After a slow starting but satisfying beating of Tampa Bay at home last week, the Seawhawks decided to try the same pattern again this week in Arizona. The Cardinals decided that they didn’t like that script…and so the Hawks lost 23-20.

Much is being made of the fumbled handoff near the end of the game between Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander. That’s overblown. It stinks, but you can’t heap on the blame on them alone. First off, I don’t think you can blame Matt at all; apparently, Shaun blew the play by his own admission. Second, there was a Cardinal in the backfield…that meant any problem would have resulted in a big loss at best anyway, and that’s on the line. Third, the defense didn’t stop Arizona from marching right down for a field goal. Finally, the coaching staff didn’t even try to manage the clock on that last Arizona drive after the fumble…the Cardinals kicker made the kick with 1 second left, putting all the pressure on the kick returner to win the game…that’s not gonna happen often. So, if that pretty much sounds like a team failure, it is. This is not to mention letting the other team go up 17-0 on you before you get on the board.

I’m mostly concerned with the Seahawks’ offense right now. Matt looks good, for the most part. The receivers are doing ok. The problem is the line and Shaun, and I’m not sure who’s more to blame. Shaun looks very sluggish, especially early in the game. He’s not hitting the line with authority, and he’s giving up on plays. The line isn’t opening very good holes, and the pass blocking could be better too, though it’s been ok. Maybe Shaun ought to look at the way Nate Burleson scored his first touchdown…after catching the ball at the five, he just flat refused to go down, and ended up spinning into the end zone to get the team on the board and on the way to coming back.

The defense is playing the run a bit soft, but I think some of that is because they are undersized, and are missing Marcus Tubbs, who is out for the year (again), and draws at least a double team, eating blockers. Still, they hit hard and yesterday they just got left on the field far too long…no help from the offense.

So I was pretty disgusted by the performance yesterday overall. Now we play Cincinnati at home. Their fans are no doubt disgusted too, as they managed to lose to the Browns, a fairly cruddy team, 51-45. Nice defense, there, guys. Must have been fun to watch, though.