The 2008 New England Patriots' playoff hopes looked over yesterday in Seattle as they quickly fell behind 14-3 to a terrible Seahawks (2-11) team.
From there, New England woke up and outscored Seattle, 21-8. It wasn't a thing of beauty but the Pats (8-5) made just enough plays on offense and finally a few stops on defense to propel them to a crazy 24-21 at Qwest Field.
Everybody's favorite short, white receiver Wes Welker (12 catches, 134 yards; 2-PT conversion catch) could not be stopped as he took over in the second half. Did I mention he's small?
Matt Cassel (26-for-44, 268 yards, touchdown) made a bunch of big-time throws and Brandon Meriweather forced a Seneca Wallace fumble on Seattle's last drive as they tried to tie it up. Richard Seymour recovered the ball and the Pats just took a knee for the clutch win.
Earlier, they had made Wallace, the backup quarterback, look like a Hall-of-Famer as he went 20-for-28 with 212 yards, three touchdowns and 47 yards rushing.
Old friend Deion Branch made up for lost time (he has been injured and virtually useless since he left New England) by burning the Pats for 88 yards on four catches, including two vintage Branch touchdowns.
Branch had the first score of the game as he caught a 14-yard TD after burning Meriweather.
Stephen Gostkowski's 50-yard kick cut it to 7-3 Seahawks after one quarter.
Rookie tight end John Carlson (8 catches, 69 yards) had a 10-yard TD catch which put Settle up 14-3 early in the second.
Cassel and the offense responded as Benjamin Watson hauled in a 2-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone.
It was 14-10 Seattle heading into halftime.
Another Gostkowski kick (42 yards), cut the Seahawk lead to one point in the third.
Branch worked some more magic with a ridiculous 63-yard catch and run where he went from one sideline to the other, juking past (and using blocks) to get by almost every Patriots defender.
He topped that with a juggling, one-handed grab on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Wallace.
New England made it 21-16 with Gostkowski's third field goal of the day (27 yards) early in the fourth then Sammy Morris jumped over the goalline on a gutsy fourth-and-1 run. Cassel found Welker with the two-point conversion and then Seattle did what it's done best this year (fail).
With Vince Wilfork and Tedy Bruschi going down during the game and Gary Guyton getting pulled, recently re-signed linebackers Junior Seau and Rosevelt Colvin were back on the field for New England.
Neither of them made any big plays but it was a time warp to see them again. That's how desperate New England is for warm bodies, they had to bring these two experienced veterans in.
The Pats will stay out on the West Coast as they travel to Oakland next Sunday to face an awful Raiders team with nothing to play for. The Jets once again choked yesterday (against the 49ers) and the Dolphins beat the Bills, so the AFC East is currently a three-way tie at the top.
The Patriots defense is a complete mess that can't stop anybody but if they can just make the playoffs, anything can happen. Especially in an AFC that still has no clear top teams other than the Titans and Steelers.
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