The Seattle Seahawks (2-4) are on the road Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys (4-2).  After Matt Hasselbeck missed two games with broken ribs, he came back with authority two weeks ago and led the Seahawks to a 41-0 win over Jacksonville.  It looked to be a fluke though, as the offense was nearly non-existent and lost 27-3 to Arizona.  If they want to keep up with the Cowboys and their high scoring offense, they will need a big game out of Hasselbeck and will definitely need more than 5 yards out of Julius Jones, which was the running back’s total last week.

The Seahawks defense will have their hands full with Tony Romo and his new favorite target Miles Austin.  Austin was a nobody up until week five when he got his first start of his career.  In the Cowboys last two games, Austin has 421 yards on 16 catches and four touchdowns.  They also have to deal with a Cowboys running game that averages 153 yards a game, with Marion Barber leading the way for them.  I think the Cowboys offense will put too many points on the board for the Seahawks to keep up with and it may be a blowout.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Seattle Seahawks 14, Dallas Cowboys 31

The Seattle Seahawks have shut down veteran offensive tackle Walter Jones for the season to continue his rehab for surgery on both knees.  Jones will go right into the Hall of Fame five years after he retires and the Seahawks will miss him the rest of the year.  The Seahawks really need someone to step up at LT and protect Matt Hasselbeck’s back side or the season will end in disappointment once again.

The Seahawks have released 25-year old OT Kyle Williams.  Williams played in 3 games (1 start) for the Seahawks this season but it was his start last week that pretty much ended his career in Seattle as he couldn’t block anyone.  Williams played 2 years with the Seahawks appearing in 7 games (3 starts) in his time there.  The Seahawks won’t miss Williams at all even if he hooks up with another team which is likely to happen.

The Seahawks have likely lost starting inside linebacker Lofa Tatupu for the remainder of the season due to a torn pectoral muscle.  He likely ends this season with 32 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 2 passes defensed.  David Hawthorne will likely replace him and he has had a solid year so far with 27 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception.  Hawthorne will likely do a decent job replacing Tatupu but this really hurts the linebacker depth of the Seahawks.

The Seattle Seahawks (2-4) could not get anything going offensively against the Arizona Cardinals (3-2) and got crushed.  Going into this game I thought Matt Hasselbeck would continue the success he had last week where he had four touchdowns.  I was way off, as Hasselbeck only got 112 yards on 10/29 attempts (34%) and had two turnovers (INT, fumble lost).  The running game was even worse for the Seahawks.  Julius Jones, Justin Forsett, Edgerrin James, and Matt Hasselbeck combined for only 14 yards on 11 carries (1.3 avg).  The Seahawks’ offense needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out how they can perform like they did in their 41-0 win over the Jaguars last week.

The defense failed to contain Cardinals’ quarterback Kurt Warner and his star wide-receiver Larry Fitzgerald.  Warner threw for 276 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception on 32/41 attempts (78%).  Fitzgerald caught 13 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.  The Seahawks did do a good job stopping the run, holding the Cardinals to 62 rushing yards on 25 carries (2.5 avg).  They had a huge blow to their defense though, as Lofa Tatupu tore his pectoral muscle and is now out for the season.  He is one of their top defenders and the Seahawks are really going to miss their linebacker.  David Hawthorne is going to replace him.  The Seahawks have a bye week which gives them time to adjust their offense for the Dallas Cowboys in week eight.

The Seattle Seahawks are glad to have Matt Hasselbeck back in action as he is so much better than Seneca Wallace.  He has completed 53 of 84 passes (63.1%) for 617 yards with 7 TD passes and only 2 interceptions (103.4 QB Rating).  Hasselbeck has also carried the ball 7 times for 38 yards (5.4 ypc) this season but the Seahawks are going to discourage him from doing that in the future as that is how he was injured against the 49ers.  The Seahawks are a playoff caliber team with Matt Hasselbeck under center but without them they would be picking very high in next April’s draft so they need to keep him healthy.

With Julius Jones being so-so this season and Edgerrin James not playing well at all it’s only a matter of time before Justin Forsett starts getting more P.T. at running back.  Forsett has carried the ball 16 times for 99 yards (6.2 ypc) and he has caught 9 passes for 65 yards (7.2 avg) so far this season.  He has been doing the bulk of his work on special teams for the Seahawks so far this season.  He has returned 7 kickoffs for 164 yards (23.4 avg) and he has also returned 8 punts for 30 yards (3.8 avg).  With Forsett having big duties on special teams I don’t see him being a featured back for the Seahawks any time soon but he still can get more touches on offense.

 The Seattle Seahawks (2-3) are at home Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals (2-2).  The Seahawks are very happy to have their starting quarterback Matt Hasselback back, as he had a great game last week after missing the previous two with a rib injury.  He went 18 for 30 with 241 yards and four touchdowns and no interceptions in their 41-0 win last week over the Jacksonville Jaguars.  I’m expecting another big game from Hasselback since the Cardinals have one of the worst pass defenses in the league.  They give up an average of 303 passing yards per game.  Their run defense is very good though, so don’t expect too much from the Hawks running game.

The Cardinals passing game is one of the best in the league with quarterback Kurt Warner and wide-receiver Larry Fitzgerald leading the way.  They average 279 passing yards per game, almost as much as their defense gives up.  They don’t have much of a run game though, so the Seahawks can key in on shutting Warner and Fitzgerald down.  Warner has passed for 1165 yards and six touchdowns with a 66% completion rat.  He has thrown four interceptions though, so he does make some mistakes.  I think this will be a bit of a shootout, but the difference maker will be the lack of pass-defense by the Cardinals.  Hasselback should have an easy time sitting in the pocket and picking apart the Cardinals secondary, so I think the Seahawks will win this one.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Arizona Cardinals 31, Seattle Seahawks 37

The Seahawks have signed 32-year old OT Damion McIntosh.  He could move right into the starting lineup at LT for the Seahawks next weekend against the Cardinals.  He started all 16 games for the Chiefs last season.  He has now played in 115 games (111 starts) in his 9-year NFL career.  McIntosh has the size needed at 6’4″, 320 pounds to protect Matt Hasselbeck’s blind side until Walter Jones is ready to return to action.

The Seattle Seahawks have lost starting left tackle Brandon Frye for the season due to a neck injury.  He was replaced last week by Kyle Williams who was just promoted off the practice squad last weekend.  Williams did a solid job last weekend but he will likely be a second teamer going forward.