Hasselbeck returns, Seahawks rout Jags 41-0

SEATTLE — Broken ribs and all, Matt Hasselbeck was back to save Seattle’s season.

Hasselbeck returned from being sidelined two games to throw four touchdown passes, and the Seahawks rolled to their biggest home shutout in 25 years, 41-0 over the bewildered Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

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

The three-time Pro Bowl quarterback 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. Yet he finished three consecutive practices. Then he emphatically finished off the Jaguars and that skid.

He completed 18 of 30 throws for 241 yards before resting in the fourth quarter. He last threw four against Arizona on Dec. 9, 2007.

Hasselbeck 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.

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 caught a career-high two touchdown passes last week.

That left Jacksonville, which had scored 30-plus points in consecutive games for the first time since 2006, with Torry Holt and three rookie wide receivers. Jacksonville didn’t have a wideout besides Holt catch a pass until Jarett Dillard did in the third quarter. Seattle led 20-0 by then.

One week after tying his career high with three touchdown passes and completing 73 percent of his throws in a win over Tennessee, David Garrard missed on 10 of his first 15 while constantly backed up to his goal line by poor field position. The Jaguars’ deepest march was to the Seahawks 8 early in the fourth quarter. But Lawrence Jackson got Seattle’s fourth sack, 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.

The Seahawks scored two offensive touchdowns in the first two quarters. They scored three touchdowns over the 10 quarters Hasselbeck missed from Sept. 20 until Sunday.

At halftime, the Seahawks had 256 yards of offense. That was 23 fewer yards than with backup Seneca Wallace in all of last week’s blowout loss at Indianapolis.

Hasselbeck even had a 12-yard scramble in which he slid feet first in the open field about 5 yards away from any defender. That was a far safer dash than the headfirst dive he made for the goal line last month at San Francisco, when Patrick Willis crunched him in the back and broke ribs near his shoulder blades.

Jacksonville showed why it had the 31st-ranked pass defense late in the first half. Mathis fell for Houshmandzadeh’s stop at the 28, and the receiver sped past him for an easy 34-yard touchdown catch. He kept the ball following his first touchdown with Seattle, and the Seahawks led 13-0.

And after rookie Aaron Curry hit Garrard from behind and forced a fumble that Cory Redding recovered and returned to Jacksonville’s 32, Hasselbeck put a perfectly timed pass onto T.J Houshmandzadeh’s hands in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown, and Seattle led 27-0.

After the Jaguars’ fifth three-and-out drive of the opening half, Burleson beat Mathis inside for a catch, then leveled Gerald Alexander and Russell Allen with stiff arms for a 44-yard touchdown. Burleson launched the ball into the second level of seats behind the end zone to celebrate, as far as any throws Hasselbeck had in his glorious return.