Seahawks' Jones, Tatupu and Jackson look to put the past behind them

RENTON — Julius Jones is moving one direction now, and that's straight ahead.

Those are the marching orders for the Seahawks' revised running game. No dilly, no dally and definitely no dancing amid the defense. Just one cut and go. That's the M.O. for the running back in a zone-blocking system.

"Downhill and off to the races," Jones said. "That definitely fits my style of running a little bit better."

No time to glance in the rearview mirror at last season, and even if there was, Jones has no inclination to go over a year in which his role fluctuated from one week to the next and he carried the ball only six times total over the final four games.

"Last year is last year," Jones said. "I'm not even going to talk about that. I've erased that. It's a new year, a new everything."

This is spring, the season for new beginnings and that goes for the Seahawks, too, as they practice under coach Jim Mora. This is a fresh start, a clean slate for Jones and anyone else looking to put a disappointing 2008 in the past, such as defensive end Lawrence Jackson and linebacker Lofa Tatupu.

Last season looms over the team like a shadow, three months after Seattle finished with a 4-12 record and Mike Holmgren gave way to Mora in the line of succession. Seattle has new offensive and defensive coordinators, and one overriding question: Will 2009 be different?

"I hope so, because we didn't play too well last year," Tatupu said.

Not many Seahawks did. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck missed more games than he played, the starting running back fluctuated between Jones and Maurice Morris — who has since left for Detroit as a free agent — and Jackson, the team's first-round pick, finished with two sacks.

"It may not have been up to some people's expectations — especially not my own," Jackson said. "But to go out there and fight for my teammates, that was the most important thing."

He plays a position that is best judged on long-term results. Patrick Kerney had only 2.5 sacks his rookie year in 1999, but eventually became a top-tier pass rusher. Of the six defensive ends chosen for the Pro Bowl last season, three had fewer than five sacks their rookie season. So Jackson's rookie season is not the final judgment on the contributions he can make.

"It's something I felt that will only make me a better football player," Jackson said. "Sometimes, you've got to take a couple of steps back before you go forward. It was all part of it."

Just about everyone on Seattle's roster stumbled last season, and just about the only bright spot was the performance of the kicker. Olindo Mare made 89 percent of his field-goal attempts, including three of more than 50 yards, and while that may be great and all, if the kicker is the best thing a team has going for it, chances are it was a long year, which was certainly the case in Seattle.

Tatupu stayed healthy his first three seasons in Seattle, made the Pro Bowl each year and signed a long-term contract extension in 2008. He was not elected to the Pro Bowl for the first time last season.

And even now, Tatupu won't talk about the health concerns that dogged him, such as the sore knee or the thumb that was broken in the first half of the team's first game of the season. He had surgery in January and still wears a cast, and at one point he was one of four defensive starters playing with a cast on his hand, but bringing that up sounds too much like an excuse to his ears.

"You're a pro, you've got to be able to compensate for that," Tatupu said of his cast.

But that's the past, and Tatupu is taking a cue from Jones, Jackson and the rest of the Seahawks and focusing upon the future.

"I'm excited to get a fresh start, just like everybody else," Tatupu said.

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