Secondary may be primary concern

KIRKLAND, Wash. – It probably won’t be Peyton Manning this Saturday, if only because his playing time will be limited.

Don’t bet on Brett Favre in eight days, either, now that rookie Aaron Rodgers is dipping into his playing time.

And nobody’s going to burn the Seattle Seahawks’ pass defense on the weekend of Jan. 8-9, when they’ll be enjoying a first-round playoff bye.

But at some point, an opposing quarterback could expose Seattle’s hobbled secondary. At least that looks like a realistic possibility after what transpired in Sunday’s narrow win over the Tennessee Titans.

Playing without starting free safety Ken Hamlin and cornerbacks Andre Dyson and Kelly Herndon, the Seahawks weathered their injury storm by drubbing San Francisco rookie quarterback Alex Smith 10 days ago. But when one-time league Most Valuable Player Steve McNair got his shot at Seattle’s skeleton crew on Sunday, he lit up the Seahawks for 310 passing yards – 295 of which came in the final three quarters.

“Our fans might say, ‘Well shoot, our secondary got victimized,’ ” coach Mike Holmgren said Tuesday. “If you look at it hard, they didn’t get a lot of help. So there are reasons, and we have to fix the reasons. And we will do that.”

Rather than blame injuries or the play of fill-in cornerback Jordan Babineaux, Holmgren said the lack of a pass rush was the biggest factor in McNair’s success Sunday.

“Some of our players – and I’m not talking about the secondary, but some of our (other) players – had their worst games of the year,” Holmgren said. “They functioned not as well as they had, for whatever reason.”

Whether it’s the pass rush or the injury-depleted secondary, Seattle’s pass defense had better improve if the Seahawks want to make a serious run at the Super Bowl.

While the list of NFC quarterbacks starting in the playoffs might not be as impressive as Manning and Favre, there are plenty of quality receivers headed to the postseason.

Seahawks fans might cringe at the thought of Carolina’s Steve Smith lining up across from Babineaux, or Tampa Bay’s Joey Galloway turning on the jets against free safety Marquand Manuel.

Heck, a lot of the playoff-bound receivers have already proven troublesome for Seattle’s secondary, even when the Seahawks were healthy. New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey had 10 catches for 127 yards against Seattle on Nov. 27, while 6-foot-5 teammate Plaxico Burress added 109 yards on six receptions. Washington’s Santana Moss had 87 yards off six receptions in an October meeting, with two catches for 43 yards coming on the Redskins’ lone overtime drive.

Even Chicago’s Muhsin Muhammad has a history of hurting Seattle, with eight receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns in a meeting with the Seahawks last season.

So if the 12-2 Seahawks have any worries heading into the stretch, their pass defense is atop that short list.

“The thing we’ve probably struggled most on are the third-and-7-plus,” defensive end Bryce Fisher said, referring to Seattle’s third-down defense. “On third-and-3 to -6, we’ve been knocking teams out. But on those longer downs, which should favor our defense, we haven’t been able to rise up and make the play. That’s how teams have been able to keep drives going.”

While statistics don’t completely bear out Fisher’s assessment, the Seahawks have given up an inordinate amount of long conversions. Opponents have converted 30 third downs of seven or more yards this season, including nine by the Redskins alone.

Help should arrive in time for the playoffs, when both Herndon (knee) and Dyson (ankle) are expected back. But even with those two on the field, Seattle’s secondary has struggled at times.

Seattle ranks 24th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game. Their opponents’ average of 212.1 would be higher if not for the Seahawks’ league-leading 45 sacks this season.

But even the pass rush proved non-existent in the win over Tennessee.

“We had a real breakdown in our pass rush,” Fisher said. “In addition to the yards we gave up, we let the quarterback get out of the pocket.”

Four opposing quarterbacks – the St. Louis Rams’ Marc Bulger (twice), Arizona’s Kurt Warner, the Giants’ Eli Manning and McNair – have thrown for more than 300 yards against the Seahawks this season. The importance of that stat can be shot down by the fact that Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck has done it only once this season, despite a 12-2 record as starter.

The Seahawks have proven they can win in the regular season without a perfect pass defense, but the question is whether they’ll be able to pull it off come playoff time.

“I’m not concerned,” cornerback Marcus Trufant said. “Everything we did (Sunday), I feel like we can fix. That’s what we’re focusing on this week.”