Seahawks and Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck Cruise Past Jaguars 41-0

NFL News - October 12th, 2009 - Written by John

If Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was in any sort of pain from his broken ribs, he did a phenomenal job of hiding it as he picked apart the Jacksonville Jaguars' secondary and led the Seattle Seahawks to a 41-0 victory on Sunday. Hasselbeck passed for 4 touchdowns and 241 yards and was late to the field before the game started due to receiving pain killer injections. Their victory was their largest home shutout in 25 years. Seattle moves to 2-3 on the year and their only two wins have come when Hasselbeck has been completely healthy. Jacksonville now falls to 2-3.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were limited at wide receiver with only veteran Tory Holt and three rookies. Leading wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker was benched before Sunday's game for violating team rules. Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard did not think that Sims-Walker's absence attributed to their humiliating defeat though.

"He definitely didn't cost us a loss or anything. But whenever you have a dynamic player like that, you want him on the field," Garrard said.

The Seahawks began their scoring frenzy on two field goals from Olindo Mare. With under 5 minutes remaining in the first half, Hasselback would first find wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a 34 yard touchdown pass and with 2:08 remaining, he connected with Nate Burleson from 44 yards out to give Seattle a 20-0 lead heading into halftime. The Seahawks would get two more touchdown passes from Hasselbeck in the third quarter. He found Houshmandzadeh once again on a 13 yard touchdown pass and Burleson on his second touchdown from 5 yards out. Seattle would get their final score of the night when Nick Reed returned a Garrard fumble 79 yards to give the Seahawks their 41-0 win.

The Jaguars, ranked 31st in pass defense, could not find a way to stop Hasselback and the Seattle offense as they gave up 379 yards on the day. Jacksonville also had one of their worst offensive performances as they managed just 199 yards of total offense. Garrard, who last week tied his career high in touchdown passes and completed 73 percent on his passes, only passed for 188 yards, connecting on just 18 of 31 pass attempts. Their best offensive drive of the day did not come until the fourth quarter when they got the ball down to Seattle's 8 yard line. This ended quickly when Garrard fumbled and the Seahawks returned it for their final touchdown of the day.

Both teams will play at home next week. Seattle will host Arizona and Jacksonville will host St Louis and you can find Week 6 Betting Odds at such online sportsbooksbetting sites as BetED Sportsbook.

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