Hawks have ‘A’ game

SEATTLE – The Seattle Seahawks’ B-team brought its A-game to Qwest Field on Monday night, thanks in part to the C-team known as the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders provided the perfect medicine for an ailing Seahawks team, making Seneca Wallace and Maurice Morris look so good Seattle fans may well have forgotten Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander … for the time being. Wallace turned in a workmanlike effort, completing 18 of 30 passes for 176 yards, while Morris rushed for a career-high 138 yards as the Seahawks thumped Oakland 16-0 at Qwest Field.

The game ended a two-game slide for the Seahawks, who enter the midway point of the season in sole possession of first place in the NFC West with a 5-3 record.

“Everybody had their A-game tonight,” said Wallace, whose first-quarter touchdown pass to Deion Branch accounted for the only TD of the game. “It was Monday night, and we played well.”

Seattle’s oft-criticized defense appreciated the Raiders the most, limiting Oakland to 185 total yards while compiling a season-high nine sacks. The Raiders (2-6) punted 10 times and never got closer than the Seattle 39-yard line.

Morris was one of the few offensive heroes, carrying a career-high 30 times to help the Seahawks maintain an early lead.

“All week we’ve been stressing on let’s-get-the-running-game-going, because we kind of started off slow this year,” Morris said. “So we focused on (that). The line did a great job, along with (fullback) Mack Strong.”

The team has struggled to establish the run for most of the season, so the season-high 207 rushing yards came at a good time.

“We had moments of playing really good offense out there today,” tight end Jerramy Stevens said, “but we didn’t play four quarters. And that’s what we’re still shooting for.”

Fortunately for the offense, Seattle’s defense was holding up its end of the bargain. It marked the second consecutive shutout in Monday Night Football appearances for the Seahawks, who also kept Philadelphia off the scoreboard in a meeting last November.

The Raiders had just 13 first downs and 64 rushing yards. They were shut out for the second time in as many MNF meetings this season, having lost 27-0 to San Diego in their season opener.