Saturday, January 05, 2008

Seahawks stave off Redskin rally, advance

The Washington Redskins' magical season has finally come to an end at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, as Seattle beat Washington 35-14 in their wild card playoff matchup on Saturday.

Matt Hasselbeck overcame two third quarter interceptions, one of which resulted in seven Redskin points, and threw a touchdown pass to D.J. Hackett with 6:12 to play in the fourth to give the Seahawks a 21-14 lead after Hasselbeck then executed on a two-point conversion to tight end Marcus Pollard.

Seattle struck first in this one, as fullback Leonard Weaver scampered 17 yards into the end zone on the Seahawks' second drive of the game. Josh Brown then nailed a 50-yard field goal in the second quarter, and Seattle held a 10-0 lead heading into halftime. The Seahawks' defense had Washington quarterback Todd Collins on the run for the entire first half, and although he was only sacked twice, he could not find any rhythm thanks to the likes of Patrick Kerney, Julian Peterson, and the good majority of the rest of the Seattle defense.

The Redskins' offense remained stagnant at the beginning of the second half, as they were forced to punt on their first drive. The Seahawks got the ball at their own 33-yard line and were able to move it 52 yards down the field to set Brown up for a 33-yard field goal, pushing Seattle's lead to 13-0. That was when Washington woke up.

Collins completed a series of passes to a variety of receivers on the Redskins' ensuing possession, throwing a 19-yarder to tight end Chris Cooley on their second play. The 36-year old quarterback capped off the 12-play, 84-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown toss to Antwaan Randle El, trimming the Seahawks' lead to six, 13-7.

Hasselbeck was then intercepted by LaRon Landry on Seattle's next possession, and Washington took over at the Seattle 42 with 14:09 left to play. It took the Redskins three plays to get in the end zone; a nine-yard run by Clinton Portis, a three-yard pass to Santana Moss, and then a 30-yard bomb to Moss for a score, giving Washington its first lead of the game at 14-13.

As if the Redskins couldn't get any more momentum, Nate Burleson botched the kickoff as the ball hit his leg and trickled past him to the Seahawks' own 14. Washington's Anthony Mix recovered, giving the Redskins outstanding field position. However, Washington only amassed two yards on the drive, and two incompletions by Collins set the Redskins up only for a 30-yard field goal attempt. They couldn't even get any points out of that, as Shaun Suisham shanked the kick, keeping it a one-point game.

Seattle immediately marched 44 yards down the field on three plays, including two long passes, a 19-yarder to Bobby Engram and a 17-yard completion to Hackett, only to see Landry pick off his second pass of the game at Washington's nine-yard line. Still, the Redskins could not move the football, and they punted to the Seahawks after a three-and-out.

Seattle then took over from that point on, as Hasselbeck completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Hackett and then converted on the two-point try on the ensuing drive and Marcus Trufant then intercepted Collins and ran 78 yards for a score on Washington's next possession, putting the Seahawks up 28-14 with 5:56 left. Seattle's secondary wasn't done scoring, however, as Jordan Babineaux then picked off Collins and took it back 57 yards for a touchdown, extending the Seahawks' advantage to 35-14.

Seattle will face the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round of the postseason next weekend.

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