Mike Holmgren has made his mark in the NFL with his handling and development of quarterbacks. But when it mattered most in Super Bowl XL, he couldn’t overcome quarterback Matt Hasselbeck–and Hasselbeck couldn’t overcome Holmgren.
Ultimately, the Seahawks lost to themselves, with 70 yards assessed in penalties, not including the 52 yards gained then called back on three plays–one a 16-yard touchdown pass. The Seahawks, tied for second-fewest penalties in the NFL, destroyed themselves with undisciplined play that cost them touchdowns.
“The thing that bothers me as much as anything else was the penalties,” Holmgren said. “You can’t overcome those things.”
As much as any single factor, however, quarterbacking doomed the Seahawks.
Hasselbeck put the team on his back for the playoff victory against Washington when Shaun Alexander was injured. But Sunday he fell flat on his back.
“I’m not sure they were mental mistakes as much as just mistakes,” Hasselbeck said.
“I guess it wasn’t our day that way. You can’t make the mistakes we made and expect to win the game against a good team like this.”
Never mind Hasselbeck’s 273 passing yards, 155 of them in the second half, and 26 completions. Or even the 67.8 passer rating that was superficially better than Ben Roethlisberger’s 22.6 for Pittsburgh.
Those numbers lie.
Roethlisberger averaged nearly a full yard more per pass play, one reliable indicator of NFL success.
Holmgren started the game with his preferred script of passes calculated to help his quarterback settle in.
But late in the second quarter, Holmgren wasted a critical scoring chance by having Hasselbeck throw low-percentage deep sideline passes that were incomplete and left Seattle with a an unsuccessful 54-yard field-goal attempt.
Trailing 14-10 early in the fourth quarter, Hasselbeck threw an interception directly to Pittsburgh then added 15 penalty yards. Instead of a go-ahead TD or at least a field goal, the play set up Pittsburgh’s final score and put Seattle in a hole from which it never escaped.
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jmullin@tribune.com
