Danny O'Neil: Offensive tackle is turning into a nightmare for the Seahawks

INDIANAPOLIS — Seattle wasn't prepared for this day.

That has nothing to do with the game plan against the Colts on Sunday or the new terminology Seattle used to call its plays on defense.

The question of preparation concerns a specific position: left tackle. It is a cornerstone in the NFL, but it is a question in Seattle.

Walter Jones hasn't played a game in 10 months, couldn't practice last week because of pain in his knee, and didn't travel to Indianapolis. Never has his absence stood out more than it did Sunday, when the Seahawks proved generally incapable of handling the pressure the Colts brought off the edge of the defensive line.

The Seahawks re-signed Sean Locklear to eventually play left tackle, but he's out with a multi-game injury for the third time in four seasons. So Seattle started a left tackle released by the Dolphins a week before the season started.

It wasn't Brandon Frye's fault. Really, it wasn't. He played through an injured groin last week, got himself back on the field to start at left tackle this week and — surprise — found himself matching up with one of the league's very best pass rushers on Seattle's first possession.

Dwight Freeney didn't start for the Colts, but he did play despite reports earlier in the week he would miss at least two weeks because of an injured quadriceps.

"Miracle cure," Seattle coach Jim Mora said afterward.

Immediate nightmare.

On its first possession, Seattle faced third-and-eight on its 43, and Freeney unleashed a spin move. At that point Frye might as well have been a traffic cone. Freeney just had to run around him, and quarterback Seneca Wallace threw an incomplete pass.

The problems at the edge of the line were just beginning.

"They've got a very good and fast front," Mora said of the Colts. "Very good."

Indianapolis' defensive ends had four sacks — three by Robert Mathis and one by Freeney. Seattle's two starting tackles, Frye and Ray Willis, combined for three holding penalties.

Willis is a road-grader of a right tackle, but someone who's small and quick like Mathis is a problem. That's why Willis was called twice for holding in the second quarter. The first penalty derailed what could have been a field-goal drive; the second hindered Seattle's only red-zone possession of the first half. The Seahawks ended up settling for a field goal.

Mathis was someone else's problem in the third quarter, namely Frye. And Frye didn't get anything more than a few fingers on him. Mathis crashed into Wallace from behind, forcing a fumble Freddy Keiaho recovered at the Indianapolis 36.

Tackle didn't appear to be a problem the first day of Seahawks training camp, when Jones practiced for the first time and the presence of Locklear and Willis on the right side opened the possibility that one could play guard.

But now, Jones' status is a question mark, Locklear is injured, and the fact that Seattle has not drafted a tackle since choosing Willis in the fourth round in 2005 has begun to show through.

Seattle's inability to handle Indianapolis' pressure off the edge is part of the reason the Seahawks now stand at 1-3, their season on the brink.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com