Steve Kelley: Loss shows how far the Seahawks have fallen

INDIANAPOLIS — Not acceptable.

This used to be the kind of game the Seahawks began anticipating when the schedules came out in April. An opportunity for them to measure themselves against the best.

Maybe you remember 2005, when the schedules were released and we discovered the Indianapolis Colts were coming to Seattle on Christmas Eve. Many of us thought it would be a Super Bowl preview.

All of us relished the thought of the very good Seattle defense testing itself against the very best quarterback in the business, Peyton Manning.

Maybe you remember the disappointment of that Seahawks Super Bowl season, when everything already was clinched and Manning played just one quarter in that game at Qwest Field.

The best want to play against the best. The best raise their level against the best. The best don't lay an egg, like the Seahawks did Sunday against Manning and the Colts. The best don't get torched by greatness.

Against a Seahawks defense that slowly is returning to health, Manning completed 31 of 41 passes for 353 yards and two touchdowns. On four of the Colts' first five possessions, he marched them to touchdowns on drives of 80, 90, 78 and 80 yards.

Against the Seahawks, good field position for Manning and the Colts was anywhere between the two goal lines.

Not acceptable.

"He [Manning] just played his kind of ball," said Seahawks safety Deon Grant after the 34-17 loss. "If you make a mistake, he will point it out to y'all."

That's what greatness does.

"It did it today," Grant said of Manning's greatness. "But it's a learning tool. We can't mess up on the small things. That's one thing about their offense. They don't have a lot of small errors at all, so they're able to move the ball down the field."

This is how far the Hawks have fallen. They used to defend against the great ones. They used to get stops. They used to convert third downs and score points and keep the most smoldering offenses off the field.

They used to be able to compete and win against the best.

But this banged-up team had no defense for Manning and very little offense to throw at the Colts on Sunday. The Hawks trailed 34-3 before scoring a couple of ho-hum fourth-quarter touchdowns. They weren't up for this challenge.

The Hawks threw bouquets at Manning, not knockout punches. They didn't measure up to his greatness. They tipped their helmets to it. There seemed to be nothing they could do to stop him.

"We weren't doing what we were coached to do," said defensive end Patrick Kerney, who injured his groin in the second half. "A quarterback with that much talent and that much talent around him is going to produce some yards and probably some points, so it's just a matter of slowing him down."

This was the worst whipping since the Hawks' loss against the New York Giants on the first weekend of last October. That day, another Manning, Eli, passed for 267 yards and two touchdowns in a 44-6 Seahawks loss.

"The guy's a great one," Hawks coach Jim Mora said of Peyton Manning. "We played greatness, one of the finest of all time. He's proven it again and again. Regardless of circumstances, he comes up with a play. We struggled to get some heat on him and when we did, he — just like he's capable of doing — just gets it out of there and makes a play."

Since April, these Hawks practically have promised a return to glory. These Seahawks were expecting to be like all of Seattle's other NFC West champions of this decade. Problem areas had been addressed. Injured players had returned to health.

But teams that talk title find ways around injuries and find ways to mute greatness. The Seahawks haven't and didn't.

"We could have gotten a little more pressure on him early," Mora said. "But there's not a lot you can do if he's hot like that. We tried to mix up our coverages. We tried everything. It was a difficult thing for us defensively."

It was another loss. And just like last season, it is another 1-3 start for the Seahawks.

Absolutely not acceptable.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists