Browns vs. Seahawks: The Fateful Fourth and Pissing Distance

When a game ends up in overtime, you can point to dozens of plays that could've made the difference between winning and losing. But the play that we'll all remember from this one was the Hawks failure to convert a 4th and 1 in overtime. Not just because it was disastrous, but because it reinforces the storyline of this season: The Hawks can't run. But the failure of this play wasn't all the fault of the line or of the runner--Matt Hasselbeck deserves a large share of the blame.



The Seahawks line up with three receivers, but Browns safety Sean Jones doesn't think they're going to pass. As the ball's about to be snapped, you can see Jones (he's the blurry guy at the 40) sneaking up to the line of scrimmage.


There's Jones right at the line as the ball is snapped. There's no one to block him. Matt Hasselbeck would tell the Times that he saw Jones at the line, but instead of calling an audible or a timeout, decided to "bite the bullet." Big mistake.



The unblocked Sean Jones is about to hit Mo Morris behind the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, Rob Sims (you see the big "6" on his back) who pulls behind Walter Jones to act as the lead blocker on this play, doesn't get a very good block on linebacker Andra Davis--looks like Sims only really got the side of Davis' shoulder. Davis is about to hit Morris, too.



Despite getting hit by 475 pounds of Brown, Morris powers ahead, nearly making the first down anyway. But he's stopped just inches short by another Browns defender.



Here's Holmgren's reaction.

Sure, the line's been bad this year. But in this case, as Hugh Millen pointed out on the KCPQ postgame show, the Hawks three receiver set left them with only one tight end on the strong side. Usually in a goal-line type formation, they'll go with two.

So the line was asked to block eight men with six guys. Any half-decent Madden football player would've checked to a pass there, and even if Hasselbeck was worried about miscommunication on the road (see the Arizona game), he could've called time. He didn't, and the play was practically doomed from the start. Overall, the running game's struggles are the fault of age and inexperience from the backs and the line. But this one's on Hasselbeck.