Seahawks.com:Redskins 27, Seahawks 20

[TK]

http://www.seahawks.com/ArDisplay.aspx?ID=3157

LANDOVER, MD - "It's frustrating."

Mike Holmgren's comment following the game neatly summarized the play of the Seahawks Sunday against the Redskins. In a game that harkened back to the debacle against the Bengals, Seattle managed to do enough things wrong to hand the Redskins a 27-20 win.

Once again Seattle had every reason to win this one. The Redskins were on a four-game losing streak, and their offensive line had given up 29 sacks this season, more than any other team in the NFL. But an on-going habit of playing down to the level of your competition pretty much negates any factors working in your favor, and what should have been a fairly easy win from the outset turned into yet another down-to-the-wire finish.

And the spate of winning games in the clutch is finally catching up with the Seahawks, who have now dropped two-straight on the road that have gone to the final moments.

Lack of focus? Lack of concentration? "It can be as simple as that," said Koren Robinson following the game. "We were going to air it out and go at them, but the mistakes were hard to overcome." With 23 dropped passes this season, the Seahawks are second to only the Detroit Lions for most drops.

It was a dropped catch that handed the ball to the Redskins on the opening kickoff. Maurice Morris muffed the kick, which the Redskins recovered on the Seattle 18. The Seahawks defense held the Redskins out of the endzone, and they had to settle for a 20-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Morris quickly atoned for the mistake with a 35-yard return on the ensuing kickoff to the Seattle 42. A personal foul penalty against the Redskins advanced the ball 15 yards to the Washington 43, and five plays later Matt Hasselbeck hit Bobby Engram alone in the endzone on a mis-direction play for a 7-3 lead.

The Seahawks defense again held the Redskins, and Seattle went back to work on a 15-play, 90-yard drive that ended with Shaun Alexander's 1-yard carry up the middle for a 14-3 lead.

Seattle took that lead into the second quarter and were handed the opportunity to put the game out of reach on the Redskins' first possession. Quarterback Patrick Ramsey's pass intended for WR Laveranues Coles is intercepted by Damien Robinson, who looked to have a sure return into the endzone. But Coles strips the ball away from Robinson and it's recovered by the Redskins in the endzone for a touchback. Instead of a 21-3 Seahawks lead, the ball is advanced to the 20, and the Redskins dodge a bullet.

And as Rudi Johnson would have a career running day for the Bengals against the Seahawks, so to would another unknown back named Rock Cartwright for the Redskins.

The Redskins take advantage with an 11-play, 8-yard drive that ends with Ramsey's 15-yard pass to Coles in the back of the endzone to pull Washington to within 14-10. Cartwright had two carries for 16 yards on the drive, and would prove to be a thorn in Seattle's side as the game progressed.

"We were primed," commented Holmgren. "We started the game well, except for the opening kickoff, and we had a chance to go up 21-3. But we didn't and it changed the complexion of the game."

Indeed it did. The Seahawks got to the Redskin 15, but Regan Upshaw's sack of Hasselbeck on second down all but ended any chance for the endzone, and the Seahawks settled for a 27-yard field goal and a 17-10 lead.

The Redskins responded with a no-huddle offense to drive the ball 66 yards in 7 plays, with Ramsey hitting a leaping Rod Gardner in the endzone to tie the game.

And instead of the Seahawks with a commanding lead at halftime, it was a 17-all tie and the Redskins with the momentum.

Washington came out throwing to start the second half, with Ramsey finding Coles on the end of a 64-yard pass on the second play. Ken Hamlin caught Coles at the 10 to avoid the go-ahead score. But Seattle's defense found it's form, and a Ramsey pass on 3rd & 5 intended for Coles is picked off by Anthony Simmons at the Seattle 5 to kill the drive.

The Seahawks were unable to convert the gift, and punted away from their own endzone to give the Redskins possession at the Seattle 46.

Washington returned the favor with a 7-play, 30-yard drive and a 27-yard field goal to take a 20-17 lead. The Seahawks responded with a drive to the Redskins 27, but a Hasselbeck sack sets up a 49-yard field goal attempt by Josh Brown that is down the middle but short, and the Redskins take over at their own 32.

The opening drive of the final quarter saw Hasselbeck sacked by Bruce Smith for a loss of 7. But quick strikes to Mack Strong and Bobby Engram moved the Hawks to the 50, and the offense looked to have regained it's form from the first quarter. The drive stalls at the Redskins 30 on a dropped pass by Koren Robinson, and Josh Brown's 49-yard field goal splits the uprights to tie the game.

The defense holds the Redskins to a quick three-and-out, but the Seahawks offense stalls on three Alexander carries that net 7 yards, the last an unthinkable collision between Hasselbeck and Alexander on 3rd and 1 that results in a two-yard loss. The Seahawks are forced to punt, and Rock Cartwright would make life difficult for the Hawks defense.

The Redskins put together an 84-yard drive in 11 plays, with Cartwright accounting for 37 yards, including a 21-yard burst up the middle to the Seattle 15. And on third and five at the Seattle 10, the Redskins reach into their bag of tricks for a play that would send the Seahawks reeling.

Patrick Ramsey takes the snap and laterals right to Rod Gardner, who launches a 10-yard pass to a wide-open Trung Canidate alone in the endzone for the go-ahead score. It was the first pass of Gardner's 3-year NFL career, and the first touchdown for Canidate this season.

The Seahawks use their final timeout two seconds before the two-minute warning, and come out of the break with the no-huddle offense. Starting from the Seattle 35, Hasselbeck quickly hits Jackson, Engram and Robinson for gains of 14, 3, and 16 yards to pull to the Washington 30 with 50 seconds to play. Another late drive with the game on the line, as has become the custom this season, but for the second time on the road it has the same outcome.

As the Bengals game ended on the final play with a turnover, so too would this one. With 44 seconds remaining, Matt Hasselbeck's pass to an open Darrell Jackson on the left sideline bounces off his shoulder pads and into the hands of CB Fred Smoot. The Redskins run out the clock, and the Seahawks once again are left wondering what happened.

Jackson again had a less than stellar outing with three dropped passes. "I expect him to catch any ball thrown to him," commented Mike Holmgren afterwards. "We didn't play very well, and it has nothing to do with being on the road. We dropped balls, we didn't convert a third and short (the Alexander-Hasselbeck collision), and we fumbled an interception."

"Darrell's a great player, and we tell him to keep his head up," commented Koren Robinson on Jackson. "Right now he's going through something and he's got to work out of it."

Lack of focus? Lack of concentration? The Seahawks once again beat themselves on the road in a game that should have been an easy win. Turnovers at Green Bay, at Cincinnati, and now at Washington have cost them in the standings. And it's games like this that loom large when the season is at an end and the playoffs are on the line.

"Any time you make mistakes it's going to cost you, and they made fewer mistakes than we did," said Mack Strong afterwards.

The lack of a pass rush hurt the Seahawks in a number of second and third-down situations, with Patrick Ramsey able to sustain drives without being driven from the pocket. Matt Hasselbeck's passes were on-target for the most part, but the drives can only continue if the receivers catch the ball, which is one of the major reasons the Seahawks dropped this game.

"You have the opportunity to catch the ball, but when it doesn't happen things begin to happen to stop your momentum," said Hasselbeck after the game. Hasselbeck was 19-29 for 241 yards, one touchdown and one interception (at the end of the game).

Anthony Simmons was succinct in his thoughts afterwards. "Guys are really disappointed," said Simmons. "Something's not right, and we've got to do something to fix it. They came out and played a hard game."

For a team on a four-game slide and 3-5 in the standings, it was the Redskins who took advantage of just about every opportunity handed to them. And two fumbles would result in ten points for the Redskins, which, unfortunately for Seattle, would be the difference in the game.

Shaun Alexander had a game-high 94 yards on 22 carries, with one touchdown. Laveranues Coles had a game-high 124 yards receiving on five receptions and one touchdown, including his 64-catch early in the third quarter.

Seattle is now 6-3 on the season, and will be in a first-place tie with St. Louis should the Rams beat Baltimore at home Sunday night. The Seahawks have seven games remaining, four of them on the road. Next up is Detroit, who at 3-6 are having their own struggles and could prove to be an antidote to what is ailing the Seahawks. But as the Hawks continue to demonstrate at home and on the road, nothing comes easy in the NFL.

"This is more disappointing (than the Cincinnati game)," offered Koren Robinson in a wrap-up. "We should be 8 and 1 right now, and we've got to bounce back."

The Seahawks return home to play those same Lions at Seahawks Stadium on Sunday, November 16. Kickoff is at 1 pm.

(Notes: The Redskins now have a four-game winning streak against the Seahawks, and are now 8-4 all-time against Seattle...Seattle's last win at Washington came on November 19, 1995 (27-20)...Mike Holmgren is now 0-3 all-time against Washington. Today's game was the 200th of Holmgren's career.)