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Hasselbeck returns, Seahawks rout Jags 41-0

Oct 12, 2009 - 1:07 AM By GREGG BELL AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE(AP) -- Any worries Matt Hasselbeck had about getting hit in his broken ribs ended quickly. Before kickoff.

"Guys were giving me chest bumps pregame," Seattle's three-time Pro Bowl quarterback said, marveling over teammates who were excited he was back after being sidelined two games.

"I should have worn a sign."

Late to the field before the game and after halftime while taking painkilling injections, Hasselbeck threw four touchdown passes, two of them to T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and the Seahawks rolled to their biggest home shutout in 25 years, 41-0 over the bewildered Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Seahawks (2-3) were still missing seven starters, including three-fifths of their offensive line. Didn't matter: Hasselbeck was back.

He last threw for four touchdowns against Arizona on Dec. 9, 2007. He has seven touchdown passes in the two games in which he's been completely healthy this season. Those are the only two games Seattle has won.

"He hit me dead in the numbers. Makes it easy for me," Nate Burleson said of his 44-yard catch and run that made it 20-0 late in the first half.

The first trip to Seattle since 2001 for Jacksonville (2-3) was a flop even before kickoff. Leading wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker was inactive for a violation of team rules. Sims-Walker, who caught two touchdown passes last week, shook his head and waved his hands to fend off questions about what he did while running off the field after the game.

Coach Jack Del Rio didn't specify the violation, but gruffly said he didn't regret benching his top receiver.

It left Jacksonville with Torry Holt and three rookies. Jacksonville didn't have a wide receiver besides Holt catch a pass until Jarett Dillard did in the third quarter. Seattle led 20-0 by then.

"He definitely didn't cost us a loss or anything. But whenever you have a dynamic player like that, you want him on the field," quarterback David Garrard said.

Hasselbeck was in what coach Jim Mora called excruciating pain Monday, after overdoing rehabilitation work in his urgency to return and end Seattle's three-game losing streak. He took pain medication just to work out Tuesday - "Now, who in here would do that?" Mora said - and finished three consecutive practices. Then he emphatically finished off the Jaguars and that skid.

"I watched him from Sunday to Monday transform," Mora said.

Hasselbeck completed 18 of 30 throws for 241 yards against the league's 31st-ranked pass defense. He exposed cornerback Rashean Mathis on three of his touchdown passes before resting in the fourth quarter.

The Seahawks scored two offensive touchdowns in the first two quarters. They scored three touchdowns with backup Seneca Wallace leading them over the 10 quarters Hasselbeck missed from Sept. 20 until Sunday.

Hasselbeck even had a 12-yard scramble in which he slid feet first in the open field about 5 yards away from any defender. The 34-year-old said to himself, "I thought I was faster than this."

It was a far safer dash than his headfirst dive for the goal line last month at San Francisco, when Patrick Willis crunched him and broke ribs near his shoulder blades.

Did Hasselbeck save Seattle's season Sunday?

"It depends if you follow it up," Mora said. "Our job is to validate this thing. Go out and back it up."

One week after tying his career high with three touchdown passes and completing 73 percent of his throws in a win over Tennessee, Garrard missed on 10 of his first 15 while constantly backed up to his goal line by poor field position. Jacksonville went three-and-out five times in the first half.

The Jaguars' deepest march was to the Seahawks 8 early in the fourth quarter. But Lawrence Jackson got Seattle's fourth sack, and rookie defensive end Nick Reed picked up Garrard's fumble and ran 79 yards for a touchdown.

It mercifully ended Garrard's day. He was 18 for 31 for 188 yards, as Jacksonville endured its worst road shutout loss since Dec. 17, 1995, in its inaugural season.

"Just a terrible day, terrible performance by all of us," he said.

NOTES: Seattle was down to its fourth LT when Brandon Frye sustained a neck and shoulder injury in the first half. Kyle Williams, signed off the practice squad Saturday, then played through a sprained left knee. ... The Jaguars had scored 30-plus points in consecutive games for the first time since 2006.