Seahawks fumble game away on botched play

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The clock showed 1:55, and Shaun Alexander was certain it was going to be a running play.

Even as he thought he heard quarterback Matt Hasselbeck change the play at the line of scrimmage, he still thought the ball was going to him.

But why then, did no Seahawk have the ball in the end?

A question for the ages, but the simple answer was a moment of indecision. Either way, the 23-20 loss Sunday to the Arizona Cardinals is one that will go down in team history among the more painful and frustrating defeats.

For his part, Alexander admitted perhaps he thought too much as the play unfolded. An instant later, the ball was on the ground being recovered by the Cardinals. And soon to be gone were Seattle's hopes of picking up an important NFC West road victory as Arizona kicker Neil Rackers came on to drill a 42-yard field goal with one second to play that sent the Seahawks to a 1-1 record.

"We just blew it," Alexander said. "I thought Matt was audibling and then I thought, 'Ah no, this is the fake audible.' And I took a step to run the play that was called and I saw the guy running in the backfield, so I thought, 'Oh, maybe this is a pass play.' So I go try and run around Matt and it was crazy. I wasn't sure if he was giving it to me, if I was blocking or if he was ... "

If that explanation sounded befuddling, imagine how the Seahawks felt as Alexander and Hasselbeck collided like Keystone Kops and Arizona linebacker Gerald Hayes came roaring between them to complicate matters. Darnell Dockett recovered the loose ball 20 yards behind the original line of scrimmage, and the Cardinals were in control.

Arizona (1-1) handed the ball to running back Edgerrin James four times for 22 yards to put the Cardinals in position for the winning kick.

Alexander said the crowd at University of Phoenix Stadium was loud, affecting his ability to hear what was or wasn't being called. Nevertheless, he gave credit to Hayes and tried to explain what happened.

"We all thought it was a running play until I saw that guy come through and I thought 'Maybe I missed a call,' " Alexander said.

"I don't know what happened after that."

This really was a head-scratcher. The Seahawks were on their way to completing a rally from a 17-point deficit, driving down the field as the two-minute warning came. They had first-and-five at the Cardinals' 36, no more than a few yards from giving Josh Brown a shot to kick the go-ahead field goal in a 20-20 game.

After a first half to forget, the second half saw Seattle grab a 20-17 lead with 9:52 left.

Before that, they trailed 17-0 with Alexander being a non-factor, the wide receivers dropping passes, Arizona quarterback Matt Leinart picking the defense apart, an offense that found itself in too many third-and-longs. The team never got past midfield until a 12-yard pass from Hasselbeck to Deion Branch with three minutes left in the first half.

The Seahawks entered halftime down 17-7 after Hasselbeck connected with Nate Burleson, who dragged a defender into the end zone for a touchdown with 1:16 left.

Things changed, especially for Alexander, in the second half. Alexander, playing with a sprained left wrist that he dismissed as a reason for his early struggles, had eight carries for 10 yards at halftime. He finished with 18 for 70.

On a fourth-and-one from the Arizona 16-yard line with 8:50 left in the third quarter, Alexander took the handoff going right, picked up a clearout block from left guard Rob Sims and scored to make it 17-14.

The running game was working, the Seahawks defense was limiting the Cardinals the way it hadn't in the first half and Hasselbeck found a rhythm with Branch, who went from no catches in Week 1 to seven for 122 yards Sunday.

Brown booted the Seahawks into the lead, and even after Rackers made a 52-yard field goal with 4:44 left to tie it, the Seahawks got rolling again.

And the Seahawks were going to feed Alexander the ball in the closing minutes to get into Brown's range.

Then the mixup. The fumble.

"That's the biggest problem when we play Arizona," Alexander said. "We won the division for all these years and there's still that 'OK, here they come.' And I think we had the mental advantage on them and we let them out of the bag."

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