Hawks' Wallace can't catch up

Matt Hasselbeck walked over, wearing a baseball cap instead of his helmet.

Seneca Wallace hadn't yet put on his helmet, but he was warming up on the Seahawks sideline.

For a moment, Seattle's top two quarterbacks spoke face to face. The starter whose day was over after suffering a sprained right knee in the first minute of the third quarter gave some advice to the player about to replace him under center.

"He just said to be comfortable," Wallace said.

Easy to say, hard to do. Sports cars aren't required to go from zero to 60 as fast as a backup quarterback is expected to be up to speed. And for the first two series after Wallace entered the game, the Seahawks were stuck in idle. Six offensive plays produced three incompletions, a turnover and no first downs.

"I know the offense wasn't comfortable with Seneca," Vikings safety Darren Sharper said. "You could see that in the first two drives when he came in. It just didn't seem like they were on the same page.

"But they kind of got going after awhile."

Yes, they did and that was important considering the uncertainty of Hasselbeck's status. After those first two possessions, Wallace completed 14 of 21 passes for 134 yards.

Wallace has been Seattle's backup quarterback since Trent Dilfer was traded in 2005, and Seattle's season could depend on Wallace if Hasselbeck is out for an extended time.

"I want to applaud Seneca for the job he did," coach Mike Holmgren said. "Minnesota is a pretty good defensive football team, so it was tough."

The Seahawks rushed for 53 yards, their lowest output since 2002. The Seahawks trailed by two touchdowns by the time Wallace began his third series, and that let the Vikings rush the passer even more.

Linebacker Ben Leber came on a blitz in the fourth quarter, evading running back Maurice Morris — who was assigned to pick him up — and hit Wallace, forcing a fumble that was recovered for Minnesota's final touchdown.

Wallace's final pass attempt was intercepted, too, but it wasn't the errors that marked the final quarter so much as the fact that Wallace led Seattle on two drives that netted more than 70 yards. It showed Seattle's backup quarterback was getting comfortable.

"It's going to take me a couple series to get settled in," Wallace said. "There are not too many backup quarterbacks in the NFL that can step in and it clicks right away."

Wallace attempted 25 passes in his first three seasons. He had that many on Sunday alone in a relief appearance that will only make him more prepared for the future.

"I know that things will be different for our team, our offense, next week," Wallace said. "Once the quarterback goes down, people try to make plays.

"We're just going to all stick together and get through it."

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com