Hawks make a home improvement

It sure felt good to be home at the Qwest nest, and the Seahawks showed it right away.

The only way they could have started Saturday night's exhibition game any better was by scoring two touchdowns instead of two field goals.

Seattle got off to a flying start thanks to a fumble recovery, a long punt return and a missed Minnesota field goal, using those plays and a few more in the second half to rev up the crowd and roll to a 30-13 win.

"That's football," coach Mike Holmgren said. "They usually went against us last week. But last week was unusually poor. Our pass protection was much better tonight."

Talk about atonement. The Seahawks gave up seven sacks last Saturday at Green Bay. Neither Matt Hasselbeck nor Seneca Wallace went down last night.

Defensive tackle Rocky Bernard was one of the heroes of the first Seahawks game at home this season. The sixth-year pro recovered a botched center-quarterback exchange on the first play of the game, setting up a 28-yard Josh Brown field goal.

"After what happened last week, we wanted to come out tonight and put on a good showing," Bernard said.

They did. The next time the Seahawks got the ball, they were deep in Minnesota territory again, thanks to former Viking Nate Burleson. He darted and dodged his way for a 53-yard punt return, setting up another Brown field goal.

Bernard's tackle for a 5-yard loss on the Vikings' longest drive of the first half led to a 37-yard field goal try that kicker Ryan Longwell missed.

Hasselbeck hit Bobby Engram for 20 yards. Later he found Deion Branch for 10. The drive stalled, but Brown came on and, as he has done time and time again at home, drilled a 46-yard field goal for a 9-0 lead with 12:57 to play in the second quarter.

The Vikings had an answer. The team that trounced the Seahawks 31-13 last October to break Seattle's 12-game home winning streak came up with a big play of its own to set up the game's first touchdown.

Cornerback Antoine Winfield intercepted a Hasselbeck pass intended for Engram. Minnesota took over from the Seattle 43, and quarterback Tarvaris Jackson hooked up with Bobby Wade for 35 yards on the first play of the drive.

Two plays later, the Vikings' trickery worked. Jackson handed the ball to Wade coming on an end around, and Wade stopped and threw the ball into the end zone to Visanthe Shiancoe for a 6-yard touchdown.

Hasselbeck had a touchdown drive in him. It featured completions to tight end Marcus Pollard for 24 and 11 yards and a short pass to Branch for seven to the goal line. Shaun Alexander ran it in from there with 3:31 to play in the half for a 16-7 Seahawks lead.

Hasselbeck's night was over at halftime after he completed 12 of 17 passes for 129 yards, and the No. 1 offense played one series with backup Wallace before exiting.

It was a night of exciting plays. Rookie Josh Wilson got good pressure on a corner blitz and had three lengthy kick returns, the most exciting a 38-yard effort late in the third quarter. Safety Deon Grant laid out Wade with a huge hit in the first quarter. Ryan Plackemeier averaged 51 yards a punt on two kicks, one that was downed at the Minnesota 2.

The Seahawks were erratic on defense but held when they had to. Seattle's first unit didn't give up a long run but allowed the Vikings' Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson to gain chunks of yards.

The play of the evening, though was a 57-yard Wallace to Ben Obomanu touchdown strike right after Wilson's big return. Obomanu zipped ahead of his defender to make the catch and score.

And one more for good measure, as the Seahawks came up with a third impact play just seconds later. Cornerback Kevin Hobbs picked off a Brooks Bollinger pass and had nothing but open field in front of him, taking the ball 39 yards for a score.

"Just to get back in front of the fans, to make plays in front of the people that cheer for you the most," Burleson said, "it means a lot."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com