Seahawks offense sputtering as frustration mounts

The offense Seattle spent years assembling sputters at a six-year low point.

The former MVP matched his lowest two-game rushing total as a starter, and the Seahawks have staggered to consecutive double-digit losses for the first time in five years.

The reasons for those problems: complicated. The solutions: simple. At least that's how running back Shaun Alexander sees it.

"We just got to figure out who we are," Alexander said after Sunday's game. "Establish what plays we are going to run and run well.

"And that starts with me. I need to express to the [offensive line], to the coaches, 'Hey, this is the play we need to go to.' "

Sounds great, doesn't it? Coach Mike Holmgren said his ears are open and he appreciates the input. Just one problem: the output on some of those favorite plays.

"One of the core running plays that he happens to like has averaged 1.2 yards per carry this year," Holmgren said. "It just hasn't worked very well."

Not much has worked very well for Seattle's offense the past couple of weeks. The Seahawks scored 17 points the past two games, matching the second-lowest two-game total since Holmgren became Seattle's coach. The Seahawks have missed blocking assignments, receivers have broken off routes and Holmgren is weighing the possibility of paring down the playbook for the second time in this young season.

"I'm hard-pressed to figure it out," Holmgren said.

After six games, the Seahawks have scored seven points in the first quarter and the coach is analyzing everything from the way he scripts the first 15 plays of the game to the rotation employed at wide receiver with D.J. Hackett expected back from an ankle injury.

October is usually the point in the season when the Seahawks pick up the pace on offense. They get the RPM up over the first four games and really start humming during the second month.

Not this season. Starting with the second half of their Sept. 30 victory in San Francisco, the Seahawks played 115 minutes of football without finding the end zone for a touchdown. They've scored 17 points this month and lost consecutive games by more than 10 points for the first time since September 2002.

Back then the Seahawks were finding an identity on an offense laden with young players. Growing pains were expected. But this team is built to win now. The Seahawks have a Pro Bowl tackle, an experienced quarterback Holmgren said is off to one of the best starts of his career and a running back two years removed from being named league MVP.

So why is the offense struggling?

"I'm a little frustrated by it just like everyone else," Holmgren said. "While we have a few guys that have been together for a long time, I think one of the things we don't have — the receiver corps as an example, particularly lately — we've got some young people, new people in there."

Only two of Seattle's five receivers were with the Seahawks before 2006. None of the three tight ends played here before then. Throw in Leonard Weaver, the young fullback replacing Mack Strong, and the Seahawks are trying to blend new players into the mix, and it hasn't produced the results Holmgren wants to see.

"It hasn't been any one guy, it hasn't been any one play," Holmgren said. "It's just we haven't been nearly consistent enough on a play-to-play basis."

Diagnosing the problems won't save Seattle's season, though. Correcting them will.

"A lot of people try to have this witch's brew," tight end Marcus Pollard said. "Some secret concoction that nobody has ever heard of. But I think it really comes back to fundamentals and techniques, the things that we've been taught."

Holmgren said he simplified the menu of plays once already this season, going back to basics to get better. Except giving the team less to study didn't make the offense any more effective.

"Either you're not teaching it properly and there's a communication problem," Holmgren said. "Or for whatever reason, it's not getting across or they're not studying the stuff and trying to allow practice to kind of take care of things."

Holmgren said his coaching staff was coming up with solutions Monday. He said that usually finding a fix involves simplifying the game plan. Making things a little less cumbersome. That doesn't mean the answers will be easy, though, because Seattle's evaporating offense is the question hanging over the rest of this season.

Note

• The Seahawks signed defensive tackle Howard Green on Tuesday to fill the roster spot vacated when Chuck Darby was placed on injured reserve. Green was waived in Minnesota on Sept. 1. He previously played with the Saints.

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