Seahawks lost their way with mind-boggling swiftness

Just to show how little history matters as the Seahawks trudge through their lousy present, we give you Edgerrin James' reaction Sunday to a career milestone.

James passed Marcus Allen for 10th place on the career rushing list, albeit with a skimpy 17-yard performance. Reporters asked him about it. He shrugged. He was still down about a 38-17 loss to Dallas. He said someone gave him a game ball to commemorate the accomplishment, and then he looked in his locker. The ball wasn't there anymore. He shrugged again.

"Doesn't matter," James said. "It's somewhere around here. The biggest thing is, I'm used to winning. I love to win. That's why I play. So this is hard."

Unfortunately, but perhaps fittingly, those figure to be the final words of James' stellar career. The Seahawks cut the old running back Tuesday because he just doesn't have it anymore. Though it wasn't the Seahawks' intention, the move had a metaphoric quality to it.

For this franchise, history is, well, history. The present is lousy. And all you can think about right now is how quickly good things crumble in the NFL, how a humbling comes faster than it takes a race car to crash, how the Seahawks have fallen from five consecutive playoff appearances to irrelevance.

The Seahawks can't call on past glory anymore. They're so far beyond it, or rather, they've sunk so far beneath it.

It's truly time to admit that their play the past season and a half isn't a brief lull as they transition between eras. No, this is a line of demarcation, an undeniable indicator that the good times of the past decade are over, that the Seahawks failed to make a seamless transition and that returning to NFL respectability will be harder than imagined.

It's tough to rationalize all that went wrong. Four years ago, when the Seahawks were en route to their first Super Bowl, you envisioned a team that was just getting started. The core was in its prime and thriving. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and running back Shaun Alexander were having career years. Offensive linemen Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson were impenetrable. The defense was blessed with emerging young stars: rookie linebackers Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill, tackle Marcus Tubbs, safety Michael Boulware, cornerback Marcus Trufant. The Seahawks seemingly had a splendid future to go with their glorious present.

After they lost Super Bowl XL to Pittsburgh, there was talk of the Seahawks needing to capitalize on a shrinking window of opportunity. Coach Mike Holmgren and his players brushed off any sense that their window could be closing so soon. And it seemed they were right.

So, what happened? Well, everything. It started with losing Hutchinson, the youngest of their four offensive cornerstones, to the Minnesota Vikings. Then Alexander fell apart after signing a big contract. He's not even in the league anymore, and who would've been crazy enough to think that after his MVP season four years ago? Walter Jones, their dominant and dependable left tackle, broke down. And Hasselbeck's body has suffered, too. Since the Super Bowl, he has missed significant time with knee, back and rib injuries.

Tatupu, who's only 26, has been limited by injuries for the second straight season. Hill can't stay on the field. Trufant missed the first six games of this season with a back problem. Knee problems ruined Tubbs' career. Boulware flamed out.

In addition, solid offensive mainstays such as Robbie Tobeck, Chris Gray and Mack Strong have retired, and even though the Seahawks planned for their imminent departures, they have yet to replace their leadership and savvy.

Now the Seahawks have a new coaching staff and an awkward mix of young players who still aren't ready to influence winning and veterans who lost the directions to the fountain of youth.

Because of all the attrition, the Seahawks have gone from having one of the best offensive lines in the league — and the best left side in the league, bar none — to one of the least imposing. They've gone from having a defensive line that could hold its own to being inconsistent up front. And the subpar line play is ultimately where their problems begin.

The Seahawks don't excel in any areas, really, except punting. It's weird because, on paper, they have solid talent. They have good players with good attitudes who sincerely want to win. But they can't stay healthy and don't have the right combination of talent. Furthermore, they've lost their edge.

Team president Tim Ruskell receives much of the blame for this, and of course, much responsibility must fall on the personnel boss' shoulders. But here's the odd part: Ruskell's track record has only one disastrous mistake (Hutchinson) and a slew of moves that made good sense at the time. In the end, his drafts haven't been quite good enough, and many of his free-agent signings have only been Band-Aids for his severely wounded team.

The Seahawks aren't jinxed, but certainly they've paid for even the slightest of their missteps. They could see this coming and planned to prevent it, but their plan just hasn't worked. A roster overhaul is needed.

Once again, in a league legislated for parity, a good run has ended at what we thought was the midpoint of the race.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com, Twitter: @Jerry_Brewer