SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The traveling nightmare that is the Detroit Lions made its latest stop at Seahawks Stadium.
Matt Hasselbeck led four first-half scoring drives as the Seattle Seahawks posted a 35-14 triumph over the Lions, whose road losing streak reached 21 games.
The Lions' run of futility away from home dates to a 10-7 victory over the New York Jets on December 17, 2000. The road skid in the third longest in NFL history behind Buffalo (22) and the Houston Oilers (23).
Hasselbeck completed 21-of-28 passes for 207 yards as Seattle improved to 6-0 at home. Most of the damage was done in the first half when he completed 14-of-19 passes for 166 yards.
"We'll win on the road when we play better than the other team," Lions coach Steve Mariucci said. "We did that today for a quarter or two. We're very inconsistent right now, that's who we are."
The Seahawks took advantage of the Lions' poor play in the first half, totaling 300 yards as they built a 35-14 lead. They held a 14-7 lead after the first quarter, then turned the game into a rout by scoring 21 points in just over 10 minutes in the second period.
"One of the goals this week was to start the game with a lot of enthusiasm," Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said. "We came out and took some of the starch out of the Lions."
"We talked about opening up this game and Mike had us fired up because we knew the plays he was going to call," Hasselbeck said. "It was exciting and I think we felt like we in that rhythm we were last year. Maybe we can keep up the style of play."
After wide receiver Koren Robinson recovered Hasselbeck's fumble in the end zone for a score, Bobby Engram hauled in a 34-yard TD pass and returned a punt 83 yards for a TD to make it 35-7.
The Seahawks (7-3) remained tied with St. Louis for first place in the NFC West. But they play three of their next four games on the road, where they are 1-3.
Seattle had virtually everything go its way. The Seahawks scored on four of their first five possessions and stopped the Lions twice on fourth down inside the 20 in the second half.
The loss spoiled the return of Detroit's Joey Harrington to the Pacific Northwest. Harrington, who starred University of Oregon, completed 11-of-17 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. He had a career-high 72-yard TD pass to Scotty Anderson in the second quarter.
"I had a lot of emotions with coming back this week," Harrington said. "You see all of these people coming out to support you and it would have been nice to give them a win."
