Seahawks go from inert to inept

This Seahawks season of injuries, losses and distractions offered a new twist on Sunday: disarray.

Seattle's 26-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was as sloppy a defeat as Mike Holmgren has watched in six years - since the Seahawks were last 2-6 and last finished with a losing record.

"We hit a little bit of a wall, it appears," Holmgren said, sounding as if he'd hit his head a few times against one in this 10th and final season as Seahawks' coach. "They are trying hard. It breaks my heart."

And those of the 68,000-plus fans inside sold-out Qwest Field. They showered their team with so many boos, it was as if Shaun Alexander was back in town.

After the Eagles scored - on a tackle-eligible pass to a 321-pound guard - to take a 14-7 lead with 40 seconds remaining in the first half, Seattle moved to its own 43 with one time out and 30 seconds left. Holmgren tried a sneaky run play, to Maurice Morris, but it gained only two yards.

Quarterback Seneca Wallace, making his third consecutive start because Matt Hasselbeck missed his fourth consecutive game with lingering back and knee issues, then spiked the ball to stop the clock at 14 seconds.

But that was on third-and-8. It forced a punt and wasted a chance for at least a momentum-snatching field goal going into halftime.

"That's what Mike wanted me to do. I did it," Wallace said of his weird spike.

Holmgren took the blame.

"I called the draw and it was a bad call .... I said, 'We'll get the first down, then you spike it,'" he said. "We didn't get the first down, and he spiked it, and so that was mine. I'll take that one."

Holmgren wouldn't so quickly take these:

-The punt team having only 10 men, forcing a wasted time out. He yelled at special-teams coach Bruce DeHaven after that.

-Dropped passes by John Carlson, the usually reliable tight end, and Koren Robinson, who otherwise had his biggest day for Seattle since 2004.

-Wallace being forced to waste another time out in the third quarter, after Keary Colbert failed to hang on to what would have been a 34-yard touchdown pass that could have cut Philadelphia's lead to 17-14, after he dived and banged onto the end zone turf. Holmgren was staring at a replay on the video scoreboard as if he was contemplating challenging the call. Meanwhile, the play clock went down to near zero, forcing the time out.

There was more.

Seattle faced a fourth-and-10 at the Eagles 34 early in the third quarter but kept kicker Olindo Mare on the field and tried to go for the first down instead of a 52-yard field goal. This, even though Mare is 13-for-14 on field goals with a long of 51 yards this season, and even though a field goal would have pulled Seattle to within 17-10. Holmgren said DeHaven told him the kick was too far for Sunday's breezy conditions.

Guard Mike Wahle then jumped early for a penalty as the crowd booed some more. Holmgren almost fired his play card into the turf. Then, when Seattle went into punt formation on fourth-and-15, the left flanker was missing. Safety Deon Grant ran out too late to avoid another 5-yard penalty, for delay of game.

The Seahawks were missing three Pro Bowl players in addition to Hasselbeck: Defensive end Patrick Kerney was back in Alabama to visit the surgeon who repaired his injured-again shoulder last winter, and linebacker Lofa Tatupu was unexpectedly out with a groin injury after 55 consecutive games played to begin his career. And former Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch was still out with an ongoing heel injury.

"It looked bad. ... That was as big a frustration to me as anything," Holmgren said. "There were a couple of times that we looked sloppy, and that I can't tolerate."

Publicly, the players tried to remain positive. Robinson even said "we're not out of it yet," which is a mathematical fact: Seattle is like the rest of the weak NFC West - three games behind first-place Arizona with eight games remaining.

The next one is at Miami, another trip into Seattle's black hole of the Eastern time zone. Then come home games with the Cardinals and Washington (6-2), a Thanksgiving Day trip to Dallas (5-4) and a home date with New England.

"Things will have to turn around for us - we can't continue to lose," Wahle said.

They sure can, with the way they looked Sunday and with that daunting schedule ahead.

The season has gotten so bad, a frustrated fan yelled for Holmgren's replacement for 2009, Jim Mora, to take over now as the Seahawks trudged off the field at game's end.

"Where's Mora?" the man yelled. "Why can't he coach the team? Why can't he coach my 'Hawks?"

Notes:@ Robinson's 90-yard touchdown catch on the game's first play was the longest play from scrimmage in team history, better than 88-yard runs by Alexander at Arizona in 2005 and against Oakland in 2001. It also beat Robinson's 83-yard pass from Trent Dilfer at St. Louis in 2002. "I can still play. I say that humbly," the formerly troubled first-round pick said, less than two months after Seattle signed him as an idle free agent. ... FB Leonard Weaver dressed but Holmgren didn't want to use him because Weaver's foot remained extremely sore. Owen Schmitt played for him and caught three passes for 10 yards. ... Rookie DT Red Bryant left with a sprained ankle but said "it's not too bad." He hopes to play this weekend. Special teamer David Hawthorne has a right calf injury.