Mora's Seahawks Take Another Beating

There seemed some reason for optimism yesterday as the Seahawks got one of their top players back from injury. Cornerback Marcus Trufant's back was healed enough for him to play against Dallas. He probably wishes he'd taken another week. Trufant picked up three pass interference penalties trying to defend Dallas' receiver Miles "Always Smilin'" Austin, who still ended up with a touchdown catch. The Seahawks lost 38-17.

The only trouble Austin encountered all day was on his attempted "dunk" attempt of the football over the ten-foot-high crossbar after his touchdown catch--Austin didn't quite have the ups to make it and flipped the ball over the bar at the last second.

By the end of the game, Trufant was getting inside help on Austin, which is not the scenario you envision for a guy with a six-year, $50 million contract.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks offense was fighting itself. T.J. Houshmandzadeh's frustrations at not being more of a focal point in the offense have reached the "openly-second-guessing-his-quarterback" point. At this point, Hasselbeck apparently has to explain after every play why he didn't throw to Housh.

"He needs to get in line," Jim Mora said of Houshmandzadeh.

The bright spot for the Seahawks was the play of middle linebacker David "The Heater" Hawthorne. Taking over for the injured Lofa Tatupu, Hawthorne played like the Tatupu of old, recording five tackles, two sacks, and forcing a fumble. At this rate Tatupu may end up getting Wally Pipped.

The Hawks host Detroit next week, one of four teams left on their schedule with one win or less. If nothing else, the Seahawks have shown that they can crush inferior teams, with a 28-0 victory over St. Louis and a 41-0 dismantling of Jacksonville as their two wins of the year. So despite the Hawks' 2-5 record, there's hope they can make this season respectable.

That wouldn't fool anyone, though. The Seahawks are a sub-.500 team now, probably headed toward some serious rebuilding.