Buffalo meat

SEATTLE – There was at least one cluster of fans at Qwest Field that was ecstatic on Sunday.

Call it the Bledsoe Section.

The group of family and friends 200 strong seated near the north end zone watched former Washington State Cougars quarterback Drew Bledsoe throw for 275 yards and one touchdown in Buffalo’s surprisingly easy 38-9 drubbing of the listless Seattle Seahawks before an announced crowd of 66,271.

It was Bledsoe’s first game as a pro in his native state. He missed a 1993 contest in Seattle as a member of the New England Patriots because he was hurt.

“When you get to this point, there are a ton of people that have touched my life to get me to where I am,” said Bledsoe, who pointed to his rooting section after completing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Lee Evans for a 17-3 lead late in the first half. “To have a bunch of those people here at the game and to play well in front of them, obviously it means a lot.”

It didn’t do much for Seattle’s playoff hopes. If you thought the BCS is out of whack, take a gander at the tepid NFC West. This division will send a team to the playoffs and it could very well be the Seahawks, though at their current level of play it would only be a 60-minute stay.

Seattle is 6-5, a half-game in front of St. Louis, which faces Green Bay tonight. The Rams hold the tiebreaker edge with two wins over Seattle. The Seahawks, who didn’t look anything like ready for primetime on Sunday, face Dallas next Monday night.

The best team in the NFC West is Buffalo, which has the misfortune of being in the AFC East. They’re 3-0 against the NFC West and none of the outcomes have been close. The Bills thundered Arizona by 24, St. Louis by 20 and Seattle by 29. After an 0-4 start, Buffalo is 5-6.

Bledsoe had plenty of help, including Willis McGahee’s 116 yards rushing and a stifling defense that limited Seattle to 230 yards. The Bills didn’t punt until the final seconds of the third quarter. The Seahawks contributed generously with indifferent play that started on the opening kickoff.

Josh Brown’s kick touched down out of bounds, nowhere near the goal line. From its 40-yard line, Buffalo came out with a no-huddle offense and was in the end zone less than five minutes later on the first of McGahee’s four rushing touchdowns.

Afforded favorable field position all day by Seattle’s inept special teams, Buffalo crossed into Seattle territory on all five of its first-half drives. The result? Two touchdowns, one field goal and two of Bledsoe’s three interceptions, the only stain on his afternoon.

“He’s a big-time quarterback,” said Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin, who had two interceptions. “He’s been in the league a while and he knows how to read defenses.”

At the end of the first quarter, Buffalo had a 147-24 advantage in total yardage.

Seattle trailed 10-0 when it launched a disjointed scoring drive. Two first downs came via Buffalo penalties, one on a play that saw Darrell Jackson drop a perfectly thrown ball inside the Bills’ 10. Jackson finished with three dropped passes.

“I was just trying to do too much out there with the first couple of drops,” Jackson said. “I was running before I caught the ball, trying to make a big play.”

Fans booed Jackson’s drop and a third-and-goal call from the 2 that saw Matt Hasselbeck stopped on a quarterback draw after gaining one foot. The fans booed some more when Seattle elected to kick a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down.

“That was a long yard so I was going to get some points on the board,” coach Mike Holmgren said.

Buffalo, which led 17-3 at halftime, opened the second half with an onside kick by former WSU and Seahawks kicker Rian Lindell, who pounced on the ball at the Bills’ 42.

“After looking at the photos from upstairs, it looked like there was an opening so we went to it,” Lindell said. “It was nice to recover that and contribute.”

Buffalo failed to score, but it hardly mattered because Seattle rarely threatened in the second half.

“That team you saw today, you will not see that team again,” vowed Hasselbeck, who was 19 of 38 for 185 yards.

Buffalo capitalized on a Hasselbeck interception with a 51-yard scoring drive for a 24-3 lead midway through the third quarter.

The Seahawks responded by marching to Buffalo’s 20, but a fourth-down pass sailed off Itula Mili’s fingertips. McGahee tacked on two more TDs before Seattle finally found the end zone with 3:41 left.

By then, the outcome had long been decided and the seats were largely unoccupied – except those that were filled by fans wearing No. 11 Bledsoe jerseys.

“This is where (Bledsoe) is from and he wanted to win very badly,” McGahee said. “Everybody wanted to win, including (former Washington Husky) Lawyer Milloy and (ex-Seahawk) Sam Adams. We just had to back them up.”