• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Seahawks play starters, beat Bucs

Jan 1, 2007 - 1:17 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren wanted some momentum going into the playoffs.

Matt Hasselbeck passed for a touchdown and Shaun Alexander rushed for a score as the Seahawks coasted to a 23-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the regular-season finale for both teams.

With the Seahawks already having locked up the NFC's fourth seed in the playoffs, Holmgren had no interest of carrying a four-game losing streak into the playoffs as he elected to play his starters the entire way.

"Our record isn't what we had hoped," Holmgren said. "But there's something about 9-7 being a lot better than 8-8 even though it's only one game. "

Seattle (9-7) will host Dallas (9-7) in a wild-card game on Saturday night.

Hasselbeck and Alexander, who each missed significant time with injuries this season, tuned up for the playoffs at the expense of the Bucs.

"They both needed to play the game because they missed a lot of time this season," Holmgren said.

"I think some of us were wondering how he (Mike Holmgren) was going to handle it, but once he told us, he was very clear about it and sounded very confident about it," Hasselbeck said. "So I think at that point we needed to get our minds right and get ready to play our game before we went out there." Hasselbeck completed 17-of-29 passes for 216 yards, including a five-yard TD pass to D.J. Hackett with 19 seconds left in the first half, giving the Seahawks a 17-7 lead.

Alexander rushed for 92 yards on 28 attempts. His one-yard TD with under three minutes left in the first quarter provided a 10-0 advantage.

"The playoffs are exciting," Alexander said. "It's the second season and everyone knows it's totally different than the regular season. This is usually where big things happen, and we gladly accept the challenge."

Tim Rattay threw for a touchdown for the Bucs (4-12), who finished in last place in the NFC South after winning the division last season.

"Obviously, it has been a very rough season," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "I'm proud of our football team, in spite of the record. These guys practiced and played hard for 16 consecutive weeks and went through a lot of adversity."