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SEATTLE -- This was almost impossible to fathom for even the Seattle Seahawks, destiny's losers for the 2004 NFL season.
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| The Seahawks fans are prepared for the eventual outcome.(AP) |
That nearly broke the team, but somehow, they managed to work their way into Monday night's game against the Dallas Cowboys with a 6-5 record and a half-game lead over the Rams in the NFC West. So when they opened up a 39-29 lead on Shaun Alexander's 32-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-1 with 2:46 left, this one had to be over, didn't it?
"I really thought we put the game away at that point," Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "Coaches made a decision to go for it on that play. Our offensive line and (fullback) Mack Strong did a great job, Shaun had a great run and we had that feeling like, we put them out of reach with two scores that late in the game."
Wrong. Again. The impossible happened. Again.
Within a matter of moments, the Seahawks' partisan crowd of 68,093 that had buffed up its booing lungs through much of the season was too shocked to even let out a peep.
Keyshawn Johnson made a spectacular catch of a Vinny Testaverde pass for a 34-yard touchdown with 1:45 remaining to cut the Seahawks lead to three. Then Jason Witten recovered Billy Cundiff's perfect onside kick, and eight plays later, Cowboys rookie running back Julius Jones bolted 17 yards on a draw play with 32 seconds left to secure the 43-39 victory.
"It is unbelievable to win a game like this," Witten said.
Sorry Jason, in this case, it was more unbelievable to lose. Now tied with the Rams for first place -- and actually behind because of the lost head-to-head tiebreaker -- the Seahawks now face two weeks on the road at Minnesota and New York, before closing out the season at home with Arizona and Atlanta.
It does not look good. This game was more bizarre than the loss to the Rams, if only because the Seahawks slipped behind 29-14, then came roaring back behind Hasselbeck's season-high 414 yards passing and three touchdown passes, and Alexander's two touchdowns.
"I thought I wouldn't have to go through the Rams game all over again, and this wasn't quite as bad, but it hurts just as much," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "We were our own worst enemy tonight. I know I have said that before. We do some very good things and then we do some things that demonstrate a lack of maturity ... I guess you could say. And it cost us this season dearly. It has cost us this season dearly. This was a huge football game for us. The season is not over by any stretch of the imagination, but this was a huge game to win tonight."
It just requires a huge imagination to believe the Seahawks are going anywhere after this game. Only a spectacular interception return for a touchdown allowed them to stave off a hapless Miami Dolphins team two weeks ago in Seahawks Stadium. Then last week, a road-challenged Buffalo Bills team came to town and blew them out 38-9. Essentially, this is a team that has a psyche as susceptible to failure as the Pacific Northwest weather predictions.