Mora: At 1-3, Hawks still a good football team
Posted By Eric Williams on October 4, 2009 at 2:57 pm
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The mood in the locker room was a kind of a silent resignation in terms of the 34-17 loss to Indianapolis.
Without Matt Hasselbeck or Walter Jones, the Seattle Seahawks couldn't have had any illusions of what their chances were of winning this game.
And with Colts' defensive end Dwight Freeney going to the fountain of youth and experiencing what Seahawks head coach termed "a miracle cure" in returning from a quad injury that reportedly was going to keep him out two weeks, you knew coming in that left tackle Brandon Frye was in trouble.
With the game 21-3 at halftime, and 28-3 early in the third quarter, guys in the league are realists, and the Seahawks' players understood that would be a tough deficit to overcome in Indianapolis.
But I talked to several players trying to get a feel for the mood on the team, and each player said that they believe that the Seahawks can rebound from the 1-3 start, starting with Jacksonville at home next week.
Count Seahawks head coach Jim Mora as the leader of that charge.
“We knew that it was going to be tough,” Mora said. “We know with our situation being what it is, it was going to be tough until we get back to full strength. But we’re determined to do that. We’re determined to overcome this. And one thing about this start is that it presents a tremendous challenge to our football team, every many in that room next door – players, coaches, adminsistrater and everyone in this organization.
“If you’re in this business long enough then you face some challenges. And one of the reasons were in this business is because we love challenges. And this is a great challenge.
“I believe in the people in this organization. I believe in our players. I believe we’re a good football team that has had some things go against it. And as we’ve said, we’ve got a small margin for air, and we made some errors. But we’re going to stick to it. And we’re going to continue to fight and we’re going to continue to work hard. And we’re going to continue to get better. And we’re going to see where this thing ends up.”
Mora said his defense tried everything to slow down Peyton Manning, but he still carved up Seattle’s defense to the tune of 31 of 41 for 353 yards and two touchdowns, finishing with a 107.1 passer rating.
And it wasn’t as if the Colts had a short field, with Indianapolis scoring on four drives of 78 yards or more.
Along with the defense being accountable for Manning’s impressive play, Mora said the Seahawks didn’t get much help from the offense, which put up two touchdowns late in the game to make the score look a little more respectable.
In terms of injuries, Rob Sims suffered a sprained left ankle and will be evaluated on Monday. Patrick Kerney injured his groin in the third quarter, but appeared OK after the game. All other injuries were minor, so it looks like on the injury front Seattle escaped this week. But we’ll find out more on Monday.
Mora said he does not know if Seattle will get Matt Hasselbeck back next week, and he won’t find out until Hasselbeck sees if he can practice on Wednesday. If Hasselbeck can’t go, Mora said Seneca Wallace remains the starter.
Here’s some quotes from the locker room.
Patrick Kerney on rebounding from a 1-3 start
Oftentimes you look at your season by quarter, and at 1-3 it was a bad first quarter for us. I’ve been 1-3 before and gone to the playoffs. So you’ve just got to keep fighting, keep working and control what you can control. You know, your attitude at the office, the effort on the practice field and in the weight room and in the meetings.”
Lofa Tatupu on Peyton Manning
“With all of the time he spends studying defenses, when he finds out what your in, you can defend him but you better be on it and doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing."
Nate Burleson on being 1-3
“We obviously feel terrible. Nobody wants to lose. I said the same thing last week. But we do understand that it is early. But with saying that statement, I know that I can’t continue to say it because at some point it’s not going to be early in the season, and we’re going to be at a point where games are going to cost us.
“I’m not saying they don’t cost us now, but we’re definitely going to have to get something rolling. Because it’s OK to win late and have big wins late in the season, but you’ve got to put yourself in a position to relax. If we drop too many games, then we’ll be pressuring ourselves, trying to figure out other people’s wins and losses. And we’ve got to control what we can control and get some Ws.”
T.J. Houshmandzadeh on 1-3 start
“Obviously guys are down, but I said earlier. I know me. And excuse my language. Y’all can print this or not, ain’t no (wimp) in me. I’m not going to quit. I wouldn’t have made it to this point, and I don’t think anybody in this locker room would have gone this far in their career if you’re going to quit.
“It’s a long season. We’re 1-3. All right. Cool. We can win next week, 2-3. The next week after that and we’re 3-3, and you’re right back in it. That’s how you have to look at it.”
Seneca Wallace on the game
“We just didn’t score enough points. Obviously going against Indy and Peyton they’re gong to put up points. And we had to match it, and we didn’t get a lot of points.”
I can't say I agree with a lot of the more negative comments here.
Is there anyone here who expected us to win this game? With how hot Manning and the Colts have been the past couple of weeks? No way. We all knew we would be outclassed.
This wasn't just a new and developing Seahawks team going against the NFLs best, this was Travis Fisher, Will Herring, and Jordan Babineaux getting outclassed by the NFLs best quarterback. It was Brandon Frye, Manny Wrotto, and Seneca Wallace getting chased around by a good healthy defense. Did anyone expect they weren't going to be made to look like fools?
I'm not upset about this game. I'm still upset about the Bears game, because we were equal to the Bears and we bested them and still came up short on the scoreboard, thanks to bad luck and bad refs. We couldn't afford to lose that game.
But today's game, against a red-hot Manning and his Colts? This game was an L for any team in the league. Time to move on and focus on getting healthy and getting a W next week.
Spend both first rounders on o-linemen, for God's sake, please.
I am not talking about all GM but Mike Holmgren as GM is worst idea out their and that just my view as the guy is great HC but that just it.
I am sorry but their has to be a line drawn in middle let HC coach and General manager do his job but work together with HC having alot of say that way your HC/GM doesnt look like Idiot when he made some picks and they floop.
no trufant, no josh wilson, no hasslebeck= no winning against the colts. its ok the season is still young. lots of crazy stuff can happen in the nfl.
Yea the season is still young, but san fran is running away with the division early.
Mora is a child, watching him huff and puff along the sidelines like a wee lil babe was just sad. This team wracks dis-i-prin, mistakes after mistake, after mistakes points to a poorly coached team. Funny that the top five pick we get this year will be ours and Denvers pick will be useless and late.
Grow up.... Mora can only do so good with the hand he's dealt. If a player is injured and he doesn't have sufficient staff to back up certain players while they're out injured, how is that his fault.
I know that Mora did aide Ruskell in drafting players, and so on.... HOWEVER, during this time, I didn't read comments from ANYONE who objected any of the free agents they drafted...
You all say such harsh words, but then again... Let me ask you this...... DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD MAKE A BETTER COACH? If not, then I agree with an earlier comment from a user on here; SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP......
I think everyone knew that we were going to lose against the Colts but the way we lost was pathetic. No emotion at all on both sides of the ball. Senaca looks like a rookie out there still running out of bound instead of throwing it away. The play calling on offense?? I don't think I have seen so many 2 yard passes before. The Colts could of wracked up 600 yards against us easily and scored whenever they wanted too. Our D is bad, when the Colts were in the red zone and Addai ran 12 yards up the middle barely getting touched??? That would have been another 80 + yard TD if they were at their side of the field, what are the LB's/secondary doing other then being out of position most of the time. I love how people say if we can get to 3-3 at the bye we will be fine. Really? I would say we are going to lose one of the next home games if Senaca is QB. The hawks are bad on both sides of the ball, it was funny to see Payton make the hawks D check out of a run and then they would run 10 yards +. The haws are not making the playoffs this year with the Niners doing so well.
Big picture- I can be fired up for the rest of the 12 games of the season. Sure, they still have a chance for the division. Remember this- the Hawks and 49ers have pretty much the same schedule this year. So the 49ers get to go into play the Colts, too. They also get to host the Bears.
The Hawks get to go play the Vikings in Minnesota. So, the season as a whole cannot yet be judged.
HOWEVER- I hated the Hawks body language and facial expressions. I think they were completely bewildered. There little evidence on passion on that sideline amongst the players. Gus Bradley has it. Mora has it. But Seneca- where do you store it? I guess you just realized you'll NEVER be paid as a starter or given the opportunity to truly lead a team.
do I blame the loss on Wallace? No. Its a team game. But hold your teammates accountable. That was painful.
I didn't know you could draft free agents.
I don't think there are many people on here who (realistically) were expecting an upset in Indy. However, as many have already stated, it is the WAY that they lost.
I still can't get over the camera shot in the 3rd quarter (I think, may have been 2nd) where they pan across the bench on the Hawks sideline. There were 3 or 4 players (including Housh) that looked like they could care less if the game ended right then and there. You knew they had no fight in them. I'm not sure whether or not I blame them, actually... It's one thing to claim that they have no passion. I disagree, and in Housh's case, you can see the passion when he is on the field.
What's happening is that we're seeing that we are not the only ones who have ZERO confidence in the coaching staff and #15. Playcalling has been absurd the past 2 games (this game particularly on both sides of the ball). I think we can all agree on that, but I'm sick of hearing, "Seneca is just a backup, you can't expect much out of him."
Guess what? While Matt is out, Seneca is NOT a backup, he is a starter. Why keep him around if he is not expected to step up when #8 is out and actually WIN us some games?
Stevos - I agree. This loss came as no surprise, and i think whats most frustrating is the context of it coming on the heels of two very winnable games which were lost....SF and last week against the bears.
Did anyone watch the Sunday night game? Down by 28 in the 2nd half, Philip Rivers put a charge (no pun) in his teammates and they absoltely fought back to pull within 7 on the road in Pittsburg. Had their D been able to stop the Stealers (correct spelling), I have no doubt they could've tied the game up.
I've never really been a fan of his until last night. Maybe because I saw in him what I so desire to see in our QB, whoever it may be. Matt doesn't quite have that much intensity, but Seneca is an absolute flat-liner. How can you inspire your entire team, offense and defense, to continue to fight if you can't even inspire yourself?
You know what I meant.. I said it wrong.. Okay, whoop de fu**ing do. I apologize, Im so sorry for saying "drafted free agents"... Want to bend me over and get me from behind to while your at it?
HATE TO BREAK IT TO ALL HAWKS FANS (though Im one too), I think San Francisco has this division and is deserving of winning this division.
There ya go... A new topic to feast over while Im taking it up the chute for saying other things that make no sense! Im on a damn roll.
I think the only teams they will beat this year are the Rams, the Lions, and maybe the Titans or Tampa Bay...
FOLKS, you are looking at another 4-12 or 5-11 season!
As I have stated in my post yesterday after the game, we have to get rid off :
Ruskell , Mora and all of his coaching staff before they ruin this club . As a young man I was (European) football pro and I had witnessed when players refuse to play /give their best for certain management / coaches even they are supposed to be professionals. This team is done with Mora and his BS. THEY ARE NOT BUYING IT ANY MORE!! It is over with this team leadership; they must be fired in order to save Seahawks' future. They did good for one year in Atlanta because of Mike Vick' running ability and the other teams were caught by surprise----that is it. Other than that , they are just a bunch of losers.
Same with our trainers/ medical staff ! They are doing something wrong to our players when they prepare them for the games. Too many injuries besides the natural violence of the game. Look at Indi's Freeney, he was supposed to be out for two weeks minimum, and he played yesterday.
I don't understand Allen. He has over a billion in this ball-club and he's got this quacks taking care of his investment and the players.
As a coach one must have (or earn) his players respect. Singletary is the best example He has earned it as the most feared "D"-man of his times. Even now if one of the 69ers don't do what he says, ( I'm sure) he'll wipe the field with his face. American football is A MANS' SPORT. We have many man on our team who would like to play for a real coaches instead of this impostors in our coaching staff. We need to find another Singletary ( rough and tough with some Superbowl's under his belt) to lead our team. Someone who earned his "stripes" on the field instead from his loser father as Mora did. We need to find a coach that will treat the Seahawks as his destination instead of just a stepping stone. That is why I would like to see Dungy in Seattle ( and maybe Holmy as a GM).Billick is another maybe. Shanahan, Cowher and "Chucky" are not a good fit Jimmy Johnson would be great but....
I would never go for Ditka or Parcels.
Settle down, longco. It's all in good fun. We both have the same favorite team and we both want what's best for that team. All of us fans just don't always agree on how to do that.
As a coach one must have (or earn) his players respect. Singletary is the best example He has earned it as the most feared "D"-man of his times. Even now if one of the 69ers don't do what he says, ( I'm sure) he'll wipe the field with his face. American football is A MANS' SPORT. We have many man on our team who would like to play for a real coaches instead of this impostors in our coaching staff. We need to find another Singletary ( rough and tough with some Superbowl's under his belt) to lead our team. Someone who earned his "stripes" on the field instead from his loser father as Mora did. We need to find a coach that will treat the Seahawks as his destination instead of just a stepping stone. That is why I would like to see Dungy in Seattle ( and maybe Holmy as a GM).Billick is another maybe.
Sorry Bobby, by mistake I pasted Your comment too.
Wow, did I mess this up !! Sorry all.