A tough day for Schmitt, Seahawks at Lambeau 
by Matt Frey
The Star News
December 31, 2009 —  A game Owen Schmitt certainly looked forward to when the 2009 NFL schedule came out in April didn’t go the way he and his Seattle Seahawk teammates hoped Sunday.
The 24-year-old Gilman native made his first career appearance at Lambeau Field and saw sporadic action on offense and put in some special teams duty, including a plethora of kickoff returns because the Green Bay Packers were busy scoring at will in a 48-10 blowout win. Schmitt played before several family members and friends, more than 60 of whom rode to Green Bay on a charter bus Sunday morning. A few close friends saw Schmitt at the Seahawks’ hotel in Appleton Saturday night and some family and friends caught up with him briefly after the game before the team flew back to Seattle.
The hope before the season started was that this would be a big late-season game for both teams. Instead, it was only a big day for the Packers, who improved to 10-5 and clinched an NFC playoff berth as a wild card, while the Seahawks dropped to 5-10. They will close their season Sunday at home against the Tennessee Titans.
Schmitt obviously hoped to put on a show for those who could take advantage of the rare opportunity to see him play so close to his childhood home, but in his mind, that didn’t happen either.
“I played not very good to tell you the truth,” he said in the locker room after the game. “I’m sure I’ll get a lot of flak when I get out of here and see the family.”
He wasn’t alone. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck struggled for the second straight week by throwing four interceptions, which led to 21 Green Bay points. He threw four picks the previous week in a 24-7 loss to Tampa Bay. The Seahawks allowed the Packers to convert eight of 14 third downs, turned just one of four red zone trips into a touchdown and committed eight penalties which cost them 86 yards.
Schmitt did have a couple of highlights. He made a handful of solid blocks, either as a fullback or on kickoff returns and was credited with a special teams tackle when he forced Green Bay’s Charles Woodson out of bounds on a short 12-yard kickoff return with 4:11 left in the game.
The day started with high hopes for the second-year player out of West Virginia. Schmitt was slated to rotate series at fullback with starter Justin Griffith. But as Seattle slid farther and farther behind, his on-field time with the offense dwindled.
“I got at least a little more playing time,” he said. “When you get behind you start going with two-minute stuff, and that kind of eliminates the fullback.
“I guess I just gotta get faster,” he joked.
The game plan also called for Seattle to run the ball a lot. The ground game looked good on Seattle’s first drive when the Seahawks gained 30 yards in seven attempts, but the drive ended abruptly when Hasselbeck threw a bad dumpoff pass that was intercepted by Green Bay linebacker A.J. Hawk.
“That’s kinda what the game plan was,” Schmitt said. “We were executing real well. We just had that one play that kinda stopped that real quick. Because it would be cold, we thought it was going to be a ground game. We just had some unfortunate things happen.”
On Seattle’s second offensive series, he was in the backfield on first down and walled off Hawk, but Justin Forsett was only able to gain a yard on the first-down rushing play. On Seattle’s fourth series, a block on Packer end Johnny Jolly helped give Hasselbeck time to complete a 17-yard pass to Deion Branch on the final play of the first quarter. On the next play, he split wide to right and actually had Woodson, the Packers’ all-pro cornerback lined up on him in coverage. That play was designed to open up room for a pass over the middle to T.J. Houshmandzadeh, but linebacker Clay Matthews batted the pass at the line of scrimmage.
In the third quarter, Schmitt was in for two successive plays after Green Bay went ahead 31-3. On first down of that series, Schmitt and Forsett picked up a blitzing Nick Barnett. On second down, he faced Woodson again and put on a solid block on the blitzing cornerback, although Forsett gained just 2 yards on the play.
“I’m supposed to just lock him up,” Schmitt said. “I played way too inside because I figured the ball would come up on my back if I took the inside away from him, but we ended up bouncing it out. That’s not an easy block for anyone.”
On kick returns, Schmitt often found himself blocking Green Bay’s Spencer Havner. Schmitt seemed to get the better of things on a 21-yard return by Forsett in the first half that was compounded by a 15-yard facemask penalty by the Packers and on a 29-yard Forsett return to open the second half. He also got bowled over by Packer Derrick Martin on a short 13-yard kickoff return by Forsett early in the second half.
For those who haven’t seen Seattle play this season, injuries have been a big factor in their lack of success. Killer mistakes on offense haven’t helped either.
“These are things we try to emphasize,” Schmitt said. “Staying on schedule, eliminating those penalties and things that set you back. Fumbles, all that stuff. Just try to make smart plays, but we’ve struggled with it a little bit.”
A few lockers away, Branch, a wide receiver, agreed.
“The run game was great,” he said. “The guys did a great job blocking for Forsett and (Julius) Jones. We just have to execute better. I think we know we have a good team. We’re just not executing. I don’t know what it is. It’s third down. We couldn’t stop them on third down. We had a turnover here and there. It’s something that we’re doing to ourselves, not what Green Bay was doing.”
Green Bay finished with 417 yards of total offense compared to Seattle’s 291. The Packers had 153 rushing yards, while Seattle had 115. Brandon Jackson scored a career-high three touchdowns for the Packers, one on a screen pass and two second-half rushing scores. Ryan Grant had two touchdowns and Ahman Green added one as Green Bay had five rushing touchdowns for the first time since a 45-3 win over New England in 1988. Obviously, the mood was much happier in Green Bay’s locker room Sunday as the Packers look forward to the post-season. Carolina’s 41-9 win over the New York Giants Sunday assured the Packers of a playoff spot.
“We came into this game not thinking about anyone else but ourselves,” Jackson said. “We had to come out and get win number 10 and not worry about other teams. We have to do what we have to do to be successful to win ball games and the rest will happen.”
After his season ends, Schmitt will be anxious to see what changes Seattle makes in the off-season. The Seahawks are looking for a new head of football operations, which could mean significant changes. Schmitt figures he’ll spend at least some time in the Gilman area this summer. If nothing else, a second season as an instructor at Jim Leonhard’s football camp at Flambeau High School is in the works as is a potential visit to Gilman’s annual Kenner Football Camp.
“I asked if they could schedule (the Kenner Camp) a little earlier, so I could make it this year,” he said. “We’ll see what happens there. That’s always a good thing to go to.”
 

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