Seattle at Jacksonville

Series: Seahawks lead 3-1

The line: Jaguars by 3

TV: Fox, with Craig Shemon and Erik Kramer

Radio: KXLY 920-AM, KVNI 1080-AM, with Steve Raible and Warren Moon

COACHES

Seattle: Mike Holmgren, 50-46, 7th season; 125-83 overall, 14th season

Jacksonville: Jack Del Rio, 16-18, 3rd season

FAST FACTS

Jacksonville is 7-2 in openers. Seattle, 9-20 in openers, will face just five teams with winning records from 2004.

ANALYSIS

The Seahawks open against a foe that went 9-7 in 2004 and has high hopes for this season. Sound familiar? The similarities end there, however, as Jacksonville is built on defense first – with tackles John Henderson and Marcus Stroud and the addition of end Reggie Hayward, who had 10.5 sacks last year with Denver. That could spell trouble for Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander and Co. The Jaguars have prominent names on offense – quarterback Byron Leftwich, oft-injured running back Fred Taylor, and receivers Jimmy Smith and former Husky Reggie Williams – but finished just 21st in total offense last year. These teams will probably meet somewhere in the middle: Seattle will put up some points, but probably not enough to cover for its work-in-progress defense. Prediction: Jaguars, 23-20.

As for the season prediction, Seattle has a soft schedule, but its suspect defense and special teams lead to another unsatisfying 9-7 record – one game behind the St. Louis Rams, one game ahead of the Arizona Cardinals.

INJURIES

Seahawks

Out: WR D.J. Hackett (knee), OT Floyd Womack (triceps), OT Wayne Hunter (knee).

Probable: DT Rocky Bernard (knee).

Jacksonville

Questionable: WR Cortez Hankton (ankle).

Probable: DE Bobby McCray (wrist).