Rams overpower Hawks

ST. LOUIS – On Seattle’s first offensive play of the game, Matt Hasselbeck knocked knees with running back Shaun Alexander, leaving the Seahawks’ quarterback with a bruised muscle in his right thigh and the passing game without a healthy leg to stand on.

On St. Louis’ first offensive play of the game, quarterback Marc Bulger completed a 21-yard pass to Isaac Bruce, igniting a fast-and-furious first quarter that left the Seahawks’ defense without a clue as to how to slow – let alone stop – the Rams’ offense.

Those two plays provided a pretty good indication of how the Rams stormed to a 17-0 lead and then held on for a 23-12 victory over the Seahawks yesterday, leaving both teams tied for the NFC West lead at 5-4.

Except, that is, that so many other plays went into telling the complete story of what transpired at the Edward Jones Dome, and what separates these two teams. “They executed when they had to, and we didn’t,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “That was the story.”

Trite, but so true.

The Rams exploded to their 17-point lead by doing what this team always does – throwing the ball – on their first 13 plays. But somehow the Seahawks were unprepared to stop it. “I thought they’d try to establish a little more running game,” linebacker Anthony Simmons said. “They came out on fire and they got a nice rhythm going early.”

Bulger was en fuego I

In the first 15 minutes, Bulger completed 12 of 15 passes for 158 yards, one touchdown and a passer rating of 132.8. He finished with 23 completions in 34 attempts, Bruce caught seven passes for 104 yards and Marshall Faulk ran for 139 yards against a Seahawks’ unit that entered the game ranked fifth in the league in rushing defense. And they did it methodically, and at times manically, as they put together scoring drives of 86, 81, 73 and 71 yards.

Regardless of what the Seahawks did, Bulger and Rams coach Mike Martz had an answer. The Seahawks blitzed, and Bulger beat it. They played zone coverage, and the receivers found the creases. They played man-to-man, and Bulger’s receivers still made the plays.

“I don’t think we were up emotionally enough for the game,” Simmons said. “They were and we weren’t.”

It might have had something to do with the live-tackling drills Martz put his players through in practice Wednesday, or the weeklong snit that he was in after the Rams had dropped back-to-back games.

Still, the Seahawks hung around, and hung around, and hung around – thanks primarily to a 176-yard rushing effort by Alexander. But their inability to put the ball in the end zone, despite having the ball at the Rams’ 10-, 12-, 23- and 27-yards lines, gave them no chance to storm back from 17 points down – as the Rams did in the final six minutes of their Week 5 overtime win in Seattle.

“In the red zone, we dropped a couple of balls that would have made a difference, and we missed a couple of throws, so we had to settle for the field goals,” Holmgren said. “That had a big impact, as you can see by the outcome.”

Where to start with the wouldas, couldas and shouldas on this lost day?

Hasselbeck’s “charley horse.” It preceded a 15 of 36, 172-yard, 45.1-passer rating performance.

A Hasselbeck pass to tight end Jerramy Stevens late in the first quarter that was intercepted at the Rams’ 1-yard line by cornerback Jerametrius Butler. Hasselbeck was attempting to get the ball to Stevens in the corner of the end zone. Stevens never got there, as he appeared to stop running rather than run over another Rams defender.

“That was our chance to answer back and make a game of it early,” Hasselbeck said. “I am not sure what happened there, though.”

A Hasselbeck pass that went through the hands of wide receiver Darrell Jackson into the end zone on third down in the second quarter, which forced the Seahawks to settle for the second of four field goals by Josh Brown.

“That was my bad,” Jackson said. “I think I used the wrong judgment on the way to catch the ball. I tried to cradle it up here (by his shoulder) instead of catching it with my hands. So it was just my fault.”

Fullback Mack Strong being stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-1 play to end the Seahawks’ first possession of the second half. They have the NFC’s leading rusher in Alexander, but he wasn’t even on the field in such a critical situations. Said Strong, “I just didn’t get it. That’s one of those plays you’ve got to be able to make.”

Offered center Robbie Tobeck, “We didn’t block it right.”

The Seahawks failed to score a touchdown for the first time since a Week 11 loss to the Denver Broncos in 2002.

“You know, we wanted this game,” linebacker Chad Brown said. “It would have given us a nice lead in the division, and for us to blow it. With all the games we’ve lost this year, we’ve blown it. ‘We blew it’,” he added. “That, and the fact that it’s the Rams, makes this one feel really bad.”