Seahawks' once-great defense has become a weakness

IRVING, Texas — Tony Romo lit up the Seahawks defense as if it were a holiday sparkler.

Nine yards to mercurial wide receiver Terrell Owens on the first drive. Then 36 yards to tight end Jason Witten. And 16 yards for a touchdown to backup tight end Martellus Bennett.

It was that easy.

The Cowboys played connect-the-dots football. Three textbook drives on their first three possessions. Inexorable touchdown marches of 71, 72 and 80 yards to take a 21-3 lead. Add a field goal on their next possession, and you have four scores the first four times they had the ball.

It was too easy.

By halftime, the Cowboys had 17 first downs and had run just 33 plays.

"We got behind. We didn't get stops when we needed to get stops early in the game," Seahawks safety Deon Grant said. "They put up the points they needed to put on the board, and when you're playing like we did in those guys' home, you're going to have a long day."

In a Seahawks season as disappointing as a virus, a season as bad as almost any in franchise history, this 34-9 Thanksgiving thumping by the Cowboys was humbling and befuddling.

"I hate losing," Grant said. "I hate not being ranked in the top 10, top five. Disappointed isn't the word."

What has happened to the defense?

Coming into the season, it was the one certainty. Everybody was back from a unit that got sacks, created turnovers and grabbed another NFC West championship in 2007.

And even though the Hawks entered this year beaten up on offense, their defense looked good enough, smart enough, tough enough to carry it.

It was the same defense that last season entered the finale in Atlanta with a chance to set a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a season. It should have been better this year, but it's not even close.

The names are the same, but this defense is not that defense.

"Wow, man, we're not playing up to our expectations. That's what it is," linebacker LeRoy Hill said. "We were at super-high expectations going into the season on the defense, and we haven't been playing the way we know we can play."

The defense is failing the Seahawks. It has six interceptions this season. It had 20 last season. It allowed just 15 touchdown passes last season, fewest in the league. But after giving up three to the Cowboys on Thursday, the defense has allowed 19 this season, putting it among the 10 worst in the NFL.

And for the first time this season, the Hawks didn't record a sack.

"From top to bottom, we got to reevaluate everything," Hill said. "I mean, it's the same guys from last year who shut down a lot of people, who sacked the quarterback and had turnovers, and we're just not doing it this year."

General manager Tim Ruskell spent a lot of money remodeling the defense.

Last offseason, the Seahawks opened the bank for linebacker Lofa Tatupu and corner Marcus Trufant, and they spent millions to sign defensive end Patrick Kerney and safeties Grant and Brian Russell before 2007.

But this season has exposed harsh realities.

Kerney, the pass rusher Seattle desperately needs, turns 32 next month. And for the second time in three years, he is finishing the season on injured reserve.

Grant and Russell, who played so well last season, have had disappointing years. And the defensive line has been a dud. This remodeled defense will need more remodeling next season.

"It's a little puzzling," coach Mike Holmgren said. "There are a couple of things. We haven't generated turnovers. We haven't seemed to be able to get the pass rush going the way we have in the past.

"We haven't been too injured on defense, not like on the other side of the ball, but I think we have to take a hard look at that side of the ball. And maybe changes are necessary next year."

In the meantime, there is the question even the players were asking after the game: Why aren't the Seahawks more aggressive with their defensive play-calling?

"I think we're a pressure 'D' definitely," Hill said. "I think we play better when we pressure. The first couple series, we sort of sat back and they drove on us. They got on us quick and we didn't weather the storm good. I definitely think our pressure later helped us. It got Romo some jittery feet."

So why doesn't defensive coordinator John Marshall unleash his linebackers and safeties and turn up the pressure on the quarterbacks, who are surgically slicing the Seahawks' secondary?

At this point in a 2-10 season, what do the Hawks have to lose?

"I think coming into this season we knew what we had coming back and we didn't play to our strength," Grant said. "And we're still figuring that out, what's our strength on this defense. I think some of the players know what the strength is. Some of the coaches know what the strength is, but we really just haven't put it together."

The strength is the speed and athleticism of the linebackers and safeties. And that strength is neutralized when the defense plays as passive as it did in the first half against Dallas. Where are the blitzes? Where is the aggression?

"Particularly the way they started, it [defensive pressure] probably might have been better than whatever we did," Holmgren said. "They pretty much had their way with us. ... But it was going to be a tough day today, no matter how you sliced it."

At this point in this mournful season, the Seahawks practically are as bad as the winless Detroit Lions. They are every bit as disheartened as the St. Louis Rams. They look as beaten down as the San Francisco 49ers.

And the defense, so good a season ago, is barely recognizable.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com