Despite good numbers, T.J. Houshmandzadeh is disappointed with his performance

INDIANAPOLIS — The numbers — eight catches for 103 yards — indicated that it was the best game of receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh's young Seahawks career.

But Houshmandzadeh, who signed a five-year, $40 million deal with Seattle in the offseason after eight years in Cincinnati, knows as well as anyone that sometimes the numbers lie.

"Man, my catches came in garbage time, so it doesn't matter," said Houshmandzadeh after Seattle's 34-17 loss to Indianapolis on Sunday. "They weren't meaningful. They weren't when the game was a game. So it doesn't matter."

And it was symbolic of the entire Seahawks offense, which never got going until long after the game was decided.

The Colts led 34-3 before the Seahawks drove 70 yards for a touchdown with 2:59 left, then recovered an onside kick and drove for another score. Those two marches accounted for 124 of Seattle's 279 total yards.

Until then, the offense was stuck in reverse in a game in which Seattle knew it had to be going at well past the speed limit to keep up with the frenetic Colts.

"We know what they are going to do on offense," said Houshmandzadeh, whose previous Seattle bests were six catches and 62 yards. "So that's the hard part about it ... we knew coming in we had to help the 'D' out, and we didn't."

The Seahawks offense has struggled to find a chemistry, with Matt Hasselbeck playing just six quarters before getting hurt, then backup Seneca Wallace stepping in. Behind a patchwork line, Wallace led Seattle to just three points in the first half.

A couple of key penalties didn't help, notably when Wallace was ruled to have crossed the line of scrimmage on what would have been a 27-yard completion to Houshmandzadeh in the second quarter. That would have moved the ball to the Colts' 7 at a time the Seahawks trailed just 7-0.

"I thought I was close, but I didn't think I was completely over the line of scrimmage," Wallace said. "But it was their call, so there's nothing I could do about it."

Asked later if he figured he'd be a better part of the offense when he signed with Seattle Houshmandzadeh said "I anticipated that. But hey, it is what it is. We are losing so nothing is good when you are losing. When you win games, you are kind of understanding it. It doesn't matter when you win games, who is getting what, who is doing what. ... When you lose games, you feel like, 'I could have made a difference.' "

• Manning has four straight 300-yard passing games for the first time in his career.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com