It was Wallace and not Hasselbeck who led the Seahawks' previously anemic offense on two straight game-opening touchdown drives against the New England Patriots last week, the first time the Seahawks have accomplished that this season.

Earlier in the year, when Hasselbeck was sidelined with a back injury, Wallace struggled to maintain any semblance of continuity with the offense. It was so bad at one point that coach Mike Holmgren felt the need to dial back the offense and call a more conservative game plan.

Turns out, Wallace was not 100 percent.

He had injured a calf muscle when the team was trying him out at wide receiver, which was necessary because the receiving corps was so depleted by injuries.

Then he suffered a groin pull, which prevented him from utilizing his best asset -- his mobility.

Wallace had it back last week, and befuddled a Patriots defense that got near him but could not catch him, something about which Patriots coach Bill Belichick groused after the game.

"I think he had a good game," Holmgren said. "He graded out very, very high. He threw the ball well, he ran the ball the way that we believe he can run the ball when he has to. He was healthy. And he played the game pretty confidently, I thought. I thought he was going right along. I'm hopeful, if Matt cannot play, that Sen can finish the year strong, and continue to play the way he played last week."

Wallace not only led the Seahawks in rushing last week, picking up 47 yards on three carries, but he also completed 20 of 28 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns, piecing together a 128.9 passer rating.

It is the reason that Holmgren feels relatively confident against the Rams this week even though Hasselbeck is not playing.

"It's all about playing with confidence and having fun," Wallace said. "It's a team effort. We all went out and played hard on Sunday."

--The Seattle Seahawks learned that defensive end Patrick Kerney tore his labrum for the second time in two years.

That does not affect the Seahawks this week, when they face the 2-11 St. Louis Rams in a meaningless NFC West division rivalry game.

But it could have significant impact on Seattle's season in 2009, as well as some of the decisions they make this offseason when they must determine what to do with a team that has been wildly disappointing.

While he is easily their most talented pass-rusher, and that's the reason the Seahawks gave Kerney a six-year, $39.5 million contract with $19 million guaranteed, he also has spent the latter portion of two of the last three seasons on injured reserve. He tore a pectoral muscle in Atlanta in 2006.

There is no question that the Seahawks struggle when Kerney is not on the field. But there also is no question that they no longer can rely on him to be a 16-game player.

They said they drafted Lawrence Jackson with their first-round pick last year because they felt that Kerney, who will be 32 at the end of the month, wore down noticeably, evidenced by the zero stats he had in the Seahawks' playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Jackson had been disappointing, totaling just two sacks and 25 tackles in 13 games, in part because without Kerney Jackson has been unable to beat opponents one-on-one.

What general manager Tim Ruskell must decide is whether they want to risk bringing back Kerney for yet another season at a relatively high salary with the notion that he no longer can play a full season.

Ironically, the Seahawks play the Rams this week, against whom Kerney had some of his most successful games last season and earlier this year in a 37-13 Seattle victory.

The ability to get to Rams quarterback Marc Bulger though will be left up to Jackson, Darryl Tapp and second-year end Baraka Atkins, who had two sacks last week and is starting get more of Jackson's playing time because he has been productive. The Rams have given up 38 sacks this season.

SERIES HISTORY: 21st regular-season meeting. The Seahawks lead the series, 11-9, having won the last seven consecutive games. They have not lost a regular-season game to St. Louis since 2004. They had a 37-13 victory in their first meeting this season, a game in which they took a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.