Wallace needs help
Gil Haskell was spouting off about something that went without saying.
“He can’t win the game by himself,” the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator said earlier this week of starting quarterback Seneca Wallace. “The running game must help him. And if that happens, we’re OK.”
With that, Seahawk Nation might as well have let out a collective: Uh-oh.
Seattle’s offense hasn’t looked capable of winning games on the ground this season, as evidenced by the 26 teams that rank above them in rushing yards per attempt (3.5). The Seahawks average just 99.7 rushing yards per game, which ranks 20th in the league and is the franchise’s lowest clip since 1999.
Chances are, the team’s streak of eight consecutive years with a 1,000-yard rusher will be snapped in 2006.
“We’re struggling,” coach Mike Holmgren said earlier this week. “The problem is we’re comparing it with what we did last year, and last year we were so good. Now, obviously, we don’t have Shaun (Alexander). Everyone knows that. I still expect us to do a little bit better than we’ve done.”
The questions are as obvious as the answers are complex.
Is it all about Alexander’s injury?
Does the team really miss Steve Hutchinson that much?
Where are the running lanes that were so prominent in 2005?
“If everything’s working the right way, it can be working just like it did last year,” said running back Maurice Morris, who has filled in for Alexander in the past three games because of the Pro Bowler’s injured right foot. “But we’re still jelling.”
Six games into the 2006 season, the Seahawks are struggling to find any consistency in the running game. Even when Alexander was healthy, the results were subpar. The 2005 rushing champion had just 51, 89 and 47 yards in his three games before the injury.
“Neither one of them have a great average,” running backs coach Stump Mitchell said, referring to Alexander and Morris. “It’s just us, as a whole.”
For at least one more week, Morris is the starter. He hasn’t shown much in Alexander’s place, failing to average more than 3.2 yards per carry in any of his three starts. Going back to the New York Giants game in Week 3, when Morris had 15 carries in relief of Alexander, Morris has averaged just 44 yards per game on the ground.
“I just need to be patient and continue to try to get positive yards,” said Morris, who has not reached the end zone yet this season. “It might not be the longest run, but I have to keep pounding it in there.”
Morris has looked tentative at times, and he hasn’t shown the something-out-of-nothing ability that Alexander often displays because of his patient running style.
The soft-spoken Morris is candid about the problems plaguing the run game, taking part of the blame himself.
“Every back wants a big play,” he said, “but sometimes you have to just stick your head in there and get what’s given to you.”
“The Seattle Seahawks downgraded starting right tackle Sean Locklear to questionable for Sunday’s game at Kansas City with a left ankle injury.
Around the league
Ben Roethlisberger, four days removed from a concussion caused by a painful helmet-to-helmet hit in Atlanta, took most of the snaps with the Pittsburgh Steelers starting offense and looked ready to play Sunday in Oakland. … Indianapolis defensive tackle Montae Reagor said he is “resting and feeling fine” after surgery to repair a facial fracture caused by a Sunday automobile accident. … Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich missed practice because of his sore left ankle, increasing the chances that backup David Garrard will start Sunday at Philadelphia. … Richard Seymour wore a brace on his injured left elbow at practice for the second day in a row and his status for the New England Patriots Monday night game at Minnesota remained uncertain. … Cleveland Browns right offensive tackle Ryan Tucker missed practice with what coach Romeo Crennel termed “a medical illness.”