Meltdown in desert

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Seattle Seahawks didn’t play down to the competition Sunday afternoon; they played down to the stadium.

In their only two trips to University of Phoenix Stadium, the Seahawks have looked more like the hometown Arizona Cardinals than they have themselves. The Seahawks flamed out for the second year in a row, fumbling away a near-certain victory Sunday before losing 23-20 on Neil Rackers’ field goal with one second left.

“In Arizona last year, we did the same thing,” linebacker Julian Peterson said. “It was like history repeating itself. We started slow in the first half, came back and played well in the second half, but made a mistake at the end.”

Playing in the stadium where Super Bowl XLII will be held in February, the Seahawks looked far from that dream for most of Sunday’s first half. And on the final offensive play, Seattle looked more like an expansion team than a legitimate contender.

Because of one ill-fated play, Seattle went from possibly kicking the game-winning field goal to settling for another meltdown in the desert.

“We thought it was money in the bank,” Peterson said. “We thought it was over.”

After rallying from a 17-0 deficit, the Seahawks were in position to kick the game-winning field goal before a fumbled exchange between quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and running back Shaun Alexander killed their final drive at the Arizona 36-yard line with 1:48 remaining.

Surprised by the immediate rush of Cardinals linebacker Gerald Hayes, Alexander second-guessed himself into thinking Hasselbeck had called an audible. The running back initially cut the wrong way, then ran into Hasselbeck as the quarterback tried to hand him the ball. Hayes was also there to cause a fumble, which the Cardinals recovered near midfield.

“I always pride ourselves off being the smartest team,” Alexander said. “But we just blew it. I thought Matt was audibling, and then I said, ‘Oh, no.’”

Instead of having Josh Brown kick another game-winner, the Seahawks had to watch Arizona’s Rackers do it with a 42-yarder in the final seconds.

“Personally, I’d rather get blown out than lose like that,” Seattle receiver Deion Branch said afterward.

Early in Sunday’s game, it looked like that was precisely what was going to happen. The Cardinals seemed to do everything right in the first half, piling up 259 yards while converting 4 of 7 third downs.

After scoring the first 17 points of the game, Arizona saw its near-perfect half get tainted by a late Seahawks touchdown and a failed Rackers field-goal attempt from 53 yards out that bounced off the left upright at the end of the second quarter.

Rackers’s miss, along with Nate Burleson’s 24-yard touchdown reception with 1:16 in the first half, seemed to give the Seahawks new life. Seattle came out of the locker room with momentum despite a 10-point deficit and evened things up before the end of the third quarter.

Lofa Tatupu’s interception ended Arizona’s first drive of the second half, setting up a Seattle touchdown that was made possible by a risky decision. The Seahawks drove all the way to the Arizona 16-yard line but were looking at a fourth-and-1 when coach Mike Holmgren decided to go for it. Alexander ran behind a nice Rob Sims block and scampered 16 yard for a score to put Seattle within 17-14. The Seahawks’ Brown added field goals on the next two possessions – first tying the score late in the third quarter, then giving Seattle its first lead, at 20-17, with 9:52 remaining in the game.

Arizona (1-1) responded with a 46-yard drive that set up a 52-yard,score-tying field goal from Rackers with 4:44 left.

After that, the Seahawks (1-1) drove 44 yards in six plays to set up a first down at the Arizona 36. Hasselbeck took the snap cleanly and turned to his right, but Alexander ran into him while trying to run to the quarterback’s left. Just about the time that Hasselbeck handed him the ball, Arizona’s Hayes was there to knock it free.

“It was loud, and (Alexander) was doing something Matt didn’t expect,” Holmgren said. “Instead of just trying to live another day, they tried to make a play. And then (the fumble) happened.”