12-02-2024  2:49 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

Monica Foster of The Skanner
Published: 27 September 2006


The Seattle Seahawks rolled all over the New York Giants Sunday at Qwest Field and are off to a 3-0 start this season. Next week the team faces the undefeated Chicago Bears, who have the league's No.6-rated offense and a big, No.4-ranked defense.
In front of the largest crowd ever at Qwest Field — 68, 161 — the Seahawks unleashed an air assault en route to their 42-30 win over the Giants.
League MVP Shaun Alexander finished with a club-record 102nd touchdown of his career. But there was a down side — Alexander will not play this Sunday and will be out an unknown number of weeks. After Sunday's game, it was confirmed that he had cracked a bone in his foot.
The good news is that the Seahawks are facing a bye week after this Sunday's trip to Chicago, so Alexander will have some extra time to heal. Running back Maurice Morris will step in for Alexander.
Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck completed 24 of 31 passes for 227 yards and threw a record-tying five touchdowns during the game — including two to wide receiver Darrell Jackson, who finished with seven passes for 57 yards, and one each to Seattle native Nate Burleson, Bobby Engram and Will Heller. Newly acquired Deion Branch, who played in his first game as a Seahawk, caught two passes for 23 yards.
"When you have four receivers with this quality, you put a lot of pressure on the defense," Engram said. "We're gonna have to make a lot of plays for this offense and it's early in the season, so we need to stay healthy and continue to get better."
In last Sunday's game, free safety Ken Hamlin intercepted two passes to set up two Seahawk touchdowns in the first half. Linebacker Leroy Hill recovered a fumble forced by cornerback Marcus Trufant to set up the Seahawks' fifth touchdown of the day. Strong safety Michael Boulware also intercepted a pass from Giants' quarterback Eli Manning to set up another touchdown for the Seahawks.
"I'm glad to be out there making a couple plays," Hamlin said. "We try to make plays like that to get our offense the ball and get off the field quick."
The Seahawks will continue using four-receiver sets against the Bears and stick to their running game. With defenses spread to cover four wideouts, it opens up running room for Morris.
"I think the four-receiver offense is fun; we have a lot of weapons. We like it when we're a force on the field at the same time and a lot of defenses can't cover that. It's kind of like 'pick your poison'; we won't really match up man-to-man so we can get some good plays," Jackson said. "With four 1,000-yard receivers here, we're making our push toward winning some games, getting into the playoffs and hopefully getting back to the promised point."

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