Throwback era for Seahawks

As promised last week, the Seahawks came out passing. Throwing like Qwest Field was their playground. Whipping the football around the stadium as if this were a Sunday morning game of touch.

They started Monday night running and shooting like this was Hawaii on Saturday nights. In this 24-0 win over San Francisco, they threw passes as deadly as knockout punches.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to Bobby Engram, to D.J. Hackett, once, twice, three times to Nate Burleson and finally to Will Heller, the touchdown-maker.

(FYI, tight end Heller has three touchdown catches this season. Perennial heartbreaker Jerramy Stevens had four touchdowns for the Hawks last season.)

Screen passes and rollouts. Slant passes and go routes. Shotguns and side arms. It was the football full monty.

Sixteen yards to Engram, 12 to Hackett, 20 to Burleson, etc., etc. Ten of their first 11 scrimmage plays were pass calls. Sixteen of their first 19 plays en route to a 10-0 lead on the dreadful San Francisco 49ers were passes.

The aerial circus came to town Monday night. After spending half the season establishing his offense couldn't run the ball, coach Mike Holmgren found some big air.

"It reminded me of my old days at BYU, when we never ran the ball," Holmgren said.

Hasselbeck spread the ball around like Steve Nash on the break. He lit up the sky brighter than the pregame pyrotechnics.

The Seahawks ran through the pregame smoke and the fireworks. They ran through the cheers that cascaded from the upper decks from their forgiving fans and then Hasselbeck started throwing.

When in doubt — and certainly there has been plenty of doubting of this offense and its offensive line — Hasselbeck came out heaving.

With Shaun Alexander out with a bad knee, among other nagging injuries, this is what the Hawks have to do. With the offensive line young in some spots and old in others, the playbook has to be rewritten.

An 11-yard, third-down conversion to Ben Obomanu that went through the hands of Niners cornerback Nate Clements on the first play of the second quarter was followed by a 20-yard completion to Engram.

Hasselbeck is having the best season of his nine-year career. Use him. Abuse him. Green-light him like Rickey Henderson on the base paths, like Ray Allen or Tracy McGrady in the halfcourt.

Throwing is the strength they have to play to. The pass is their pass to the postseason.

What do the Hawks have to lose?

Certainly not the NFC West.

"I'm going to do what I think we do best," Holmgren said.

Get the ball to Engram, who is playing like he's 24, not 34. Put the ball in Burleson's hands and let him make plays. And, now that he's healthy again, throw the ball to Hackett, again and again and again, like the Hawks did on the 46-yard pass-and-run that set up their second touchdown.

Put Hasselbeck on a pitch count, say, a minimum of 45 to 50 throws a game.

This is the last half of the season, the bum-of-the-week portion of the Seahawks' season. No team left on their schedule has a winning record. It's the perfect time to perfect this new offense.

Go vertical. Stretch the field. Make the rest of this year an homage to air, like the St. Louis Rams did when they were the Greatest Show on Turf. Like the old 49ers did it when the West Coast offense was the new game within the game.

Turn this season into a throwback, by throwing the ball. Make it like the AFC revisited: Daryle Lamonica to Fred Biletnikoff, John Hadl to Lance Alworth, Len Dawson to Otis Taylor.

These aren't the 2005 Seahawks. This offense can't grind it out on the ground like that team did. Left guard Steve Hutchinson is long gone and Alexander is fading.

Bad things happen when the Seahawks run the football.

The fling's the thing.

Just ask Green Bay, or Detroit, or New Orleans, three other teams that have gone to the air.

Against the 49ers, who admittedly are so bad they don't deserve consideration from the BCS, let alone the NFC West, Hasselbeck completed 27 of 40 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns. Next week, against Chicago, he should throw even more.

Hackett caught eight passes for 101 yards. Engram and Burleson combined for eight more and 104 yards.

If Hasselbeck stays healthy, he'll play in the Pro Bowl. If he stays airborne, he'll be in the playoffs.

This is how you do it. Nine yards to Hackett. Nine more to Hackett. Ten yards to Burleson and 15 to Hackett for a touchdown. A 12-play slice of second-half perfection.

The game plan for the rest of this season should have been forged on Monday night. Dictate the pace of play. Give the defense something different and dangerous to worry about.

Make old school new again.

Forget about balance.

Let it fly.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com