by Gene Frenette , Florida Times-Union

From Quentin Groves' reported car accident en route to the Jacksonville airport, to the benching of top receiver Mike Sims-Walker for violating team rules after flying to Seattle, to the 41-0 debacle Sunday against the Seahawks, the Jaguars had all the bases of embarrassment covered.

Just title this chapter of the Jaguars' roller-coaster season, "Listless in Seattle," because that aptly describes the most lopsided defeat of the Jack Del Rio era. The team's only sense of urgency was to get on the plane to go home.

"That performance was the worst I've ever been a part of," said linebacker Clint Ingram. "I'm kind of short on words. I don't know what to say. I don't know exactly where it all went wrong."

Whatever feel-good story the 2-3 Jaguars had building after winning at Houston and throttling the Tennessee Titans last week at home, they threw it away with a complete discombobulation in every phase of the game except the punting of Adam Podlesh, who had eight punts for a 45.9-yard average.

The understatement of the day came in Del Rio's opening postgame news conference line: "OK, not much to like there."

Presumably, Del Rio was referring exclusively to what transpired on the field, where the Jaguars regressed back to the pathetic unit that fell behind 31-3 in the home opener against the Arizona Cardinals.

You could almost fill a phone book with all the things that went wrong at Qwest Field, which led to Jacksonville doing a fair impression of a completely disinterested Football team in the second half.

"You can pick any phase [of the game] you want, guys, we didn't play very well," Del Rio said. "I can't explain it and make it better. ... It's one ugly loss."

It was offensive on both sides of the ball in every way imaginable. It started up front, with the defensive line unable to generate much of a pass rush on quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, which led to train wrecks in the secondary. Despite the Seahawks being forced by injuries to use a third-string left tackle, Kyle Williams, the Jaguars managed just one sack by Derek Landri and minimal pressure beyond that.

Cornerback Rashean Mathis got beat twice for touchdowns by T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and roasted rather badly on a 34-yarder that gave Seattle a 13-0 lead.

Safety Gerald Alexander made a phantom tackle of Nate Burleson, allowing him to race to the end zone for another easy score.

"A couple long passes and it seemed like we never recovered," said defensive end Atiyyah Ellison. "Even when we made adjustments, [the Seahawks] were doing pretty much whatever they wanted."

The offensive line was every bit as suspect, getting quarterbacks David Garrard and backup Luke McCown sacked a combined five times. Starter Tra Thomas and backup Eugene Monroe each saw time at left tackle, and both allowed a defensive end to put Garrard on his back.

For his part, Garrard fumbled twice with disastrous consequences.

One loose ball was scooped up Nick Reed for a 79-yard touchdown, and another was returned 26 yards by Cory Redding, which would have been a touchdown had he not made a bad cut and fell to the ground after colliding with Garrard.

Oh, did I mention that the Jaguars failed on their first nine third-down conversions? Or that the Seahawks ran the ball 14 consecutive times, plus three kneel-downs, to bleed the last 11:53 off the clock?

"It wasn't one thing that gave us that terrible day," Garrard said.

Just like it wasn't one thing that contributed to the travel itinerary and pregame routine being thrown out of whack.

When your second-year second-round draft pick is reportedly making better hits on other people's cars with his Cadillac Escalade than on the field against the Seahawks, that can make for an awkward start to a road trip. Groves, in addition to seeing his name on a police blotter, might also find it on a waiver wire before too long.

We don't know yet what Sims-Walker did to merit being benched. But it sure doesn't make for a totally cohesive offense when one of its big weapons, who has a reputation of being pretty responsible, gets himself in the Del Rio doghouse less than 48 hours before kickoff.

"We need to tighten up, get back to work and not let this ruin our season," Ingram said. "Champions ain't crying in Week 5."

It's anybody's guess whether this dreadful display of Football happened because the Jaguars had to travel three time zones away, but they certainly played like they were in another world.

gene.frenette@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4540

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