ESPN NFL

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

The Seahawks never gained more than 8 yards on third down against the Cardinals in Week 11. They averaged 0.56 yards per play on nine third-down chances, with one conversion. The chart shows Seattle's third-down production against Arizona by most yards gained.

One third-down play stood out from the others. The Seahawks faced a third-and-9 from their own 38-yard-line when quarterback Matt Hasselbeck sized up the Cardinals' defense at the line of scrimmage and changed the call to a running play. The Cardinals stuffed Maurice Morris for a 1-yard gain. Defensive lineman Antonio Smith stood and yelled toward Hasselbeck in an apparent show of defiance. Fans at Qwest Field booed the seemingly curious play call.

The play exposed an aspect of the Seattle offense that needs retooling. The Seahawks under Mike Holmgren have periodically gashed unsu
specting defenses when Hasselbeck called running plays designed to exploit certain blitzes on third down. In Week 2 of the 2006 season, Shaun Alexander burned the Cardinals with a 13-yard run on third-and-7. Later in the game, Mack Strong gained 13 yards on a third-and-6 run.

Arizona has become wiser to these tactics. In the teams' Week 2 meeting last season, the Cardinals stopped Strong for a 6-yard gain on third-and-7. They stopped Alexander for a 3-yard gain on third-and-4. The third-and-9 play Sunday was the latest example.

For a look at every Seahawks play from Week 11, download the full personnel breakdown featuring production summaries and play-by-play sortable by down, distance, field position, personnel, play type, ball carrier, yards gained and more. Arizona absolutely owned the Seahawks' preferred one-back, three-receiver package, limiting it to a 3.1-yard average on 16 pass attempts and a 1.8-yard average on eight rushes.

Note: The corresponding file for Arizona can be downloaded here. These files also tell us how each team's defense fared by situation and personnel group.