Bye-bye birdies
TEMPE, Ariz. – The video screen at Sun Devil Stadium showed three Arizona Cardinals trailing Seattle’s Shaun Alexander during his 88-yard touchdown run that defined the Seahawks’ victory Sunday.
A more figurative view might have shown the rest of the NFC West lagging behind with them.
The Seahawks’ 33-19 victory upped their record to 6-2 while opening a two-game division lead over the idle St. Louis Rams, who visit Qwest Field on Sunday.
If Alexander’s record-setting run was the highlight, the Seahawks’ late 93-yard touchdown drive made sure they could enjoy it. The drive consumed nearly seven minutes, ending when Alexander scored his second touchdown with a 14-yard run up the middle.
The Seahawks thereby completed a season sweep of the Cardinals, while remaining unbeaten in the NFC West, joining Chicago and Indianapolis as the only teams with 3-0 records in division play.
“We all know that our No. 1 goal is to win the division and then get the best record in the NFC,” Alexander said. “Part of that is beating Arizona, so it was good to beat them twice.”
Seattle led 17-6 at halftime and 24-6 after the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. Alexander’s 88-yard run tied his own franchise record, set against Oakland on Nov. 11, 2001.
Despite missing stretches of the game with an upset stomach, Alexander ran to his right, cut back behind tackle Walter Jones and broke into the clear. He outran Robert Griffith, Adrian Wilson and David Macklin thanks in part to an assist from receiver D.J. Hackett, who occupied a defender long enough for Alexander to hit full stride.
“(Alexander) had a really fine football game,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “We were in a position where we were going to hand him the ball a lot. Teams know that. And so that makes it even more special.
“The run he popped in the second half, that was a big, big important play in this game.”
Alexander carried 23 times for 173 yards and two touchdowns. He now has an NFL-best 949 yards for the season.
Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was efficient if not spectacular, completing 13 of 20 passes for 158 yards and no interceptions. His 4-yard scoring pass to Joe Jurevicius gave Seattle its first lead, 10-3, early in the second quarter.
Seattle’s defense punished Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner with four sacks and three interceptions.
Arizona amassed big chunks of largely meaningless yardage in the second half, briefly pulling within striking distance early in the fourth quarter.
Neil Rackers’ fourth and final field goal brought Arizona within a touchdown and two-point conversion at 27-19.
That’s when Seattle answered with the 12-play, 93-yard drive.
Tight end Jerramy Stevens kept the drive going when he drew a pass-interference penalty against Wilson on third-and-8 from the Seattle 21. Alexander’s 4-yard run on third-and-2 was another key play. The Seahawks converted only one other third-down opportunity all afternoon.
“That drive late in the game, you need to do that and we’ve done that a couple times this season already in important situations,” Holmgren said. “The positive is we did it and that was great. The negative was, we’re having way too many penalties in our return game. We have to take a hard look at that and fix that somehow.”
The Seahawks committed three more penalties on kick returns as the special teams remained vulnerable. But it was the Cardinals’ sloppiness on special teams that turned the momentum most decisively.
Seattle led 10-6 with less than two minutes remaining in the first half when Cardinals punter Scott Player boomed a 51-yarder to the Seattle 10-yard line. Seattle returner Jimmy Williams fumbled the ball. Teammate Jordan Babineaux recovered at the 8.
The long-suffering home crowd, generously announced at 43,542 and peppered with fans in Seahawk blue, finally had reason to cheer. But the Cardinals were forced to re-punt from their own 24 when officials flagged safety Quentin Harris for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Player’s second punt traveled 36 yards. Seattle took over at its own 40 and the Seahawks needed only four plays to find the end zone.
Hasselbeck’s 46-yard bomb to Jerheme Urban did most of the damage. The drive ended with Hasselbeck scoring on a 1-yard keeper around the right side. The score was 17-6 and Arizona never fully recovered.
The lead allowed Seattle to stick to its ground game. The Cardinals’ slim advantage in overall yardage (378-366) meant little because Seattle controlled the game by a 208-71 margin on the ground.
The Seahawks have yet to allow a 100-yard rusher in eight games, another key to their 6-2 start. The victory ended a six-game losing skid under Holmgren in games immediately following a bye.
“It feels good,” defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs said. “The biggest thing we wanted to do was play well coming off the bye week.
“We had that in the back of our minds. We could have played better today in some aspects, but in some aspects we did play well. We’ll just go back to the drawing board this week and get ready for next week.”