will wait all the way until then

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RENTON, Wash. -- Three men who had to stay on the sidelines in Sunday's embarrassing 41-7 Seattle loss to the New York Giants could be the keys for the Seahawks as they move forward.
Seattle, cumulatively beaten in consecutive weeks by a total score of 74-10 by Oakland and New York,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], is reeling, and coach Pete Carroll doesn't disguise the ugliness of that fact.
"We're fortunate to be where we're at (4-4),'' Carroll said Monday. "We have a lot of work to do; there's a lot of stuff we have to get done. We have to get the line of scrimmage going on both sides of the ball. We got beat there for the second week in a row, and we have to do a better job.
"We know that if we're going to have a chance to get the second half (of the season) going the way we want it to, we've got to get better up front. That's really a big focus for us.''
The Seahawks could make things easier for themselves if they can just get their best group together again. That includes getting Matt Hasselbeck (concussion) back at quarterback, Brandon Mebane (calf injury) patrolling the defensive line and [link widoczny dla zalogowanych](high angle sprain) returning to left tackle. The [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] return would enable Chester Pitts to slide to left guard, regarded as his best position.
"In my wishful, hopeful mind,'' Carroll said, "you'll see the quarterback come back, you'll see Mebane come back, and a chance that Russell and a couple of other guys (will come back).''
Although nothing is official, it's possible that the Seahawks could be a much healthier team this weekend in Arizona in an NFC West matchup with the Cardinals.
"Matt had a good workout today,'' Hasselbeck said. "He's responding well, the best he has, and he looks very good at this point. We don't practice until Wednesday, and I think (the doctors) will wait all the way until then (before clearing him to play).''
Carroll said that [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], too, had a good workout Monday and added that the first round draft pick is "very close'' to returning.
Seattle, which stood alone in first place at 4-2 before falling afoul of the Raiders and Giants, is 4-4 in the West and tied with St. Louis for first place in the division. The Seahawks are smarting, there's no doubt about it, after the last two weeks, but there's no time now to look over their shoulders.
There's half a season still to play, and the division is open to any of the four teams to win.
"The second half is what the conversation is about,'' Carroll said. "We talked about it today in the meetings about where we stand and what the league looks like, where everybody else is. There's a lot of teams right in the middle -- like 17 teams within striking distance. So it's what you do with it now is what counts. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
"That's what we're setting our sights on, and we'll see how far we can go, starting with Arizona.''
For Carroll personally, the losses to the Raiders and Giants were the first back-to-back losses for him as a coach since 2001, when he was in his first year with the USC Trojans after leaving his first NFL head coaching job with New England (1997-99).
"I'm not sleeping as well as I'd like,'' Carroll said. "I'm racking my brain to figure out what I can do. I'm OK about taking it (the losses), but I'm anxious about fixing it.''
He said Sunday's game in Arizona against the 3-5 Cardinals is a "huge opportunity; I don't lose sight of that.''
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
"The goal of our program is to own this division,'' Carroll said. "That's there for us. The cool thing is to come out on the other end and do something really good with the second half.''
Matt Hasselbeck, Brandon Mebane, [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]'s Returns Would Save Seahawks