Multitude of mistakes makes this an ugly Seahawks loss

This final season in Seattle finally touched coach Mike Holmgren's last nerve.

It was the third quarter, the Seahawks had the ball in the Eagles' half of the field, and a false-start penalty had already derailed his decision to go for it on fourth down. And for the second time in the game, the Seahawks had only 10 players on the field for punt coverage.

Seattle took a delay-of-game penalty, and the coach who had been frustrated was fuming. It was amazing Holmgren's baseball cap stayed on his head given the steam he was emitting.

"There were a couple times where we looked sloppy," he said. "That I can't tolerate."

To be fair, this was a game ugly enough to make Job curse a blue streak.

Seattle's offense showed all the mobility of a pet rock outside of a 90-yard touchdown pass to Koren Robinson on the Seahawks' first offensive play. The defense couldn't seem to sack Donovan McNabb no matter how many big, heavy projectiles they fired at him. And there were times Seattle appeared fit for a cartoon mascot.

M-I-C: See the Seahawks repeatedly fail to get 11 players on the field for punt coverage. K-E-Y: Why in the world did Seattle spike the ball on third down to force itself to punt in the second quarter? M-O-U-S-E.

This wasn't Seattle's worst loss of the year in terms of points; the Giants beat the Seahawks by 38 points on Oct. 5. Sunday's defeat wasn't a wasted opportunity like Seattle's Week 2 overtime loss to San Francisco. But the Seahawks had never appeared as incompetent this season as they did at certain points of Sunday's game.

Quarterback Seneca Wallace spiked the ball in the final minute of the second quarter to stop the clock, which would have been fine except it was third down. The Seahawks were stopping the clock in order to punt it away.

Holmgren took responsibility, having called a draw on second down and was pretty sure the middle of the Eagles defense would play soft.

"I told him, 'We'll get the first down and you spike it,' " Holmgren said. "We didn't get the first down, and he spiked it, and so that was mine."

That was the final play of a half that began at a historic peak and then took a nose dive into a ditch.

Holmgren's offense was going to come out aggressive. That was clear in his game plan, as he planned a reverse to Robinson for the first play from scrimmage. The plan was shelved by field position as Seattle got the ball at its 10.

Instead, Holmgren called for a double move, asking Robinson to sell a quick hitch as Wallace pump-faked. Lito Sheppard bit on that move like he was Dracula, and Robinson raced under the ball down the sideline, cut inside of safety Brian Westbrook and reached the end zone thanks to a block from Bobby Engram that was so stiff Engram bloodied his lip.

The 90-yard touchdown was the longest play in franchise history and the only real offensive highlight on a day when Seattle's next 28 offensive plays gained a combined total of 88 yards. The Seahawks crossed midfield only once in the final three quarters.

But those sort of offensive struggles are nothing new this season, with quarterback Matt Hasselbeck missing his fourth game of the season and a running game that hasn't had a back rush for more than 65 yards in a game since Sept. 21.

"As has been the case the last few weeks, we had to play a near-perfect offensive football game to take some of the pressure off our defense," Holmgren said.

And Seattle wasn't perfect on Sunday. Not even close. Tight end John Carlson dropped a pass over the middle on a third-down play in the second quarter, unplugging a promising Seahawks drive. Receiver Keary Colbert came close to making a sensational catch in the end zone in the third quarter but lost control of the ball upon hitting the ground.

Holmgren waited to hear if he should challenge the play to a replay review. The Seahawks didn't, but they burned a timeout anyway because they weren't ready to run their play.

Holmgren raised his hands and put them on his head when the Seahawks used that timeout, their second called in the first seven minutes of the second half. Two plays later, Seattle lined up to go for it on fourth down only to be called for a false start, the prelude to the delay-of-game call on the punt that sent the coach from frustrated to fuming.

"It looked bad," he said afterward.

Actually, it looked awful.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com