deion and the guys we had. Give credit to Arizona. Ken Whisenhunt has done a great job of building that thing up. They believe in him and what they’re trying to do, and I think they have great skill on this team. I think we made it interesting at the end, we were just a little bit short.

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This was one of the most bizarre postgames I have seen. Matt Hasselbeck was an absolute space cadet. As most of you know, he is always very thoughtful, funny and articulate. But after coming to the podium more than an hour after the end of the game, he was flighty and seemed confused. On more than one occasion, he said he didn't know how to answer a question -- which he never does. He is usually very well scripted and prepared, but he let fly that the only thing that makes him feel better is that the league will be issuing fines later in the week, and some of the Cardinals players are going to get fined. He did not elaborate, saying only that the film doesn't lie. I have a little video that I will try to post later on his explanation about the last interception, and hopefully in that you can see that his eyes are glazed over and he looks out of it.

When he did answer questions, he said he thought he did OK, but not good enough to win. There was some questions about receivers cutting short routes, but both Hasselbeck and Mike Holmgren said the interceptions were more a case of Hasselbeck trying to force balls into small windows. Rust probably played a role, they both said.

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I'm going down to the field before the end of the game, but Arizona has the ball and a 26-20 lead. The Seahawks' D needs a stop coming up to give the offense a chance. I'll have postgame about 45 minutes or an hour after the game.

I couldn't have been more wrong about the competitive portion of the game. The Seahawks' defense caused Kurt Warner to fumble (Mebane caused fumble, Tapp recovered) and five plays later T.J. Duckett went in from 2 yards out for a 26-20 score.

The score was set up a hard fourth-down run by Matt Hasselbeck, who sacrificed his body for the cause. His run got the ball to the 2.

If the defense can get another stop here, that would make things very interesting. The momentum has definitely changed in this game,

The Seahawks scored a TD on a T.J. Duckett 1-yard run. Matt Hasselbeck threw a pick on the two-point conversion, so the Cardinals hold a 26-13 lead with 12:46 left.

It took a roundabout avenue to get the points. josh Wilson had 56-yard kickoff return that was 15 less yards after Lance Laury had an unnecessary roughness penalty. Then HAss threw 25 yards to John Carlson to get to the 3. Then he threw an interception to Karlos Dansby in the end zone, but Dansby brought it out, fumbled and the loose ball was recovered by Walter Jones, giving the Seahawks first down at the 11. They scored five plays later.

Believe it or not, Kurt Warner had not thrown a touchdown in this game -- until 1:55 remained in the third quarter. He just threw a mini-screen to J.J. Arrington for a score that extended Arizona's lead to 26-7, and with the way the offense is playing that should just about do it for the competitive portion of the game.

Warner has now thrown for 349 yards, his 47th career 300-yard game.

Neil Rackers kicked his fourth FG, giving the Cardinals a 19-7 lead. This game is still within reach.

Marcus Trufant is on the sideline being looked at by doctors. I can't tell exactly what they are looking at. It looks like they are doing the concussion tests, but then Marcus gets up and bounces up and down like a fighter, as if he is testing out his legs. My guess is concussion with the way they are talking to him though.

UPDATE: They just announced Marcus has a concussion and his return is questionable.

Offensive guard Mike Wahle is standing on the sideline with a huge ice pack on his right shoulder. He is definitely not returning this game.

Kurt Warner completed a few passes to get the Cardinals in position, and Neil Rackers drained a 3-pointer from 54 yards to give the Cardinals a 16-7 lead at intermission.

Matt Hasselbeck threw a screen pass to Mo Morris, and he took it 13 yards for the touchdown to bring the score to 13-7.

With Mike Wahle out with a shoulder injury (his return is doubtful), Pork Chop has gone to left guard and Ray Willis was at right guard. Willis threw a key block on Morris' TD, though it easily could have been holding as well.

This is a game now after Arizona dominated the entire first half. They held the ball for much of the first two quarters and Kurt Warner toyed with the secondary, completing 20 of his first 24 passes for 225 yards. The Seahawks need to get more pressure on Warner, the most accurate passer in NFL history, if they want to have a chance. Arizona's receivers are just too big so that even if the D backs are close, they are having a hard time contending with the size disparity.

But at the very least, Wilson's interception and Morris' TD should infuse the Seahawks with a sense of confidence as they head into the second half.

Just when it looked like the Cardinals were going to put in the dagger, Josh Wilson picked off Warner and returned it to Arizona's 19. The Seahawks have life.

Mike Wahle was hurt on the return and headed straight to the locker room.

Two plays after fumbling in the backfield -- which Mike Wahle recovered -- Matt Hasselbeck threw an interception to rookie Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie. Hasselbeck has looked reasonably good, but now he seems like he is trying to force things in an effort to come back from their deficit.

The Seahawks got their first pressure of the game on Kurt Warner, Darryl Tapp sacking him for a seven-yard loss on third down. That led to Neil Rackers kicking a 48-yarder to give the Cardinals a 13-0 edge.

Warner, by the way, has completed 18 of 20 passes.

Arizona 10:49
Seattle 4:11

J.J. Arrington just went in from 4 yards out to give Arizona a 10-0 lead. The big plays in the drive were a 45-yard pass to Anquan Boldin, after Kelly Jennings missed the initial tackle, and a 20-yarder to Larry Fitzgerald that took the ball to the 4 to set up the TD run.

Just before that, Fitzgerald committed offensive pass interference on Jennings, which would have taken the ball back to the 14. Instead, the Seahawks were flagged for 12 men on the field, which negated Fitzgerald's infraction.

That timeout the Seahawks were forced to take looked like it happened because of some communications issues. When Hasselbeck ran over to the sideline, Holmgren was looking around for the phone guy, and then Hass ran over and talked to offensive line coach Mike Solari. Still not sure what exactly happened but there was definitely a lot of confusion on the sidelines.

Kurt Warner led the Cardinals down the field on the opening drive, which ended with Neil Rackers booting a 38-yarder for a 3-0 lead. Warner completed his first seven passes of the game. Seattle's secondary needs to get much closer to the receivers because Warner was just picking and choosing who he wanted to go to. The drive was 13 plays and consumed more than seven minutes.

Former Seattle Seahawks running back Ricky Watters raised the 12th Man flag before game time.

The Seattle Seahawks have several events in the community planned for this week.

On Monday, Seahawks players will help announce the 2008 Ed Block Courage Award winner. The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue's Grand Ballroom.

On Tuesday, Seattle Seahawks wives and Habitat for Humanity will volunteer with building home foundations for four new homes in West Seattle at 10 a.m., 3205 SW Morgan Street.

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Referee Bill Carollo
Umpire Bill Schuster
Head linesman John Schleyer
Line judge Gary Arthur
Field judge Scott Edwards
Side judge James Coleman
Back judge Bob Waggoner
Replay Bob Boylston

Seahawks Inactives

K Brandon Coutu
S C.J. Wallace
FB Leonard Weaver
LB David Hawthorne
G Mansfield Wrotto
DT Red Bryant
DE Patrick Kerney
QB Charlie Frye

Owen Schmitt will start at FB for Leonard Weaver

Arizona inactives

T Elliot Vallejo
T Brandon Keith
DT Alan Branch
WR Early Doucet
TE Jerame Tuman
TE Ben Patrick
DE Kenny Iweema
QB Brian St. Pierre

Arizona’s defense is a solid 10th in the league against the run, and 18th against the pass. Seattle’s run offense, which looked good early in the season, has struggled the past couple weeks because teams have stacked the box and forced the Seahawks to throw.

That should change today with Matt Hasselbeck returning, along with Seattle having a healthy, talented group of receivers for Hasselbeck to throw the ball to. However, Hasselbeck may struggle with his timing in his first game back.

That’s why Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren needs to hold back on his tendancy to pass first and do one thing – give the ball to Julius Jones. A lot.

One thing that Jones proved last week is the more carries he gets the stronger he runs. Some of Jones’ best runs came at the end of the game with the Miami defense wearing down. I think Jones has proven he deserves to have the lion’s share of the carries, with Mo Morris used as a change-up back. And if Jones can run the ball well, it will take more pressure off of Hasselbeck to perform, and keep Seattle’s defense from being on the field all day.

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Defensive backs coach Jim Mora said the play Kelly Jennings made against the Miami Dolphins last week was a huge confidence-booster for a player who has been killed by big plays this season. Jennings will have to play a big role in tomorrow's game against Arizona. Here is Mora discussing Jennings and his season:

"It’s a very physically challenging position at the corner, but it's also a very mentally challenging position. And there is a level of maturity that you have to get into when negative things happen to you, as they absolutely are going to if you play that position long enough. It takes guys different amounts of time to get through that situation. Some guys never do.

"I just felt like Kelly went through a few weeks there where mentally he was in a funk. He had a really good preseason, and then they came out in that Buffalo game and he was in position and they (the Bills) make the play. We have talked about the moment of truth, when you are in position and you have to make the play. He was (there) and he didn’t and he was in a funk.

"That one play he made the other day, it did wonders for him. He is like a new guy. He has renewed energy and you kind of hope that is maybe what has happened for him, he got charged up again. He reflected on where he was and what he was doing and you are always trying to flip it."

The Seattle Seahawks have signed safety Jamar Adams from the practiced squad to the active roster, the team announced today. To make room the club released tight end Jeb Putzier.

Adams signed with Seattle as an undrafted rookie free agent on April 27, 2008. The club released him on August 30, 2008, before signing him to the practice squad the following day. He played in 47 career games for the University of Michigan, recording 172 tackles and four interceptions.

Putzier played in six games, making one start for Seattle. He signed with the club on March 4.

This is probably a sign that Will Heller is ready to return from his knee injury. He was in the locker room yesterday and was not walking with the limp that accompanied him in previous weeks.

An airman from McChord Air Force Base will participate in the pregame coin toss tomorrow. To read a bit more about it, check out FOB Tacoma, our military blog.

Scott Johnson of the Everett Herald addresses some interesting points in his story discussing the makeup of Seattle’s roster heading into this season. Johnson reports that 36 of the 53 players on this year’s roster are different from the team’s Super Bowl season in 2005.

Aaron Fentress of the Oregonian also weighs in on the Seahawks future here.

Johnson points to several roster decisions the team made over the last three years that seem to have backfired.

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Packers wide receiver Ruvell Martin says the most resounding block of his three-year career came in the Seattle playoff game last January. On a reception to James Jones, Martin broke off his route, latched on to to cornerback Kelly Jennings and pancaked him five yards out of bounds among the photographers.

After that game, Martin said Marcus Trufant came up to him and told him he blocked well enough to be a starting fullback.

SEAHAWKS

OUT

Patrick Kerney (shoulder)
David Hawthorne (calf)
C.J. Wallace (hamstring)

DOUBTFUL

Red Bryant (ankle)

QUESTIONABLE

Will Heller (knee)
Leonard Weaver (ribs)

PROBABLE

Deion Branch (heel)
Matt Hasselbeck (back)
Lofa Tatupu (groin)
Koren Robinson (knee)
Seneca Wallace (groin)

CARDINALS

QUESTIONABLE

Eric Green (knee)
Rod Hood (ribs)

PROBABLE

Mike Gandy (ankle)
Ben Patrick (knee)
Jerame Tuman (ankle)
Leonard Pope (ankle)

This was issued by the team:

Starline Luxury Coaches will operate shuttle bus service from both the Federal Way and Kent Park & Ride Lots beginning on November 16 when the Seahawks host Arizona. Fans should look for white Starline buses, as they will operate the same direct to Qwest Field service as Metro Transit has done in the past.

Metro Transit will to continue to provide bus service from the three other park-and-ride lots including: Northgate, South Kirkland, Eastgate. Fares for both Starline and Metro service is $4 each way, or $8 round trip.

Other transportation options for fans include the following: regular Metro service, Sound Transit ST Express buses and the Sounder Train. ST Express buses offer transportation from areas throughout Pierce, King and Snohomish counties with service every 30 minutes and stops within three blocks of Qwest Field.

Seneca Wallace was back. After Mike Holmgren said all week he didn't expect Wallace to be able to do much because of a pulled groin, Seneca was out there and working with the scout team. He actually looked very mobile. Seneca said he has been doing a lot of rehab this week and the groin got better in the process. Obviously the hope is that they don't need him.

Leonard Weaver also got some reps today, though it sounded to me like Holmgren will likely not let him play. Holmgren said with the way the inactive list is, it would be hard to keep Weaver active and then have him either get hurt or realize in the game that his ribs are keeping him from playing well. Similar situation with Deion Branch last week. Owen Schmitt got most of the reps in practice this week. I spoke with him a little after practice, and he said the main thing is that he was able to bully people when he was at West Virginia. Here, he is blocking a 280-pound defensive end coming off the edge and he is not bullying anybody. He said the biggest thing he has learned is that the guy with the pads lowest to the ground usually wins.

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Remember those Matt Hasselbeck-Jason Campbell commercials for Expedia that I posted here a few weeks ago. Here's another one. As always, pretty humourous.

Practice is at 11:45 today. I'll have something afterwards from Mike Holmgren, this is his day to talk prior to the game.

I covered the news conference today in Seattle announcing that KIRO, which has partnerships with both the Seahawks and the Mariners, is going to an all-sports format on April 1, competing directly with KJR. Their launch is meant to coincide directly with the start of baseball season.

The above photo includes Chuck Armstrong at the far left, KIRO GM and VP Dave Pridemore, KIRO VP/market manager Carl Gardner and Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke.

KIRO is becoming an ESPN station, which for all intents and purposes means that KJR no longer is able to air ESPN material. What this means for John Clayton I am not sure. When I reached him at home, he did not want to comment. He has had his Sports Saturday show for almost two decades and is very proud of what he has been able to develop. KJR program director Rich Moore said he thinks Clayton will stay with KJR. "John is a very big part of our radio station, and we want him to continue that tradition. We anticipate that he will be able to do that."

KIRO has not announced what shows it is going to do or what talent it is going to hire, saying only that they are going to build more shows around the Seahawks and Mariners, obviously, but also do its fair share of local programming. They will hire a program director over the next few weeks and then start zeroing in on hosts and co-hosts.

Carl Gardner was pretty clear that KIRO, owned by Bonneville, a Mormon-owned company, is going to have a different flavor than some of the KJR shows, particularly Mitch's morning show, which sometimes focuses on women. "Bonneville has a high standard," Gardner said. "Our view is you can be entertaining and funny without being blue."

The Seahawks breezed through a pretty crisp, hour-long practice inside the team's facility today.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck made it through the entire practice without incident. In fact, I thought he looked more mobile today than Wednesday and appears to be coming along, doing some short roll outs and moving well inside the pocket.

It appears that Hasselbeck was cleared by Dr. Stan Herring Wednesday night and should be a go for Sunday, but no official word has come down from the Seahawks.

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He’s been out for five weeks and if everything goes well, Matt Hasselbeck will return to the lineup on Sunday against Arizona. So what are your expectations for Seattle’s starting quarterback?

Do you expect Hasselbeck to come in and zing passes all over the field, hitting receivers in stride and performing like his usual self?

Or are your expectations tempered by the back injury he’s recovering from? And how much will a Seattle victory depend on the way Hasselbeck performs on Sunday, particularly with NFC West division opponent Arizona traveling to Seattle this week? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

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It was a busy day at the Seattle Seahawks practice facility this afternoon, with both quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and wide receiver Deion Branch returning to practice and preparing to play against Arizona on Sunday.

The team went with just helmets and shells, as Mike Holmgren attempts to ease off the players with no serious hitting during practice. However, the practice remained brisk. With Hasselbeck back, the offense seemed to have more rhythm and move at a quicker pace. Even the huddle breaks were crisper, as the team seemed to respond to having their leader back on the field.

"It felt good," Hasselback said about practice. "I've been working really hard to get back. I've been wanting to get back for a long time. And you know, the first step was this weekend getting cleared by the doctors to practice. Hopefully, for everybody practice all week goes well."

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Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren was asked today what he needed to see out of Matt Hasselbeck in order for Hasselbeck to start. His answer: "Breathing. That's all I need to see." Sounds like my love life in college. In any case, Holmgren said he fully expects #8 to be out on the field and taking the full complement of reps in preparation for the Cardinals game. Charlie Frye is likely to be his backup because Seneca still is smarting from his groin injury.

A reader emailed yestrday predicting that the Seahawks still are going to win the division at 8-8. I won't name names for protection purposes. Even Holmgren sounded skeptical about that possibility. He said that he talked to the team this morning about their goals -- and the conversation apparently did not include winning the division, given they are four games back with seven left to play. He said the goal is to win Sunday, and it is too soon to be throwing the youngsters out there for experience, but they are not too far removed from that state.

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Dick Stockton
Brian Baldinger
Laura Okmin

Same crew as two weeks ago, when the Eagles were in town.

Here is the press release. There is no mention of Courtney Taylor though the game notes indicate Taylor is now an active player:

Renton, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks have released wide receiver Keary Colbert, the team announced this afternoon. Colbert originally joined the Seahawks on September 17 after the team traded a 2009 undisclosed draft pick to the Denver Broncos.

He played in seven games with four starts for Seattle, posting seven catches for 52 yards and one touchdown. He also played in two games with Denver to begin the season.

Originally a second-round pick (62nd overall) by the Panthers in the 2004 NFL Draft, he started 42 of 55 games for Carolina and had 109 catches for 1,424 yards with seven touchdowns. He had a career-year in his first season, when he set Carolina rookie records for catches (47), yards (754) and touchdowns (7).

The Seattle Seahawks released wide receiver Keary Colbert this morning. The team is expected to make an announcement this afternoon regarding the move. In our story today we quoted Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren stating that perhaps some changes would be made at receiver.

Colbert's release, along with Deion Branch's return, appears to be part of that change in the receiver rotation for Seattle that Holmgren alluded to. Colbert's release clears the way for Seattle to move up Courtney Taylor or Michael Bumpus from the practice squad. The Seahawks are likely to move up Taylor, although Bumpus might be a good candidate because of his ability to play slot when Seattle goes with four wide receivers.

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Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said he’s not willing to say his team will play the role of spoiler for the rest of the season. However, there was a sense of resignation in his voice as he addressed reporters during his regular Monday press conference.

“The situation is what it is,” Holmgren said he told his players today. “Now let’s do what we can to overcome some of this. And as I’ve said before, I’m very proud of the job they’re doing that way.”

The good news for Holmgren is quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who missed five weeks with a bulging disk in his back that caused a weakness in his right knee, is expected to start on Sunday against Arizona, barring in setbacks during practice this week.

The same goes for wide receiver Deion Branch, who could have played against Miami on Sunday, but remained inactive because Holmgren had concerns about how the wide receiver rotation might be affected if Branch went down again.
Holmgren said if Branch makes it through practice this week he’ll start as well.

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A good effort in an East Coast game for the Hawks, but still another loss, this one a 21-19 setback to Miami as Seattle sinks to 2-7 on the season. With the defeat, Seattle now falls 3 ½ games behind Arizona, which hosts San Francisco tonight. The Rams join Seattle in the cellar at 2-7.

Although mathematically still in the NFC West race, realistically the Seahawks will probably be watching the playoffs come January. It leaves Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren and coach-in-waiting Jim Mora in an uncomfortable situation, with Holmgren, set to retire at the end of the year, leading a team that is playing with an eye towards the future.

We’ll have updates for you from Holmgren’s press conference this afternoon.

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S Jordan Babineaux

(On his big play and the loss) – “It’s hard when you lose no matter how well you feel you played. I think the guys did a great job fighting back after a 14-0 deficit. The only good thing is that the guys came out healthy and we get a chance to come out and fight again next week.”

(On his interception return for a touchdown) – “I thought the play was definitely going to jump start us. It gave us a little momentum but in the end we just didn’t finish on the winning side. It’s tough to say you played well because it is selfish because we the team did lose.”

TE John Carlson

¬(On the missed catch he had in the game) “I always feel if I can touch the ball, I should be able to catch it, but it doesn’t always happen. It’s not like you have time to sit and see the ball coming and think, well I’m going to catch it this way or catch it that way. You just try to catch the ball and try to make as many plays as you can. Sometimes it doesn’t work out.”

(On how tough missing the two-point conversion was after it looked like they had it) “It’s tough. It’s football. There are ups and downs, you just have to withstand the negatives and try to build on the positives.”

Before we came to Miami, Dave Boling told me that in 1996, he played Rolling Hills Golf Club, which is where they filmed the fantastically perfect movie, "Caddyshack." The course has changed to a private club named Grande Oaks, but I placed a call to the Golf Pro. told him I'd love to play the course and put something on the blog, and he agreed to let me play the course.

As a result, me and my friend Rod Mar, the Seattle Times photographer, set off on Saturday to relive one of the greatest movies of all time. Here is the funny part: As we are in the golf shop chatting up the guy at the desk, Bill Parcells comes shooting in with a pair of sunglasses in his hand, throws them on the counter and says, "These are somebodys." I looked at Rod and said, "Did that just happen?"

Parcells was on the putting green, so I introduced myself, told him why we were in town and explained that we were just talking about him because he holds Mike Holmgren's dream job. "I sure do like Coach Holmgren," Parcells said. That was the extent of it.

I then filmed as much of the experience as I could. Take a look.

(How limited were you with your injury?) “I’d probably say a little bit. I couldn’t run like I wanted so I think that took away from some of the roll out and movement type stuff that we had in our package this week. They had big line backers and I think there were some opportunities there where I could have used my legs a lot more and made some plays.”

(When did you get the injury?) “On the first scramble that I had, I ran and my leg slipped out from under me, my right leg, and I kind of messed it up a little bit.”

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By Frank Hughes

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The vast scoreboard towering high over the tangerine-colored seats of Dolphin Stadium indicated that the Miami Dolphins had beaten the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 21-19.
But the Seahawks know better.
They understand all too well that they engaged in an unbecoming act of self-flagellation from which they could not recover.
Which possibly makes the outcome that much worse.
On a day when they could have started the second half of their season with a hard-fought victory, the Seahawks instead were left to wallow in the noxious aftermath of five dropped passes, five false start penalties and countless other costly gaffes.
These were not just your ordinary, everyday drops and penalties, either.
No, Koren Robinson dropped a touchdown pass that would have given the Seahawks the lead after falling behind by 14-0.
Mike Wahle false started on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game at 21.
John Carlson dropped a fourth-down pass that ended the Seahawks’ chances of kicking a game-winning field goal.
The list, unfortunately, goes on.
“We’re not a good enough team right now to overcome the mistakes,” veteran wide receiver Bobby Engram said.

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(General thoughts about the game) – “It’s a little bit like groundhog day. I think the team showed great heart after getting behind 14-nothing. It was looking pretty bad, and they hung in there, got a couple of returns, a couple of really great efforts batting those touchdowns. We made it close at the end, but too little too late. I think there were some great efforts today; I think Seneca Wallace hurt himself a little in the first quarter and couldn’t really move, and that’s a part of his game that he relies on. But he hung in there and I think he played great. We were victimized on offense by procedure penalties, we had too many. And then we dropped the passes. Our margin for error isn’t very big right now. Give the Dolphins credit; I think their turnaround from last year to this year is something very special.”

=> Read more!

The theme with both Mike Holmgren and in the locker room after the game was that this team is not good enough to overcome all the mistakes it made. Obviously, the dropped passes and the penalties killed what semblance of momentum the Seahawks were able to build throughout the game.

For the record, we are saying there were five dropped passes -- two by Colbert, one by Koren, one by Engram and one by Carlson. You could probably subjectively say there were two others, but some of those were either badly thrown or broken up.

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On third and 2 from the 28, Chad Pennington fumbled the ball and Darryl Tapp recovered. However, the Dolphins challenged the ruling on the field and the officials said that Pennington was down before he fumbled. Miami punted away the ball. Seattle has about two minutes to get into field goal position.

The Seahawks drove down the field in six plays and scored on a touchdown pass to Koren Robinson to draw to 21-19.

On the two-point conversion, Mike Wahle false started -- for the second time today. It was the fourth false start by an offensive lineman today. It pushed the ball back to the 8, and Seneca Wallace's pass to John Carlson was knocked away by Yeremiah Bell.

Seattle needs some stops here.

Things get very interesting now after the Dolphins scored on a 16-yard run out of the Wildcat offense, with Ronnie Brown taking a misdirection carry to the left, Deon Grant missing a tackle and Brown falling into the end zone.

The 21-13 lead means the Seahawks have to score a TD and go for two if they want to tie the game. They have 5:38 left to do it.

The good news: Olindo Mare kicked another FG for a 14-13 game.

The bad news: Koren Robinson dropped a touchdown pass that would have given the Seahawks a 17-14 lead. Right through his hands.

But the offense seems to have found some rhythm and Miami is not doing a great deal offensively. The Seahawks are in position to steal away this game.

A really nice 50-yard kickoff return by Josh Wilson set up Seattle's subsequent nine-play, 31-yard drive that ended with Olindo Mare getting a field goal against his former team for a 14-10 game.

Mo Morris finally saw some time at the end of that drive, but up until this point Julius Jones had gotten all the playing time.

Thank goodness for Jordan Babineaux's interception return for a touchdown because Seattle's offense has been able to do absolutely nothing. It has a little over 120 yards gained and has not even gotten close enough to think about attempting a field goal.

Meanwhile, the defense seems to have settled down, but that was only after giving up a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn on a flea flicker and a 51-yard TD run by Ricky Williams gave the Dolphins a 14-0 lead. Babs' big play got the Seahawks on the board, but they are going to need more of those in the second half.

A couple side notes: Owen Schmitt left the field early before halftime, so there must be something happening with him. And Walter Jones tweaked his left knee on a Julius Jones run play, and he appears to be not full speed. Something to keep an eye on with Walter.

Weaver I think was injured on his reception, when Channing Crowder jumped on him violently at the end of the play. He was slow getting up. Weaver is in the locker room getting x-rayed.

Jordan Babineaux intercepted a Chad Pennington pass and returned it 35 yards for a TD, enabling the Seahawks to pull to within 14-7. Craig Terrill got pressure on the pass rush. Maybe that will serve to wake them up.

Ugh. The Seahawks just fell behind 14-0, when Ricky Williams burst into and through the line of scrimmage and never was touched en route to a 51-yard TD. It looked like Lofa got stood up, Howard Green slanted too far to the left and Williams was home free. The offense better get going or this could be ugly.

Pork Chop's foot must be bothering him because Ray Willis is starting at right guard, alongside Sean Locklear.

Miami took a 7-0 lead when Ronnie Brown pitched the ball back to Chad Pennington, who whipped it to Ted Ginn for a 39-yard TD. Marcus Trufant and Brian Russell both were right there, but they got tangled up and Ginn made a nice grab.

I don't think you could tell this on TV, but Ginn wasn't even the guy that was open. On the left side. Greg Camarillo had gotten 10 yards behind I believe Josh Wilson and Pennington went to the wrong receiver -- with the same result.

Seattle

Brandon Coutu
Matt Hasselbeck
David Hawthorne
Mansfield Wrotto
Red Bryant
Deion Branch
Will Heller
Patrick Kerney

Miami

Ernest Wilford
Shawn Murphy
Lionel Dotson
Nate Garner
Brandon Frye
Joey Haynos
Rodrique Wright
John Beck

Lousaka Polite will start at FB for Casey Cramer

Good morning from sunny, balmy Miami, where the weather is virtually perfect at Dolphin Stadium. It'll be interesting to see if the heat -- probably about 80 degrees with a slight breeze -- plays a factor in today's game from Dolphin Stadium.

Today's officials are:

Referee Peter Morelli
Umpire Rich Hall
Head linesman George Wayward
Line judge Darryll Lewis
Field Judge Rob Vernatchi
Side judge Greg Wilson
Back judge Kirk Dornan
Replay Terry Poulos

Inactives are not available yet. I will post them when they come available. I do not yet see Deion Branch out on the field.

Not many NFL prognosticators give Seattle a chance to get a win in Miami today. They point to the 0-11 record of West Coast teams playing in the East Coast time zone and Seattle’s struggles on offense as reasons they won’t get it done.

But the Dolphins certainly don’t expect an easy game.

So I decided to take a look at some reasons why Seattle could win today.

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The good news continues on the injury front for Seattle. Matt Hasselbeck apparently was cleared by back Specialist Dr. Stan Herring of Seattle Thursday night and went through 7-on-7 drills with the scout team today.

Hasselbeck also threw some pass routes to receivers Michael Bumpus and Courtney Taylor after practice, cycling through both three-step and seven-step drops. His footwork seemed OK and he threw the ball with authority, although he did grab his back a few times after making throws, and still looks it will be awhile before he's ready to go.

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You knew this question would continue to persist once Mo Morris returned from his injured knee. Coach Mike Holmgren’s plan all along was to use both Morris and Julius Jones, giving them about the same amount of carries.

But when you look at the stats, you can’t help but wonder what Jones could do if he got the rock more. Frank Hughes breaks down the ball distribution between the two running backs in today’s story. Here’s a quick look.

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No Matt Hasselbeck. Don't know what's going on there, but Mike Holmgren said on Wednesday morning that if he could go this week with the scout team, he could play next week against Arizona. No scout team. We'll find out tomorrow what all this means when Holmgren meets with us before flying off to south Florida.

A lot of tipped balls today in practice. And the tips went the same way the season has gone. On one, Kelly Jennings tipped a ball up in the air and Courtney Taylor came away with the pass. On another, Leroy Hill tipped the pass and gathered in the interception.

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WHO: Edward McMichael, “Tuba Man,” Seattle’s beloved sports & entertainment fan.

WHAT: A public celebration and memorial event to honor the passing of Edward McMichael. The event is free.

WHEN: Wednesday, November 12 at 6:30 p.m.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Qwest Field Event Center

Please enter the Qwest Field Event Center through the marquee entrance off Occidental Avenue.

PARKING: Fans are invited to park complimentary in the North Lot of Qwest Field at Qwest Field Event Center garage starting at 5:30 p.m.

DONATIONS: “The Commentators” on KOMO 1000 Newsradio are facilitating donation drop-offs at any Bank of America branch. Fans can send donations to cover funeral expenses to the following address:

Edward “the Tuba Man” McMichael Memorial Fund

P.O. Box 4985

Federal Way, WA 98063

We take a trip down memory lane this morning with TNT’s Dave Boling, who has covering the Seahawks for several years. Boling compares this year’s team to probably the worst team in franchise history, the 1992 team that finished 2-14. If you remember, that defense was pretty good, with Cortez Kennedy earning league defensive MVP honors, even though the Seahawks were horrible.

Boling covered the Seahawks back then, and looks back at everything that went wrong that season. If you think this season is bad, it’s a walk in a park compared to the 1992 campaign. Here’s an excerpt:

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Sam Rosen
Tim Ryan
Chris Myers

It finally felt like football season today. A little chill from the wind. Players wearing long-sleeve shirts under their shoulder pads. And the pristine practice fields at the team's practice facility are finally starting to get a little soggy.

Perhaps that bodes well for Seattle. It certainly can't get any worse (did I just say that). At 2-6, they can forget about the first part of the season, turn their attention to the next eight games and see if they can grind out some wins.

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Miami's Joey Porter leads the league in sacks with 11.5, and he's also one of the most outspoken players in the league. During our conference call with the Miami linebacker Porter was again brutally honest when answering questions tossed his way.

On his war of words with Denver receiver Brandon Marshall:

"For him to still be on that, I really did get in his head, obviously. He’s wasting time worrying about me and he’s supposed to have a game tomorrow, and he’s steady worrying about me, and I left Denver three days ago."

=> Read more!

In an effort to bring back Matt Hasselbeck slowly, Mike Holmgren said #8 could be running the scout team this week. If that goes well, he will take the next step.

Holmgren sounded more optimistic in this news conference than he has in some time. He sounded like Deion Branch might even be able to play. Branch will test the foot today, and depending on how it reacts tomorrow he could increase his practice time this week.

=> Read more!

Patrick Kerney, it turns out, does not have a torn labrum and just had to have his shoulder cleaned out. Mike Holmgren said he still does not know how long Kerney will be out, they will have a better idea when he gets back into town and can be looked at by the team's doctors. He will stay in Birmingham for a few days following the surgery and should be back with the team by the end of this week.

Holmgren said the team may have to sign somebody else to fill in if Kerney is out for an extended period, but he needs more information on the length of time he will be out before he can make a more informed decision.

Here are some of the defensive ends the Seahawks looked at on Tuesday, in case Patrick Kerney is done for the season. None of them certainly are as well known as Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila.

Patrick Chukwurah

Sean Conover

Angelo Craig

Kevin Huntley

Al Wallace

Kerney had surgery earlier today but there is no word yet on what they determined.

I spoke with Gbaja-Biamila's agent this afternoon, who said he has heard the Seahawks are bringing in three defensive ends this afternoon, but KGB is not one of them. He was released by the Green Bay Packers last week after recording a half sack so far this season.

Tim Ruskell's staff apparently set up these tryouts over the weekend, perhaps knowing the news on Kerney was not going to be good. KGB's agent said he didn't know who the three players are they are bringing in.

The formatting on the Web got screwed up on Frank’s midseason grade report, so I cleaned it up and posted it here.

RENTON – Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren on Monday afternoon was asked if there were any positives he could pull from the first half of this NFL season that has seen the Seahawks, decimated by injuries, fall to 2-6 and most likely out of the race for a playoff berth for the first time in six years.

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Some links to chew on this morning.

Seattle Seahawks

Quarterback Matt Hasselback and defensive end Patrick Kerney are likely out this week, although Hasselback may practice in a limited capacity this week, reports Frank Hughes. Kerney is having exploratory surgery on his re-injured shoulder and might be out for the year.

Dave Boling says the prudent thing to do is to let Hasselbeck heal up for the rest of the season and not get injured further in some meaningless games at the end of the year.

=> Read more!

(On if he envisions the possibility of going to the playoffs) – “I think every new season; every team goes into a new season thinking, obviously, the best. We went into the season thinking the best. We went into the season feeling like we had just as good of a chance to put ourselves in the mix as anyone else did. I don’t know right now whether or not that’s where we are, but I know is that today we wake up and we’re one of 15 teams, or 14 teams right now that have four or five wins in this league. We just kind of threw ourselves into the middle of something here and all we did right now; created an opportunity to have a real big game at home this week.”

=> Read more!

Nobody, it turned out, was in the locker room, so I am back sooner than expected.

Of the Kerney thing, I asked Holmgren if they have an interest in signing Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila if Kerney is done for the year. Holmgren said they have not yet had that discussion, but he is sure they have a "hot list" of people they want to sign if Kerney is out. Holmgren said he thought Jackson and Tapp did OK on Sunday, but that they wore down as the game went on because of the size of Philly's offensive line.

Matt Hasselbeck is getting stronger but is not likely to come back this week. Holmgren said he did have his doubts that Hass would play again this year, but he said he thinks Hass will be back sooner rather than later. Lofa and Weaver are likely to practice on Wednesday.

=> Read more!

I have to go to the locker room in a second, but wanted to blog real quickly that Pat Kerney is having exploratory surgery today or tomorrow, most likely. If it is a minor injury, he will be out for a few weeks. If he tore his labrum again, he is done for the year. I'll blog the rest of the news conference when I get back from the locker room.

It's probably time to stick a fork in the Seahawks for 2008. At 2-6, Seattle is three games behind Arizona, 34-13 winners over St. Louis on Sunday, in the NFC West division at the midpoint of the season.

After a promising performance against San Francisco last week, Seattle laid another egg against the Eagles. The offense in particular failed to get anything going, with seven drives of three-and-outs and 233 yards of total offense.

The Hawks now travel to Miami next week, followed by two home games against Arizona and Washington.

Seattle does still have two games against the Cardinals, but at this point it seems like the Hawks are playing for draft position.

Agreed? Let us know in the comments section.

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KOREN ROBINSON

(On the 90 yard touchdown reception…) “Trying to just do my job and be a professional. It is tough to talk about, it’ a tough loss and things are not going so well for us. I’m working hard and trying to be a spark on the offensive side of the ball, I’m trying to make something happen. I had a couple of good catches and the long catch touchdown catch. It is just tough.”

(On changes in the offense from last week’s game to this week…) “The opponent. Coach Holmgren is still coaching hard and we are still playing hard. Our defense is still playing hard. You have to tip your hat to Philadelphia, they are having a great year. [Donovan]McNabb is playing great, and their defense is playing great.”

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The Seahawk defense had their moments early, including this stick of Philly receiver DeSean Jackson by Seahawk linebacker Leroy Hill, Sunday, November 2, 2008. (Drew Perine/The News Tribune)
See a slide show from the game.

MIKE WAHLE

(On the ‘offensive identity’…) “We’re not playing very well right now. I’d say, the offensive identity…We all just need to play better as individuals and collectively. There’s things out there, there’s plays that we made, I think when we watch the film tomorrow it’s like every week: a block here, a block there, something pops. Then all of a sudden you have a couple of big plays. This league is about big plays. You have a couple big plays and all of a sudden you’re having a good game. That’s what we’re missing out on right now. It’s certainly a concerted effort on the whole team.”

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CRAIG TERRILL

(On the state of the team….) “We have been fighting and we will continue to keep fighting. We are coming into work each day and keep going.”
(On the play of the defense in the first quarter…) “It was awesome and that is what we want. We came in here and set the tempo and the defense. They had figured out some things and we missed a few big plays.”

=> Read more!

(On the long touchdown on the first play of the game…) That was actually one of our second calls that we were going to go with. We had a reverse set up for the first play of the game, but we had bad field position, so we didn’t want to call that. We wanted to go at Sheldon Brown with a double-move, and Koren did a great job, and I just got the ball to him and he did the rest. I felt and saw the corner jump him big time, and Koren ran by him, and it was single safety, and I just knew I had to get the ball to him. I knew it was going to be a big play, but I didn’t think it was going to go for a [90] yard touchdown, which it did. He did a great job.

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(Opening…) Well, it was a tough one. The Philadelphia Eagles are a good football team. As has been the case the last few weeks, we had to play a near perfect offensive football game to take some of the pressure off our defense, and we dropped a couple of balls I felt we should have had. I don’t think I’m going to like the protection too much, when I look at the film. I am anticipating that, maybe that’s not the case. And our defense played very, very hard. They kept them out of the end zone for the most part. Again, the thing that has been our Achilles Heel a little bit this season, for them, is the one on one pass matchups. They got a couple of those, and we can’t score enough points to help them enough. They are trying hard, it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart, but we are not getting enough to show for it.

=> Read more!

This is an unedited version of my game story that will appear in tomorrow's News Tribune:

By Frank Hughes

The optimism that was established in San Francisco last week and fed the starved Seattle Seahawks for seven days gave way to reality on Sunday afternoon at Qwest Field.
That’s when the team formerly known as the NFC West champions saw their hope diminish to a mere trickle with a rather unsettling 26-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle’s third home loss in four games this year, something that was virtually unthinkable only 12 months ago.
But if the Seahawks have not already realized their fate, the 68,055 on hand certainly did. With Arizona’s 34-13 road victory over the St. Louis Rams, the Seahawks (2-6) are now three games behind their desert rivals (5-3) with only eight left to play.
Barring fortune intervening in dramatic fashion, that hardly seems like enough time left to salvage their reign, which consisted of four straight division titles and five consecutive trips to the postseason.

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Mike Holmgren's postgame press conference was odd, it dealt with a whole lot of questions regarding individual plays rather than big picture stuff, perhaps because there were so many questionable things that happened in this game.

1) Holmgren took the blame for Seneca's spike on third down at the end of the half. Holmgren said it was a miscommunication. He wanted Seneca to spike the ball when they got a first down. He said he just assumed they were going to get a first down because the Eagles were playing soft and he called a draw. When they didn't get the first down, Seneca still spiked it. "That's what Mike wanted me to do, so I did it," Wallace said. Holmgren did go on to say that he was not happy with some of the sloppiness in the game, and that if he was sitting in the stands he would be saying to himself, "What are these guys doing?" The two special teams substitutions fall into that category.

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The Eagles' place kicker is going to have to ice his leg. He kicked yet another field goal for a 26-7 lead, and the Eagles victory will drop the Hawks to 2-6 with just eight games left to play. Arizona won today, so the Cardinals hold a three-game lead in the division.

I'm heading down to the field, but I'll be back with postgame stuff from the locker room.

The Eagles are dissecting Seattle's defense right now, driving down the field to allow David Akers to kick yet another FG, a 42-yarder, his third of the game. Philly leads 23-7.

The Eagles marched down the field again, this time on the strength of a 39-yard pass play to tight end Brent Celek, who has 131 yards receiving so far. The Seahawks' did a nice job inside the 10, setting back Philly on three tries to force a field goal by David Akers. Philly leads, 20-7.

Big Red left the game when I blogged about it earlier, but he came back for a few series. He left again, though, and is now in the locker room.

The Seahawks look completely discombobulated.

Besides Seneca Wallace inexplicably spiking the ball on third down, the Seahawks now have failed to have 11 men on the field during punt coverage twice now. The first time, it was Mo Morris' fault. The second time, it was Jordan Kent.

I'm not sure what happened on that false start on 4th and 10. Mike Wahle and Walter both jumped, but it looked like Chris Spencer was catching some grief on the sidelines, so he may not have snapped it on time. I can't imagine Holmgren is very pleased right now at all.

Philadelphia forced Seattle into a 3-and-out to start the second half, then drove down the field and kicked a 39-yard field goal for a 17-7 lead.

McNabb had 13 consecutive completions before his pass on 3rd-and-2 missed. The Seahawks are getting very little pressure on McNabb, their smaller defensive linemen unable to get around and past Philly's big offensive line. I've been watching Lawrence Jackson a little and he is doing almost nothing.

Beyond the big play to Koren Robinson on the Seahawks' first offensive play, Seattle has not done a great deal this half, though their defense was steadfast until the end, when Philly scored a late TD to take a 14-7 lead.

Donovan McNabb missed his first six pass attempts and the Seahawks initially got a good pass rush. But McNabb is starting to heat up and the Eagles are mixing in Brian Westbrook pretty well.

Kelly Jennings continues to get sizzled; he gave up a 26-yard pass play to Kevin Curtis in the final minute, allowing Curtis to get to the 1 with a nice move on which Jennings whiffed. A play later, McNabb threw to offensive tackle Todd Herremans, who was eligible as a receiver.

The Seahawks' offense has been fitful. They make a good play, but then can't sustain it, which has kind of been the story for the past month.

One question: On fourth and 1, the Seahawks stopped McNabb on a QB sneak and the ball came out. The officials said his forward progress had been stopped -- but isn't that the same play with Aaron Rodgers, where they stopped him, he got up and ran into the end zone? Just askin.

Donovan McNabb hit Reggie Brown for a 22-yard touchdown to tie the score at 7. On the scoring play, McNabb threw an out to Brown. Marcus Trufant missed on the knockdown, then let Brown's leg slip through his grasp on the attempted tackle. Brown broke free and walked into the end zone. It was a six-play, 80-yard drive.

Big Red came hobbling off a few plays ago and is sitting on the training table having his right ankle looked at.

After a 44-yard pass play took the Eagles to Seattle's 18, Deon Grant picked off a Donovan McNabb pass to DeSean Jackson in the end zone to save a TD. It's the first turnover of the game.

David Hawthorne is now on the table and they are working pretty hard on his right calf.

Hawthorne is on the sideline with trainers doing some stretching exercises. I can't really tell what is bothering him but it appears to be his lower leg. I'll keep an eye on it.

Wow, what a start. On Seattle's first play from scrimmage, Seneca Wallace hit Koren Robinson on a 90-yard TD pass, the longest play in franchise history. Robinson had the previous long as well, 83 yards.

Robinson came off the line of scrimmage, and Wallace pump-faked, which made Lito Sheppard bite. Robinson caught the pass in stride, cut inside at about the 50, picked up a huge block from Bobby Engram on Sheppard at about the 30, and Robinson ended up in the right side of the end zone for a 7-0 lead. Qwest is vibrant right now.

Seattle inactives

K Brandon Coutu
QB Matt Hasselbeck
LB Lofa Tatupu
G Mansfield Wrotto
WR Deion Branch
TE Will Heller
DT Howard Green
DE Patrick Kerney

Owen Schmitt will start for Leonard Weaver
D.D. Lewis will start for Lofa Tatupu

Philadelphia inactives

FB Kyle Eckel
LB Joe Mays
DE Bryan Smith
G Shawn Andrews
G Mike McGlynn
WR Jason Avant
TE L.J. Smith
QB A.J. Feeley

Max Jean-Gilles will start for Shawn Andrews
DeSean Jackson will start for Reggie Brown

Good morning folks, it's turned into a sunny day down here at Qwest Field, though there are intermittent bursts of gray clouds. I have not yet seen Lofa Tatupu out on the field warming up, I'll blog something if and when I do.

Today's officials are:

Referee Mike Carey
Umpire Dan Ferrell
Head linesman Dana McKenzie
Line judge Tom Barnes
Field judge Buddy Horton
Side judge Don Carlsen
Back judge Don Carey
Replay Tommy Moore

Brian Westbrook can hurt you in so many ways. He’s explosive, shifty and quick. And he has the type of acceleration to jet away from would-be tacklers for big gains.

He’s one of the best pass-catching, running backs in the game, and can make defenders look silly in the open field. And he’s also a willing blocker in the passing game.

But don’t take my word for it. Watch for yourself. He’s ridiculous.

The only saving grace for Seattle is Westbrook still is a little banged up. He missed two of Philadelphia’s past three games with broken ribs. He’s also been hampered by an ankle injury, but played well against Atlanta last week, gaining a career-high 167 yards and two touchdowns.

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I forgot to mention this in yesterday's post-practice file, but Mike Holmgren got to hand out game balls for the first time in what seemed like forever. They went to:

C.J. Wallace -- special teams

Josh Wilson -- defense

Leonard Weaver -- offense

Decent chances, you say?

That would be one view, given they are only two games behind the Arizona Cardinals in the division and still have two games left against the Cards, who are prone to, well, choke.

But I did a little digging, on which I am basing my Sunday preview story. Guess how many teams in NFL history have started their season 1-5 and have gone on to make the playoffs? Go ahead, guess.

Exactly one. The 1970 Cincinnati Bengals. And that was during a 14-game season. No teams have accomplished the feat since the league went to a 16-game season in 1978.

That Bengals team actually started the season 1-6. They won their opener, dropped six straight, then reeled off seven straight wins to win the division at 8-6. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to Baltimore, which eventually won the title that season.

The quarterbacks coach on that Bengals team? Bill Walsh.