When the team was up against it, when the breaks were beating the boys, Jim Mora delivered his best Knute Rockne impersonation Sunday.

“We have to embrace the adversity that we’re facing, knowing that if we can come out the back end, we’ll be better men, and a better football team for it,” the first-year Seahawks coach said.

“We have to maintain a good attitude, and keep believing in what we’re doing, and I think our guys will do those things. I think they’re high-character guys, I think they’re smart, I think they’re good football players.

”I think we’re going to be all right. I really do. That’s how I feel.“

There was nothing out of the ordinary about Mora’s pep talk. Unless you consider that the Seahawks had already played dead in a 27-3 loss to Arizona. And unless you consider that he was speaking to a room full of reporters.

So maybe there was, indeed, something out of the ordinary: Sunday’s loss was so mind-numbing that Mora was resigned to giving himself a morale boost in the post-game interview.

At least that’s what it seemed like.

And who could blame him?

Seattle’s performance was so devoid of life, so stunning in its impotence, that Mora’s only options were to deliver a pep talk or pull out the defibrillator.

The Seahawks trailed 14-0 before they had run an offensive play. They rushed for 14 yards and completed 11 of 30 passes. And they lost Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu for the rest of the season.

Tatupu’s injury might have the most lingering impact.

But for now, that’s the least of this team’s worries.

”Some weeks, we play well. Some weeks, we don’t,“ quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said.

Considering the Seahawks were one week removed from a 41-0 win over Jacksonville, Hasselbeck is now vying for the league lead in understatements.

”We’ve got to figure out what we’re real good at and get good at it,“ Hasselbeck continued. ”Does that make sense?“

Um, sure, Matt. About as much sense as Seattle allowing an Arizona touchdown drive that took 10:42 on the opening possession. About as much sense as the Seahawks failing to cover a pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff, giving the Cardinals the ball at the 23-yard line.

By the time Arizona scored its second touchdown, Seattle was relegated to playing catch-up and allowing the Cardinals spend the day harassing Hasselbeck.

Game over.

Part of that was fate. Because of injuries, Seattle was without three starting offensive linemen. But another part of that was … Oh, who knows? When your offense gains 128 yards, it is missing more than just a couple linemen.

”We still have to find a way to get better, and push through that,“ Mora said. ”That’s what you do when you’re a competitor. That’s the attitude we’re going to adopt. We’re not going to go, ’Woe is me.’ We’re going to attack it.“

All of which makes it difficult to assess these Seahawks (2-4) as they head into a bye week. Because in the mass of mediocrity that is the NFC West, strange things can happen.

”We’ve got 10 games to go,“ Mora said. ”There’s not one guy in there that will let up a bit, that will relent a bit; that’s not in their fiber.

“I’ve seen crazy things happen in this league, as we all have, and so we’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep battling. We’re going to keep searching for consistency, searching to get better, and we’ll see where this thing ends up.”

Somewhere, Knute Rockne is smiling.

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