Seahawks Regroup With Friesz Out Eight Weeks, Moon Has To Pick Up The Slack

Seattle Seahawks quarterback John Friesz had surgery Monday on his broken right thumb. He’s expected to miss eight weeks, roughly half the season.

“They put a couple of screws in and a plate,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “He’ll be in a cast for six weeks and then there’s two weeks of rehab.”

Warren Moon moves in as the starter with Jon Kitna as his backup. Erickson said Gino Torretta, who was cut during training camp, will be signed today.

“I just feel bad for John,” said Erickson, who was feeling blue in general after the Seahawks were clobbered 41-3 by the New York Jets on Sunday. “It was his opportunity again and this has happened to him a lot of times in his career, where he’s the starter and all of a sudden he gets an injury.”

Examples: Last year Friesz beat out Rick Mirer, but suffered a broken leg. In San Diego, Friesz tore up his knee in the preseason.

“We all feel for John and the rotten luck he’s had,” offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. “Unfortunately the nature of the business is we have to go on and prepare positively.”

That preparation will include minor adjustments to meet Moon’s preferences, Bratkowski said.

“For example, I have each of them give me a list of their favorite (plays) before the game, and John’s list was different than Warren’s,” Bratkowski said.

As the score indicated, Seattle’s rebuilt defense was trampled by the Jets. New York ran, passed and scored at will. The only possession the Jets didn’t score on in the first half was when quarterback Neil O’Donnell took a knee in his own territory to run out the clock.

The Jets added touchdowns on their first two second-half possessions.

“With all the new guys playing together we made a lot of mental mistakes,” Erickson said. “I didn’t think it would happen, but it did.”

Mistakes were abundant - blown assignments, penalties, dropped passes. Bratkowski counted six dropped passes, two each by Joey Galloway, usually sure-handed Brian Blades and tight end Deems May.

“We had not been doing those things at all,” Bratkow ski said. “When we fell behind 10, 17 points, we really started to lose our composure a little bit.”

The Seahawks’ game plan centered on running the ball, but that was abandoned when they fell behind so quickly.

“It was as frustrating and disappointing as (any game) in my career,” Erickson said.

Notes

If allowed a mulligan, Erickson said he wouldn’t have played Galloway (foot) and Blades (knee) as much. He estimated both were only 75 percent healthy… . Seattle will have to release a player to make room for Torretta. … Other than Friesz, the injury report was light. Defensive tackle Sam Adams has a bruised knee but shouldn’t miss any time. Defensive end Michael Sinclair has a bruised back and is expected to practice Wednesday. … Players already are bracing for what could be a small crowd against Denver Sunday in the Kingdome. The Seahawks desperately are trying to win back fans lost from recent seasons. Sunday’s performance obviously didn’t help the cause. “We’ll be lucky if we have any fans next week,” center Kevin Mawae said. Added Sinclair: “I would have left, too, if I were them.”

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