The Seattle Seahawks didn’t play their best game of the year yesterday but they didn’t need to.  Matt Hasselbeck was a game manager yesterday completing 14 of 25 passes for 102 yards.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 18 yards (6.0 ypc) yesterday.  Justin Forsett was outstanding for the Seahawks yesterday with 22 carries for 130 yards (5.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  Nate Burleson led the way in the passing game for the Seahawks in St. Louis with 4 grabs for 46 yards (11.5 avg).  The Seahawks finished up with 265 total yards on offense (170 rushing, 95 passing) despite only possessing the football for 26:28. 

The defense were in a bend but don’t break mode yesterday and they were led by a trio of players who were making huge plays the whole game long.  Safety Jordan Babineaux led the way for the Seahawks with 13 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 QB hit.  LB David Hawthorne also had a very solid game with 7 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 1 QB hit.  CB Josh Wilson had 2 tackles, defensed 3 passes, had 1 QB hit and he returned a interception 65 yards for a TD!  The Rams finished up with 364 total yards on offense (113 rushing, 251 passing) in this game.  The Seahawks are now 4-7 on the season.

The Seahawks have won nine games in a row including a 28-0 beat-down in Seattle to open the season.  But, the Seahawks are 0-5 on the road this season and they have been outscored a combined 161-73!  Before Rams’ fans get too excited those games were against the Vikings, Colts, Cardinals, Cowboys and 49ers who are all superior teams to the Rams.  The Seahawks will likely try to jump the Rams early with the passing game in an attempt to get a quick lead which would force the Rams to throw more instead of handing the ball to Steven Jackson.  If Hasselbeck gets the time he needs to throw the ball he should be able to get it to WRs T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson and TE John Carlson.  Justin Forsett had a rough first game as the starting RB for the Seahawks against the Vikings but he should be able to find a lot more running room against the Rams who are allowing 146.4 yards rushing and 4.7 yards per carry this year. 

The Rams have really played pretty well the last three weeks winning one of them (vs. Lions) and losing 2 of them (vs. Saints and Cardinals).  The Rams will likely feed the ball to Steven Jackson as much as possible in this game as the Seahawks are allowing 110.5 yards rushing and 4.3 yards per carry.  The passing game might be of the deeper variety this week for the Rams as Kyle Boller will be starting for the injured Marc Bulger (broken leg).  The Seahawks are allowing 236.8 yards passing per game so far this season and opposing QBs have a 96.5 Rating against them so the Rams could have some success throwing the ball.

PREDICTION:  RAMS 27, SEAHAWKS 23

The Seattle Seahawks (3-7) held the Minnesota Vikings (9-1) scoreless in the first quarter, but the Vikings’ offense figured things out quick and put up 21 points in the second quarter.  There wasn’t much the Seahawks defense did well on Sunday, as Brett Favre had a huge day at quarterback and the Vikings’ running backs ran all over the place.  Favre completed 22/25 passes for 213 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor combined for 155 yards on 35 carries.  The Seahawks defense looked lost out there and Favre took advantage of that.  David Hawthorne was the only one who really came to play for the Hawks’ defense, getting 15 total tackles, including 11 solo tackles.

The Seahawks offense was not much better than their defense.  They had 2 turnovers and Matt Hasselbeck failed to find the endzone.  Hasselbeck threw for 231 yards on 19/26 passes, but had an interception.  They didn’t put any points up until the end of the third quarter when Olindo Mare hit a 40-yard field goal.  They finally got a touchdown with 8 minutes left in the game when Justin Forsett ran it in from the 1-yard line, but the game was already over by then.  The Seahawks were completely over-matched in this contest.

24-year old linebacker David Hawthorne is stepping up big time for the Seattle Seahawks this year.  He has played in all 10 games for the Seahawks and he has 71 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles, 3 sacks, 5 passes defensed and he has 3 interceptions.  The Seahawks have been having issues on defense this season but it’s not been Hawthorne’s fault as he looks like a player the team can build a defense around.

The Seattle Seahawks (3-6) have a huge challenge this week, taking on the Minnesota Vikings (8-1) on the road.  The Seahawks are going to need their best game of the year if they want to come out with a win.  I’m not so sure they will be able to do that, as Matt Hasselbeck is going to get pressured all game by the Vikings front line.  Jared Allen leads that line and has been wreaking havoc on quarterbacks all season.  He has 35 tackles and 10.5 sacks so far this season, so Hasselbeck will need to get rid of the ball quick.  That limits what the Seahawks can do offensively, so they will need another big game out of Justin Forsett.  Forsett, who is replacing the injured Julius Jones, rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.  The Hawks still lost that game though, so they will need Hasselbeck to play flawless as well.

The Seahawks defense is in over their heads in this matchup.  The Vikings have a hall-of-fame quarterback in Brett Favre and the best running back in the game right now in Adrian Peterson.  The Seahawks give up too many yards on the ground (105 yard avg.) and through the air (233 yard avg.), so Favre and Peterson may put up some big numbers against them.  I just don’t see the Hawks having enough weapons to slow down the Vikings, and it could get it ugly.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Minnesota Vikings 38, Seattle Seahawks 17

The Seahawks have signed 24-year old running back Xavier Omon to their practice squad.  He played in 5 games earlier this season for the Bills and he carried the ball 5 times for 22 yards (4.4 ypc) and he also returned 1 kickoff for 26 yards.  Omon has now played in 7 games in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 11 times for 27 yards (2.5 ypc).  Omon was signed to give the Seahawks depth with Julius Jones out of action due to injury.

The Seahawks have lost starting running back Julius Jones for a while due to a bruised chest.  Jones has played in 9 games for the Seahawks so far this season and he has carried the ball 107 times for 392 yards (3.7 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He has also caught 20 passes for 177 yards (8.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  First up to replace Jones will be Justin Forsett.  Forsett has played in all 9 games for the Seahawks this season and he has 37 carries for 246 yards (6.6 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 21 passes for 166 yards (7.9 avg) so far this season.  Look for Forsett to do a good job while Jones is out of action.  Louis Rankin will also move up on the depth chart for the Seahawks at running back.  Rankin has played in 2 games for the Seahawks so far this season and he has carried the ball 3 times for 24 yards (8.0 ypc) and he has also caught 3 passes for 24 yards (8.0 avg).  The Seahawks appear to be in good hands if Julius Jones has to miss some time.

The Seattle Seahawks (3-6) took an early lead on the Arizona Cardinals (6-3), but they could not hold on to it.  The Seahawks had a 7-0 lead after one, when Justin Forsett scored on an 11-yard run.  Matt Hasselbeck and John Carleson put the Seahawks up 14-0 when they connected on a 31 yard touchdown pass.  The Cardinals finally answered with a Kurt Warner touchdown pass and then both teams hit field goals to put the halftime score at 17-10.  Hasselbeck was having a good game until late, when he threw two interceptions.  The Cardinals had come back and had a lead late in the game, when Hasselbeck’s comeback efforts turned into interceptions.  He finished with 315 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions on  26/52 pass attempts.  He and T.J. Houshmandzadeh hooked up for some big plays and Housh finished with 165 receiving yards on 9 catches.  Justin Forsett ran the ball great for the Seahawks, but could not get into the endzone after his first quarter score.  He finished with 123 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.

It looked like the Seahawks defense knew how to shut down the explosive Arizona offense, as they held them scoreless for most of the first half.  It seems as though the Cardinals were just off to a slow start and the Hawks’ defense was not the main reason why.  Kurt Warner and the Cardinals offense when on to score 21 points in the second half.  They let rookie Beanie Wells run all over them and he scored twice.  He hurt them in the running game (85 yards on 16 carries) as well as the passing game (32 yards on 2 catches).  Warner sealed the win late in the 4th when he hit Larry Fitzgerald for an 18-yard touchdown pass.  The Seahawks put up a good effort, but they need to do a better job keeping a lead and coming out ready to play in the second half.  They were outscored 21-3 after halftime.

The Seattle Seahawks (3-5) are on the road against the Arizona Cardinals (5-3) Sunday and are still looking for their first win against a good team.  Their three wins have come against the Rams, Jaguars, and Lions.  Matt Hasselbeck played great last week, setting a franchise record for completions in a game with 39.  It was against the Lions though, so don’t expect another record breaking performance from Hasselbeck.  They will need Hasselbeck to be on top of his game if they want a chance in this one though.  They will also need more out of Julius Jones than they got last week, as he will be needed in this one unlike last week where he only got 36 yards on 16 carries.

The Seahawks defense will need to play one of their best games of the year if they want to even keep it close.  Kurt Warner threw 5 touchdowns against the Bears last week and he has the best receiver in the game to throw to:  Larry Fitzgerald.  Fitgerald is averiging 12 yards per catch and has 7 touchdowns, including 2 last game.  They only average 79 rushing yards per game, so the defense can focus on Warner and the passing game.  The Cardinals offense can really put the points up quick though, so I think the Seahawks will be overmatched.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Arizona Cardinals 34, Seattle Seahawks 20

The Seattle Seahawks (3-5) had one of the worst quarters of the year and found themselves down 17-0 against the terrible Detroit Lions (1-7) after the first quarter.  On the Seahawks first play, Matt Hasselbeck was intercepted and the Lions returned it all the way to the 2-yard line.  Their rookie quarterback Mathew Stafford was able to hit Brandon Pettigrew for a quick 7-0 lead.  On the Seahawks’ second play, they turned it over again when Justin Griffith fumbled and the Lions recovered.  This led to another Lions touchdown.  The Seahawks looked awful once again on their third possesion, turning the ball over on downs which led to a Lions field goal.  The Seahawks played absolutely awful in the first quarter, but Matt Hasselbeck and Hawks’ responded big time and came back for a convincing victory.

After such a bad first quarter, it looked like the Seahawks were going to be embarrassed by one of the worst teams in the league.  Hasselbeck came out firing in the second quarter, despite hurting his shoulder in the first quarter.  He went on to throw 329 yards and a touchdown while completing a franchise record 39 passes on 51 attempts.  Hasselbeck showed great leadership and did not give up in this one, leading the Seahawks to an exciting comeback win.  The Hawks’ defense did more than their fare share at getting back in the game.  They held the Lions to only 55 rushing yards and picked off Stafford five times, including Josh Wilsons’ late game interception which he returned 61 yards for a game sealing touchdown.  The Hawks showed great resilience in this game, but if they were playing anyone besides the Lions that terrible first quarter probably would have cost them the game.  They need to make sure they come out ready to play as soon as that first whistle is blown.