The Seattle Seahawks scored 17 unanswered points in the 4th quarter last night to beat the Chargers.  Seneca Wallace and a host of second year players led the charge.  Wallace completed 17 of 25 passes for 191 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 interception.  He also carried the football 5 times for 16 yards (3.2 ypc).  Matt Hasselbeck started the game at QB and he looked sharp completing 4 of 5 passes for 65 yards and a TD.  2nd year running back Marquis Weeks looked good last night as he carried the ball 5 times for 37 yards (7.4 ypc) with a TD.  Maurice Morris also looked pretty good carrying the ball 6 times for 26 yards (4.3 ypc).  Second year wideouts Ben Obomanu (5 rec, 83 yards, TD) and Chris Jones (4 rec, 49 yards) were both outstanding last night.  Veteran Deion Branch only caught one pass from Matt Hasselbeck but it was a 31 yard TD.  The Seahawks ran the ball 28 times for 107 yards (3.8 ypc) and they also completed 21 of 30 passes for 255 yards.

The defense was in bend but don’t break mode but they didn’t look good despite only allowing 16 points.  The Chargers ran the ball 22 times for 124 yards (5.6 ypc) and they completed 29 of 47 passes for 253 yards.  It’s still early in the pre-season but the coaches have some work to do with the defense.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270812024

The Seahawks still have Mack Strong as their starting fullback and he’s still playing at a high level.  Strong has played in 16 games (10 starts) and he carried the ball 33 times for 149 yards (4.5 ypc) with 1 TD run and he has caught 29 passes for 159 yards (5.5 avg).  Strong has now played in 196 career games (102 starts) and he has carried the ball 226 times for 890 yards (3.9 ypc) with 5 TD runs.  He also has caught 209 passes for 1,384 yards (6.6 avg) with 10 TD grabs.  Josh Parry is more of a receiver out of the backfield than a blocking fullback.  He played in 8 games last season (0 starts) and he caught 1 pass for 11 yards.  Parry has now played in 37 games (15 starts) and he has caught 23 passes for 175 yards (7.6 avg).  David Kirtman did not play as a rookie and it will be hard for him to do so this season.

Josh Brown had a good year in 2006 and the Seahawks will need him to either repeat it or improve on it.  Brown made 80.6% of his field goals last season and he converted all 36 extra points to finish with 111 points last season.  Brown made 15 of 17 field goals that were 39 yards or less and he made 10 of 14 kicks that were 40+ yards.

Brown has now played in 64 career NFL games and he has scored 444 points for an average of 6.9 points per game.  Brown has now made 88 of 111 (79.3%) of his field goal attempts and he has converted 180 of 181 field goals.

With the Madden Curse not being a factor this season look for Shaun Alexander to return to his perch as one of the best running backs in the NFL.  Alexander suffered through foot injuries last season and he never seemed to be 100%.  He played in 10 games (all starts) last season and he carried the ball 252 times for 896 yards (3.6 ypc) with 7 TD runs and he also caught 12 passes for 48 yards (4.0 avg) with 0 TD grabs.  Look for Alexander to go over 10,000 career yards rushing for his career as long as he stays healthy.  Alexander has now played in 106 games (86 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 1,969 times for 8,713 yards (4.4 ypc) with 96 TD runs.  He also has caught 200 passes for 1,435 yards (7.2 avg) with 11 TD grabs in his NFL career.

Maurice Morris got his big chance to step up while Alexander was injured and he didn’t take advantage of it.  Morris played in all 16 games (8 starts) and he carried the ball 161 times for 604 yards (3.8 ypc) with 0 TD runs and he also caught 11 passes for 46 yards (4.2 avg).  Morris is better when he can come in as a backup and change the pace a little bit.  He has now played in 74 games (11 starts) and he has carried the ball 332 times for 1,410 yards (4.2 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also has caught 32 passes for 304 yards (6.4 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Morris also has been a good kickoff returner in his NFL career as he has returned 129 kickoffs for 2,843 yards (22.0 avg) with 1 TD return.

Leonard Weaver missed last season due to injury but he is in line to be the #3 back for the Seahawks this season.  As a rookie in 2005 for the Seahawks he played in all 16 games and he carried the ball 17 times for 80 yards (4.7 ypc) and he caught 1 pass for 12 yards.