Patriots-Seahawks Preview

 

SCOUTING REPORT

Seahawks have no answer for WilforkThis is a critical game for the Patriots if they want to stay on the heels of the Jets in the AFC East. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are just trying to find a way to win a game, but this one could get ugly for the home team. Expect Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to incorporate a lot of multiple formational designs that create mismatches against a Seahawks secondary that is currently ranked 32nd in the NFL. The question for New England is how QB Matt Cassel will respond after his poor performance last week. And will Seattle defensive coordinator John Marshall find a way to slow down this offense? Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren's offense has really struggled this season because of injuries, and it remains to be seen whether QB Matt Hasselbeck can exploit the back end of the Patriots' secondary. Look for the Patriots to play a lot of sub defense in this game to match up with the Seahawks' West Coast offense.

· Full Scouting Report

Matchup
	W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
NWE	11-5	410	309	5-3	6-2	4-2	7-5
SEA	4-12	294	392	2-6	2-6	3-3	3-9
· Complete Standings

Individual Leaders

New England Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Brady 66.4 3049 20 6 Hoyer 81.8 52 0 0

Seattle Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Hassel... 60.1 1853 11 7 Wallac... 65.0 676 3 2

New England Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Marone... 116 455 3.9 6 Taylor 45 201 4.5 2

Seattle Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Jones 107 392 3.7 2 Forset... 45 255 5.7 2

New England Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Moss 63 925 14.7 8 Welker 79 854 10.8 4

Seattle Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Burles... 51 662 13.0 3 Houshm... 54 618 11.4 3

Full Player Stats: New England | Seattle

TEAM AVERAGES & NFL RANKS
TEAM OFFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Total Yards	NWE	365.0
	SEA	274.0
Yards Passing	NWE	223.1
	SEA	163.6
Yards Rushing	NWE	142.4
	SEA	110.5
TEAM DEFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Yards Allowed	NWE	309.0
	SEA	378.0
Pass Yds Allowed	NWE	201.4
	SEA	259.3
Rush Yds Allowed	NWE	107.6
	SEA	118.7

HEAD TO HEAD MATCHUPS (SINCE 2001)
New England leads 2-0
Oct 17, 2004	NWE 30, @SEA 20

In a dismal second half of their most recent game, the New England Patriots picked a poor time to play their worst 30 minutes of football this season.

Another performance like it, and the NFL playoffs could be Patriot-free for the first time since 2002.

New England may need to win its final four games to have a chance at a postseason berth, a task coach Bill Belichick's team hopes to begin when it opens a weeklong West Coast trip by visiting the struggling Seattle Seahawks for the first time in 15 years.

The Patriots' offense was clicking going into the team's showdown with Pittsburgh in Foxborough on Sunday, with quarterback Matt Cassel coming off back-to-back 400-yard passing performances and the team buzzing after a 48-28 win in Miami on Nov. 23.

They were tied with Pittsburgh 10-10 just before halftime on Sunday, but that's when things started to go awry.

First, New England kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 27-yard field goal attempt that would have sent his team into the break with the lead, then the Patriots (7-5) turned the ball over five times in the second half en route to a 33-10 loss.

Matthew Slater fumbled a kickoff for one of the team's giveaways, but Cassel was involved in the other four, fumbling twice and throwing a pair of interceptions. He finished the day 19-of-39 for 169 yards without a touchdown.

"It's not about Matt Cassel," Cassel said. "It's about 11 guys on offense trying to get better."

That unit could be without Wes Welker on Sunday after the wide receiver took a vicious hit from Pittsburgh's Ryan Clark and missed the rest of New England's loss. Welker participated in practice fully on Wednesday, but hasn't been officially cleared.

The Patriots are now tied with Miami for second place in the AFC East, trailing the New York Jets by one game in the division and Indianapolis and Baltimore by a game each in the race for the AFC's wild card spots. Even worse, their 5-5 record in conference play could harm them as a tiebreaker.

Still, they will have the benefit of a relatively soft schedule the rest of the way. After facing the lowly Seahawks, they will spend the week in California before visiting 3-9 Oakland. They also host Arizona, which has struggled on the East Coast, before closing at Buffalo on Dec. 28.

"A couple of weeks ago, all the games became must-wins," running back Sammy Morris said. "Now it puts a little more emphasis on every game."

The Patriots may have a little extra help on Sunday with the addition of outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, a former New England standout who was signed by the team this week. He was added following the losses of Adalius Thomas and Pierre Woods to injuries and could be ready to suit up against Seattle.

"He's a guy that can definitely rush the passer," defensive end Richard Seymour said, "but we need everything right now. We need a pass rusher. We need run stoppers. So all hands on deck heading out to Seattle."

The defensive unit has struggled the past few weeks, as New England has given up an average of 31.7 points in the last three games, losing two of them. After Miami racked up 326 passing yards in the previous game, the Steelers ran for 161.

The Patriots have won at least one playoff game each of the past five seasons, compiling three AFC titles and a pair of Super Bowls over that span.

But they lost in the Super Bowl last season despite entering with an 18-0 record, and are trying to avoid becoming the seventh title game loser in the last eight years to miss the playoffs the following season.

"I am confident in the team," Belichick said. "We have had our highs and lows and we bounce back from those. ... There has been a good effort and good attentiveness to try to correct things, improve and get them right. I don't see any reason why that would change."

The Seahawks (2-10) are hoping for a major change from their recent results. Seattle has already lost five in a row for the first time since 2000, and it hasn't lost six straight since 1994.

Even with Massachusetts native Matt Hasselbeck back under center the last three weeks following a back injury, the Seahawks' offense has continued to struggle. Hasselbeck was sacked seven times in a 34-9 Thanksgiving Day loss at Dallas, as Seattle was held to single digits for the third time in the last nine games.

"Coach (Mike Holmgren) told us we had to be close to perfect to beat these guys," Hasselbeck said. "We haven't been close to playing like that all season."

In his 17th season as an NFL head coach, Holmgren has never lost 11 games in a season, while the Seahawks haven't dropped that many since going 2-14 in 1992.

It's been nearly as long since the Patriots have played a regular-season game in Seattle. New England lost 10-9 at the Kingdome on Oct. 24, 1993 -- the only time the Patriots have played in the state of Washington since 1985.

They've only met once in the last 15 seasons, when the Seahawks lost 30-20 in Foxborough on Oct. 17, 2004.

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