OLYMPIAN :Capitol comeback

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Capitol comeback

SCOTT M. JOHNSON FOR THE OLYMPIAN

LANDOVER, Md.

In a season that has seen far more success than failure, the Seattle Seahawks' most frustrating battles have been with the team's propensity to drop passes and its habit of dropping games on the road.

The two problems arose again Sunday, leaving the Seahawks wondering what might have been. Darrell Jackson's dropped pass-turned-interception on the final drive of the game cost Seattle the opportunity at another comeback victory as Washington held on for a 27-20 upset at FedEx Field.

More than anything, Sunday's loss was an exercise in how to drop a victory that seemed at times like a sure thing.

"We keep giving away these games on the road that I know we should get," Jackson said after the team suffered its third consecutive loss away from Seahawks Stadium. "We've got to get the job done. We're doing so much talking and making excuses, but we've just got to get the job done all the way around."

Jackson was speaking for himself more than anyone. He dropped three passes Sunday, giving him an eye-popping 14 this season. His biggest drop came on Seattle's final play, as a ball that bounced off his pads went into the air and was intercepted by the Redskins' Fred Smoot with 38 seconds remaining. Had Jackson caught the ball, the Seahawks would have had a third-and-5 at the Washington 25-yard line.

Washington (3-5) rallied from an early 14-3 deficit, taking advantage of a number of Seattle mistakes on its way to snapping a four-game losing streak.

Rod Gardner's 10-yard touchdown pass to Trung Canidate on a gimmick play with 1:57 remaining held up as the game-winning score.

Seattle's unraveling happened well before the final drive. The Seahawks (6-3) opened the game by turning over the ball when return man Maurice Morris mishandled a kickoff that was eventually recovered by Washington. That led to a field goal and a 3-0 Washington lead, but Seattle quickly took control.

Two long scoring drives on Seattle's first two offensive possessions opened up a 14-3 lead in a game that appeared to be well on its way to being a blowout. At that point, the Seahawks held a 147-34 lead in total yards.

Things continued to go Seattle's way early in the second quarter, when safety Damien Robinson intercepted a pass at the Washington 28-yard line and had a clear path to the end zone. Robinson got all the way to the 2-yard line before receiver Laveranues Coles caught him from behind and forced a fumble. Washington recovered in its own end zone for a touchback, then drove down the field for a touchdown.

"It's just football," Robinson said. "If I would have scored, would it have turned the game around? Who knows. That's just the way it happens. It happened to me, and all I can do is try to come back and finish the game strong."

On that same drive, Seattle got a second interception, this time by cornerback Shawn Springs. But a pass-interference call on teammate Marcus Trufant wiped that one out, and eventually Coles scored on a 15-yard reception to cut the deficit to 14-10.

Another touchdown pass, this time from Patrick Ramsey to Rod Gardner, tied the score at 17 with six seconds left in the first half. Instead of the very real possibility of leading 24-10 at the half, the Seahawks found themselves in a tight game.

"When you make mistakes, it negates your opportunity to put the game out of reach early," fullback Mack Strong said. "To their credit, they didn't give up. They stayed in the ballgame and did what they had to do."

Washington took their first lead midway through the third quarter on John Hall's 34-yard field goal, then Seattle's Josh Brown rebounded from a miss to hit a score-tying, 48-yard field goal with 9:59 remaining in the game.

The teams exchanged three-and-outs before Washington took possession of the ball at its own 16-yard line with 7:10 remaining in the game.

The Seahawks forced a fourth-and-inches on the Washington 27-yard line, but Washington coach Steve Spurrier opted to go for it and got the important first down. The drive continued deep into Seattle territory before the Seahawks called their final timeout with 2:02 remaining. Washington had a third-and-5 at Seattle's 10-yard line in a 20-20 game and could have settled for setting up the go-ahead field goal, but opted instead to pull out a trick play.

Giving the front of a screen play that had beaten the Seahawks all afternoon, Ramsey threw a backward pass to Gardner in the left flat. Gardner then threw back across the field to a wide-open Canidate in the right part of the end zone for a 27-20 lead.

"It was a great play call," Seattle's Robinson said. "Everyone on defense, when you play against a team that screens a lot, you're taught to close on the ball. So it was a great call at the perfect time because everybody was flowing to the ball."

The Seahawks, who have registered four game-winning drives this year, quickly worked their way back down the field on the next possession. Seattle went 35 yards in three plays to set up a first down with less than a minute to play. A dropped screen pass by Shaun Alexander -- one of five Seattle drops on the day -- stopped the clock with 44 seconds remaining, then a delay-of-game penalty moved the ball back 5 yards.

Looking at second-and-15 from the Washington 35, Seattle called a pass play that saw Jackson run an out pattern to the left sideline. The ball was perfectly thrown, but Jackson mishandled it, resulting in the clinching interception.

For the third time in as many road games, the Seahawks had to fly back to Seattle on a Sunday night wondering how a team with a losing record had knocked them off their pedestal.

Coach Mike Holmgren was quick to dispel any talk about the road affecting the team's performance, and the players apparently got the message.

"When you start talking about stuff like that, you develop a mental block," fullback Mack Strong said. "We just have to come out and make plays, whether we're at home or on the road. Wherever we go, it's the same size field that we have back in Seattle."

Only on the road, the Seahawks keep coming up a few yards short.

©2003 The Olympian