By GREGG BELL
AP Sports Writer
RENTON, Wash. (AP) -- The skidding Seahawks aren't worried about
T.J. Houshmandzadeh's stomping and gesturing after he doesn't
get the ball.
They have too many other concerns. Such as keeping their jobs.
Coach Jim Mora put his 2-5 team on notice following Sunday's
21-point loss at Dallas, which came after a 24-point home loss
to Arizona.
"He basically said, 'I will evaluate this organization up and
down and if I feel I've got to make changes, I'm going to make
changes. If that means I've got to fire people, I'm going to
fire people,"' quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "We've
definitely been put on notice that the scrutiny is going to go
up."
The Seahawks captain said that while some teammates are working
harder to get better, "there are some guys just happy to have a
job."
Travis Fisher no longer has one. The veteran was released Monday
evening. But firing the third-string cornerback who wasn't even
active for Sunday's 38-17 loss to the Cowboys isn't going to
cure what ails Seattle heading into Sunday's home game against
even worse-off Detroit (1-6).
"It's been a tough 24 hours, man," receiver Nate Burleson said.
This is the first time Mora, the coach of the Atlanta Falcons
from 2004-06 who took over the Seahawks in January from Mike
Holmgren, has been three games below .500 as a head coach. His
public tone Monday was far more terse than it had been for two
months.
"I don't like to lose," he said.
The coach had been optimistic and upbeat amid Seattle's many
injuries and defeats. That was before the Cowboys blew out his
team amid penalties, fumbles and missed assignments. A 14-10
game late in the second quarter became a 38-10 runaway.
Just as he did the day before, Mora relayed a statement e-mailed
to him Friday by Bruce Brown, his old coach at Hyak Junior High
School in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue.
"Adversity turns weak people into victims, and it turns strong
people into competitors," was Brown's message.
"We are going to find out who the strong people are, and they
are going to be here fighting with us until the end," Mora said
Monday. "And we're going to find out who the victims are, and
they aren't going to with us fighting to the end.
"We're up against it a little bit. People will reveal themselves
at these times. And I will be looking hard."
Houshmandzadeh, who signed a $40 million, five-year contract in
the spring, has repeatedly proclaimed he wants the ball more in
his first season with Seattle. Then Sunday the NFL's leading
receiver over the last three seasons entering 2009 angrily
gestured toward Hasselbeck to throw the ball with more loft
immediately after he tried to zing a hard pass to the tightly
guarded receiver while he was one-on-one with a defender near
the goal line in the first quarter. The discussion continued at
the bench. Both players made gestures but did not appear to be
arguing so much as explaining themselves.
"You're talking about two great competitors. They were just
simply having an animated discussion," Mora said. "There was no
animosity.
"You have to remember, these two guys, they've only had seven
games together. They're trying to learn each other."
Hasselbeck said he thought Houshmandzadeh, who had 92 receptions
last season with Cincinnati but has just 35 through seven games
with Seattle, knew about an adjustment the quarterback had
worked out previously while in a similar situation with
Burleson.
"That's kind of his demeanor," Hasselbeck said of
Houshmandzadeh's fire. "There's no issue there. The issue is, we
have to complete more passes."
Hasselbeck made a point of mentioning he nominated
Houshmandzadeh to be team's player representative for this
season.
Then there's Deion Branch's proclamation into a FOX television
camera caught live on the air Sunday, as the forgotten former
Super Bowl MVP ran through the back of the end zone following
his first touchdown catch of the season.
The oft-injured Branch hasn't fulfilled the huge contract and
No. 1 draft choice Seattle invested in him after a trade with
New England in September 2006, and he had been the subject of
trade rumors before the league's deadline last month. He looked
into the lens Sunday and shouted: "This is what I do! If anyone
wants me, come find me!"
Mora dismissed that, too.
"Sounds like a challenge to me," the coach said. "Sounds like
he's competing and challenging people."
Given all the sideshows and losses, Hasselbeck was asked how the
Seahawks' psyche was.
"That's a good question," the team's leader said. "I think
that's something we've got to figure out."
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