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.”

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(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.

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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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