Hawks look ahead

On the heels of a humiliating, blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Seattle Seahawks could shrug their shoulders and point out a few inarguable truths.

Matt Hasselbeck didn’t play, Shaun Alexander carried the ball only three times, and Walter Jones didn’t even make the trip.

So it would be easy to toss aside Saturday’s 48-13 preseason loss and move on.

But the problem is, no matter how meaningless the result, the Seahawks’ most recent loss exposed some flaws on this team.

Among the areas of concern:

“ Depth: Not every team has a Walter Jones – much less two Walter Joneses. But by the way backup Tom Ashworth looked in Saturday’s game, the Seahawks are in big, big trouble if their Pro Bowl left tackle ever misses a game. Backup quarterback Seneca Wallace also looked shaky, although part of that had to do with an offensive line that didn’t give him much protection. Not that third stringer David Greene has done anything to make Wallace look over his shoulder.

“ Special teams: The nagging penalties that plagued this unit over the past two seasons were back in Saturday’s game. A low point came during a kickoff return that included three different holding penalties. New special teams coach Bruce DeHaven still has plenty of work to do.

“ Defensive déjÀ vu: Green Bay converted four of its first six third downs, all against the Seahawks’ No. 1 defense. On one play, cornerback Marcus Trufant had good coverage but allowed the receiver to make the catch. These are two areas that hurt past Seahawks teams and need to be addressed if this year’s defensive is going to be improved.

“ Blocking fullbacks: This is supposed to be the year when Leonard Weaver starts getting snaps to give veteran Mack Strong some much-needed rest. But the way he looked in pass protection on Saturday proved that Weaver still has a long way to go when it comes to being a blocking back.

“ Dropped passes: Alexander has dropped passes two weeks in a row, reminding us why he’s considered a one-dimensional back. Even Mr. Reliable, Bobby Engram, dropped a pass. The preseason is meant for forming good habits, not bad ones.

With all that said, there are also plenty of reasons to look at Saturday’s game with a grain of salt.

The offense will obviously be a lot different with Jones, Hasselbeck and starting right tackle Sean Locklear, all of whom are expected to be ready to go when the regular season begins.

And the defense, which could include as many as four new starters, is also still coming together as a unit.

Saturday’s loss was still a preseason game. And the Seahawks are hoping that the preseason is a time for getting all those mistakes out of the system.