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Danny O'Neil covers the Seahawks for The Seattle Times.

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Programming schedule: Monday - Surprise Index | Tuesday - Chat at 12 p.m. | Wednesday - News & notes | Thursday - Chat at 12 p.m. |Friday - Mailbag and injury report

November 9, 2009 at 12:06 PM

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Monday afternoon surprise: Seahawks (not so) shockingly can't run

Posted by Danny O'Neil

Monday programming: We resume our regularly scheduled weekly programming with a look at just how surprising Seattle's game was. Please add your own surprises and remember our weekly Tuesday chat at noon.

Surprised Seattle beat Detroit at home? Nope. That's not too shocking considering the Lions have not won on the road in more than 24 months.

Surprised Seattle fell behind early? Not so much or did you forget that Arizona left cleat marks, jumping on top of Seattle 17-0. The Seahawks have now been outscored 55-16 in the first quarter this season.

Surprised Seattle was able to come back and win Sunday's game? Yes, OK. Maybe a little, but that's just because of how poorly Seattle played. Its first three possessions resulted in an interception, fumble and a turnover on downs and the Seahawks' initial first down was gained on a fumble recovery.

SURPRISE INDEX

1: The sun rose in the east.

2: T.J. Houshmandzadeh says more passes should be directed toward him.

3: Detroit has tire treads on its back after getting run over on the road. Again.

4: Seattle abandons the running game in effort to move the ball.

5: ESPN led SportsCenter with Seahawks highlights.

6: Seahawks drafted a corner who could be described as big or tall.

7: Plays a game without suffering significant injury.

8: Seattle rebounds from 2-5 start to make the playoffs.

9: Matt Hasselbeck seen using a comb.

10: Brush your teeth and tie your shoes, the apocalypse is upon us.

Seattle's running crawling game can't move the ball | Surprise level: 2

Halfway through this season can we say that for the first time in Greg Knapp's eight seasons as NFL offensive coordinator, his team will finish outside the league's top 10 in rushing? Yes, I think that's safe to assume. On the plus side, Seattle had a running back score a touchdown for a second consecutive week. Hey, that's progress. Julius Jones averaged fewer than 3 yards per carry, but Justin Forsett continues to show reasons he deserves more carries.

Seattle's best offensive bet is Matt Hasselbeck's arm | Surprise level: 2

Matt Hasselbeck's first pass of the game is one of the few times you'll see him picked off by a defender he didn't recognize as a threat. Hasselbeck will make some mistakes, trying to force the ball into a tight space. He'll make some mistakes because he gets frustrated and tries to take a chance. But this was one of the few times he was picked off because of a lack of awareness about a defender. He responded by completing his next 15 passes, tied for the second longest stretch of completions in franchise history. Anyone who thinks Seattle needs to pick a quarterback in the first round this April should take a look at the way Hasselbeck brought Seattle back Sunday and remember he just turned 34.

Seattle intercepts five passes | Surprise level: 8

The Seahawks had three picks as a team entering the game, tied for fewest in the league. They went and intercepted five passes, their most in any game since picking off Arizona five times on Dec. 9, 2007. If Seattle played a rookie quarterback at home every single week, safe to say the Seahawks secondary would look a whole lot better than it has for much of this season.

Seahawks fall behind early | Surprise level: 3

For the second time in three games, the Seahawks trailed 17-0. Arizona jumped out to the same lead in Week 6. The difference? The Cardinals were good enough the game was essentially over at that point. Detroit? Not so much. Seattle just had to settled down, stop turning the ball over and wait for a rookie quarterback to throw away the Lions' chance to win. Which is what he did. Five times.

Seattle pops a couple kickoff returns | Surprise level: 5

Seattle's kickoff returns have been fairly uninspiring, but the incorporation of Louis Rankin provided a kick start. Rankin and Justin Forsett each returned a kickoff more than 40 yards. In the first seven games, Seattle had just one kickoff return of more than 40 yards. Now, if the Seahawks could just find a way to jumpstart the punt-return game.

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In addition to Larry Johnson being a jackass, he would limit Justin Forsett's carries. Thus, no, Johnson should not be signed.  Posted on November 9, 2009 at 1:21 PM by davidhume. Jump to comment
Larry Johnson averaged 2.7 yards per carry where JJ averages 3.6. Forsett in limited work (20 carries) has a 6.2 average. With our crappy line I...  Posted on November 9, 2009 at 1:33 PM by the bone yard. Jump to comment
Plus Larry Johnson's 30 yrs old, and his productivity is dropping, 874 yds in 2008, 358 yds in 7 games this year. The team didn't get...  Posted on November 9, 2009 at 2:04 PM by FFan206.415. Jump to comment

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