Seahawks 27, Ravens 6

Santa is with the Hawks


The Hawks defense held the Ravens scoreless for the first three quarters, just as they'd done to the Ravens last week. But this time, the offense came through: after bogging down at the Ravens' 40 on three straight drives, Hasselbeck took matters into his own hands and audibled to a pass to Nate Burleson, who was facing man coverage.

After starting the game on the bench, having apparently lost his starting job to Maurice Morris, Shaun Alexander showed up with his best game of the year--73 yards on 13 carries for a 5.6 average, against the NFL's #2 rushing defense (albeit without Ray Lewis). Alexander also had a 14-yard TD catch, and by game's end, he'd regained his title as starter, with Mo Morris getting the garbage time carries as Alexander stood on the sidelines in his familiar parka.

To the game diary!

Pre-game: The picture is awful, and for a second, we see Jim Nantz and Phil Simms--we've been switched to the New England/Miami game! Soon, the picture gets normal again.

13:35, 1st q: 3rd and 1 from the Baltimore 47, and Mo Morris gets tackled for a loss of two by Terrell Suggs. Much gnashing of teeth, renting of garments.

11:27, 1st q: Julian Peterson, trying to speed rush Jonathan Ogden, got pushed to the side, losing his contain and opening a massive hole for Troy Smith to run through. Are the Hawks really going to let Smith beat them with his legs? (as it turns out, no).

9:39, 1st q: Walter Jones gets beat bad by somebody, which leads into a discussion of whether he ought to be in the Pro Bowl. Consensus is, yes, but he's not as good as he used to be.

9:25, 1st q: Hawks go to a hurry up offense--and get a 17-yard completion to Bobby Engram.

7:55, 1st q: Hawks have 4th and 11 at the Ravens 37, they punt. "Holmgren is a pussy," shouts my friend who thinks they should go for it every time. I don't mind, I think playing field position against a rookie QB is the right thing to do. But, as my friend points out, it didn't work last game.

4:21, 1st q: Hasselbeck throws interception, but replay shows that refs completely missed Burleson getting hit while the ball was in the air. None of us are sure how they could possibly have blown that one. Looking at the refs later, I see how--the back judge is Phil Luckett--of the Testeverde helmet and screwed-up coin toss fame. Not sure if that was his call but, given his history, it probably was.

4:15, 1st q: More evidence of the brilliance of this crew as ref Bill Carollo turns to the wrong side of the field when giving a call.

3:30, 1st q: Willis McGahee looks hurt. (He wouldn't return, he'd hurt his ribs).

1:13, 1st q: The Hawks manage to pick up a first down on 3rd and short! Alexander goes right for four yards.

0:00, 1st q: Burleson has to abort his first down signal when he's ruled down short of the marker.

13:05, 2nd q: Alexander's looking like A-Pete, bursting through the line like he's chasing the last bus of the night. It's a 19-yarder, but more importantly he showed a burst that hasn't been there all year.

11:34, 2nd q: Brilliant audible and perfect pass by Matt Hasselbeck, who maybe decided not to trust his run game on 3rd and 2--he saw that Burleson had single coverage, and dropped a perfect fade pass in to him. QBs need both brains and great touch. Burleson also did a great job to beat his man cleanly. 7-0, Hawks.

9:54, 2nd q: After a crowd shot, a friend who's home from NYC for Christmas asks, "When did neon green become a team color?" We explain that it's Deion Branch's fault.

9:34, 2nd q: Tapp beats a double-team that included Jonathan Ogden and sacks Troy Smith. That's Tapp's first sack in five games.

8:26, 2nd q: Another great run by Alexander, keyed by a terrific block by Weaver.

8:10, 2nd q: CBS shows an ad for a show called The Captain, apparently with Jeffrey "George Bluth" Tambor in the lead role. When I question the wisdom of asking Jeffrey Tambor to carry a sitcom, my roommate says, "He's been in two of the greatest comedies of all-time!"

"Yeah, well Robert Horry's won seven NBA championships, but I wouldn't give him his own team."

5:57, 2nd q: Leroy Hill picks up a Mike Anderson fumble, breaks a tackle, and races 20 yards to the end zone. It's Hill's first TD. The Ravens challenge, saying Anderson fumbled, and after an agonizing few minutes, "it has been decided not to reverse the call," says Bill Carollo. In other words, as we all saw on the replay, it looked like he was down, but there was way to tell for sure. 14-0, Hawks.

4:55, 2nd q: Trufant makes a sweet tackle of Derrick Mason to hold him short of a third down, leading to discussion of whether the Hawks should franchise tag him. There's not a single "yes."

2:07, 2nd q: After Hasselbeck gets hit a little bit late out of bounds, I jump up in anticipation of the flag, and when I see Baltimore players reacting angrily, yell "Yes! Yes! It came out!"...and that's the first time I've ever yelled that.

2:00, 2nd q: Bobby Engram makes his 88th catch of the year, which breaks the Hawks' all-time season record. The previous top three were Darrell Jackson (87, 2004), Brian Blades (81, 1994) and Blades again (80, 1993). Steve Largent's high was 79 catches, in 1985.

1:53, 2nd q: Shaun Alexander takes a screen pass, breaks two tackles (one by using his bad hand) and sprints into the end zone for his first receiving TD since '05. "I'm a little surprised he didn't take a knee at the one," says my friend Frank. 21-0, Hawks.

1:04, 2nd q: The Ravens get their first play in Hawks territory.

HALFTIME: General discussion of the way the Hawks are using the run. It's my contention (based solely on observation) that the difference between this game and last week, is that last week, Holmgren gave up on the run. This game's he's sticking to it, and using it almost as a trick play...the pass has to set up the run, not the other way around.

10:13, 3rd q: Hasselbeck's 533rd pass of the year breaks Dave Krieg's team record for attempts in a season (set in 1985, which was uncoincidentally the year Largent had his most catches).

9:09, 3rd q: Another great run by Alexander, this time a 17-yarder. Someone says "He's now playing for playing time." I counter, considering that the Hawks would likely cut him if he continued to stink, "He's playing for his job."

7:43, 3rd q: Text message from a friend in LA: "Who's this Alexander guy?"

7:10, 3rd q: CBS shows Ray Lewis and the two fingers that are keeping him out of this game. It's pretty clear that he'd be playing if this game meant anything at all.

5:39, 3rd q: The Hawks go over 100 yards rushing, they're only the third team to run for more than 100 yards against Baltimore this year--more than Pittsburgh, San Diego, Indy or New England managed.

2:21, 3rd q: After Niko Koutouvides nearly blocks a punt, Austin from DC opens the question of what Koutouvides' nickname would be if he were any good. Austin suggests "The Grecian Terror" but I'm going with "The Aegean Annihilator."

12:34, 4th q: After Alexander goes left for no gain, everyone's complaining that there was nowhere for him to go. All of a sudden, at least here, we're on Shaun's side again.

9:11, 4th q: We see an ad for the latest American Pie movies (American Pie: Beta House), our friend wonders about the thought process of the people who buy these "unrated" teen movies: "Man, I wish I could buy a movie out there with just three minutes of titties...maybe a wet t-shirt. Because this free video on the internet of a girl getting double-penetrated for ten minutes just isn't doing it for me."

A couple of minutes later, a little light is shed on these comments when my friend leaves. He picks his jacket up off the couch, and a small tube falls out.

"Hey, pal, you dropped your hair gel," I say. Then I turn the tube around to idly look at the label.

"This it isn't hair gel, It's K-Y Jelly!"

I give it to him, then run upstairs to wash my hands for the rest of the game.