Packers expose Hawks' defects

GREEN BAY, Wis. — All season the Seahawks teased Seattle with their potential. They taunted the town with their possibilities. The depth of their talent made promises they couldn't keep.

Fans waited for that big-bang victory that would have pulled the Seahawks alongside Dallas and Green Bay and make them one of the NFC's elite teams.

If all the stars were aligned — Matt Hasselbeck, Patrick Kerney, Lofa Tatupu, Marcus Trufant, Shaun Alexander, Deion Branch, Deon Grant — the Seahawks could return to the Super Bowl.

That was the expectation.

All season there was a sense that once they played a team as good as the Packers, we would discover everything we needed to know about the Hawks.

There was the thought (at least I thought) they would rise to the level of their competition.

But in a blizzard at Lambeau Field — football played inside a snow globe — finally we found out everything we needed to know about these Seahawks.

Oh boy, did we find out.

In this NFC semifinal playoff game, the supposedly savvy Seahawks were humbled by the younger and hungrier Packers 42-20.

The Hawks' bejeweled defense that owner Paul Allen sank millions of dollars into couldn't stop Packers running back Ryan Grant, couldn't stop quarterback Brett Favre, couldn't stop the onslaught.

The defense that was supposed to take the Seahawks to places beyond Green Bay couldn't get off the field on third downs and couldn't keep the Packers out of the end zone once Green Bay got into the red zone.

This defense got caught in an offensive avalanche.

It gave up the most points and most individual rushing yards in franchise playoff history.

And when Grant wasn't breaking tackles and hurdling prone linebackers and safeties for 201 yards, Favre was scorching the secondary, completing 18 of 23 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns, making magic in the Lambeau globe.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

The pass rush was supposed to pressure Favre out of the pocket and force him into a couple of crazy interceptions. This young team was supposed to make gamelong mistakes like Grant's two lost fumbles in the first two minutes.

The wheels were supposed to come off the Packers' playoff ride, not the Seahawks'.

But this Seahawks' season never went according to script.

Counting last weekend's playoff win over Washington, the Seahawks won 11 games, but that never seemed like enough. They won another division title, but that was as expected as a Thanksgiving turkey. They strung together five straight wins, then never again played to that level.

It would be a stretch to call this season unsuccessful. This was only the fifth time in franchise history the Hawks had double-digit regular-season wins, but it was unfulfilling.

We rarely saw the Seahawks' best this season. They won every game they should have won, but never surprised us with something memorable.

The Hawks always teetered on the brink of mediocrity. They were a fumble here and an interception there from turning their 10-6 regular season into a 7-9 disaster. In the end, they were closer to the Cardinals than they were the Cowboys.

They never got their running game started. They couldn't get wide receivers Deion Branch and D.J. Hackett healthy. They couldn't block. They couldn't win on the road.

This veteran team was handed a 14-0 lead by the young-pup Packers and couldn't handle it.

The final numbers were as ugly as slush.

The Hawks rushed for 28 yards. Green Bay had 235. Seattle's defense gave up touchdowns on six straight Packers possessions. The Packers were 6 for 6 inside the red zone and converted 7 of 10 third downs.

Green Bay had 408 total yards. The Seahawks had 200.

The Seahawks used to thrive on games like this. They were the masters of the 80-yard drive.

They handed the ball to Alexander and watched him pile up yards and melt down the clock. He ran behind the long-since-departed Steve Hutchinson, a younger Walter Jones and a spry Robbie Tobeck. The Hawks forced defenses to fill up the box and then shredded them with short, sharp passes.

In 2005, that formula took Seattle to the Super Bowl. Even last season, on the last Monday in November, in another, lighter snow storm, Alexander ran for 201 yards and beat the Packers at home.

This season the Hawks tried to get by with an offensive line that couldn't crack open a walnut. They tried to throw to a tight end, 35-year-old Marcus Pollard, who had 12 receptions the previous season.

Pollard dropped two passes Saturday, including a sure touchdown from Hasselbeck. And his second-quarter fumble led to Green Bay's go-ahead score.

The Seahawks won a lot of games with a flawed team, but on this somber Saturday, all of those flaws that, let's face it have been there since July, were exposed.

And all of their promise was lost in the whiteout at Lambeau Field.

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