Seahawks stymie Redskins’ rally, win 35-14
Too little too late for Redskins
Sunday, January 6, 2008 3:46 AM PST
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| Seattle Seahawks’ Marcus Trufant, right, runs back a fourth-quarter interception for a touchdown past Washington Redskins’ Stephon Heyer in a NFL wildcard playoff football game, Saturday in Seattle. The Seahawks won 35-14. |
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks weren’t about to play along with the sentimental favorite of this year’s playoffs.
The Redskins rode the passion and momentum of the last month one more time, overcoming a 13-point, second-half deficit. Then the Seahawks came back with three touchdowns of their own for a 35-14 NFC wild-card victory Saturday.
Matt Hasselbeck hit D.J. Hackett with a 20-yard scoring pass, and Marcus Trufant and Jordan Babineaux picked off Todd Collins’ first interceptions in a decade, returning them for touchdowns.
Seattle, 8-1 at home, beat a team that finished with a winning record for the first time since Week 1 and will travel to Green Bay next Saturday.
“I think two teams that cared a lot slugged it out,” Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said. “And we won it.”
It took two quarters for the Redskins to get going, but for a while they seemed impossible to stop. Down 13-0, they practically ran downfield with the no-huddle offense behind mothballed quarterback Collins to score their first touchdown. Then came an interception by LaRon Landry, who took over at free safety after Taylor’s death, to set up another TD that gave Washington a 14-13 lead with 12:38 to play.
But two special teams gaffes kept the Seahawks going. Shaun Suisham was wide left on a field goal from 30 yards after Seattle returner Nate Burleson misjudged a kickoff that was recovered by the Redskins. And a 33-yard punt by Derrick Frost gave Seattle good field position to set up the go-ahead touchdown.
Collins, who engineered all four victories in the winning streak despite not having started a game since 1997, finally had a pass land in the other team’s hands. When receiver Santana Moss appeared to give up on a route deep down the right sideline, Trufant easily hauled in the ball and returned it 78 yards for a score.
With the Redskins desperately trying to catch up, Babineaux intercepted and returned it 57 yards for a score with 27 seconds left. Collins had not thrown an interception since Nov. 30, 1997, when he played for Buffalo in a game against the New York Jets.
As they have over the second half of the season, the Seahawks preferred the pass over the run. Hasselbeck finished 20-for-32 for 229 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Hackett caught six passes for 101 yards.
Partick Kerney and Leroy Hill were among Seahawks defenders who made life miserable for the Redskins. Collins was sacked three times and hit repeatedly.
Collins went 29-for-50 for 266 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Clinton Portis, who had at least 100 yards from scrimmage in each game of the winning streak, ran 20 times for 52 yards and caught four passes for 28 yards.
Jaguars 31
Steelers 29
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Never in the Steelers’ 75 seasons had a team beaten them twice in Pittsburgh in the same season. The Jaguars beat history — and the Steelers — despite a memorable fourth-quarter collapse that nearly cost Jacksonville its season.
Josh Scobee saved the game by kicking a 25-yard field goal with 37 seconds remaining and the Jaguars came back after squandering an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter to beat the Steelers 31-29 on Saturday night in an AFC wild-card game that was wild in every sense of the word.
Jacksonville appeared to be done after Najeh Davenport’s second 1-yard TD run of the game gave the Steelers a 29-28 lead with about six minutes remaining. But quarterback David Garrard, not a great runner, found a seam on a convert-or-else fourth-and-2 play and rambled 32 yards to the Steelers 11 with 1:56 left.
Garrard aided the Steelers’ comeback by throwing two interceptions — one less than he had all season — only to come up with the play that may have saved the Jaguars’ season.
Steelers linebacker Larry Foote argued emphatically after the game that Jacksonville’s offensive line held on Garrard’s run.
‘’I don’t want to get fined, but watch the long quarterback sneak,’’ Foote said. ‘’Watch the middle of the defensive line and you’ll see. You’ll see it. Watch what happens in the middle of the field. ... You see a big old hole open up and you’ll see the reason why.’’
Ben Roethlisberger (29-of-42, 337 yards) put the Steelers into a deep hole himself by throwing three interceptions before halftime, then got rolling after he began lining up in a shotgun formation and threw touchdown passes to Santonio Holmes (37 yards) and Heath Miller (14 yards) in 4 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter to get Pittsburgh within 28-23.
