To fix the Seahawks, team must learn from 2002 twist

RENTON — A season spent circling the drain, a general manager under scrutiny and six more football games without even the hint of playoff plausibility.

The setup for the final six games of this Seahawks season is the exact description of the situation Seattle faced seven years ago. So let's pause a moment from the analysis of the stinker of an NFL season it has been in Seattle to consider what can be learned from a recent-history lesson.

In 2002, Seattle had the identical record of 3-7 at this point in the season, and the criticism over Mike Holmgren's tenure was at a rolling boil. The Seahawks won four of their final six games, including the last three in a row, to finish 7-9. Matt Hasselbeck replaced Trent Dilfer at quarterback. Hasselbeck passed for more than 300 yards four times in the final six games and twice surpassed 400 yards.

"We felt like we had something going," Hasselbeck said.

Hindsight shows that the final six games of an otherwise lost season were the exact moment Seattle turned the corner as a franchise, an indication that the most successful era in the team's history was about to begin. In the following five seasons, Seattle made the playoffs five times, won four division titles and made the first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

However, the progress Seattle showed those final six games was not enough to save the personnel portion of Holmgren's job. He lost his general manager's duties.

That fact is something worth remembering over these next six games as Tim Ruskell's five-year tenure as team president comes into focus. The book is not yet closed just because the Seahawks will miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season. How they play is part of the five-year body of work that the team's ownership must consider.

In 2002, the importance of Seattle's final six games went overlooked. That 4-2 finish showed the Seahawks had not quit on Holmgren after a 1-5 start to a season in which Seattle failed to make the playoffs for a third successive season. The offense Holmgren had spent years assembling player by player and draft by draft finally found a rhythm.

The quarterback Holmgren traded for showed the proficiency that made Hasselbeck a three-time Pro Bowl player. Shaun Alexander finished with 18 touchdowns while Bobby Engram, Darrell Jackson and Koren Robinson showed they had the makings of a potent aerial attack.

"Offensively, we kind of gained an identity," Hasselbeck said. "We felt a lot better about who we were offensively. We answered some questions."

This year, the Seahawks are still trying to define themselves as something other than another injury-riddled repetition of last year's woes.

So far this season the Seahawks have started four left tackles (none of whom was future Hall of Famer Walter Jones), three left guards (none of whom were named Mike Wahle) and cut backup running backs T.J. Duckett and Edgerrin James.

The lack of continuity in the ground game has resulted in the two lowest single-game rushing performances in this franchise's 33-year history, occurring over the past five games as the Seahawks ran for 14 yards on Oct. 18 against Arizona and finished with four last week in Minnesota.

What is Seattle's offensive identity? It's a question that players all across Seattle's roster must try to answer. Players like Sean Locklear, who is filling the prodigious footprints left by Jones at left tackle. How is he panning out as a potential successor should Jones be unable to return next season?

"It's hard for me to answer that question," coach Jim Mora said Wednesday.

Locklear has played two games after coming off a serious high ankle sprain that sidelined him for six games. He's not completely healthy, and last week he faced Minnesota's Jared Allen, one of the best ends in the league. Allen finished without a sack, but Locklear was inconsistent.

"Let's go through these next six games and evaluate where he is after these next six games," Mora said of Locklear. "Then I'll be better able to tell you."

How many players is that true for?

"Fifty three," Mora said without hesitating.

That would be everyone on the team's roster, so while the Seahawks' playoff chances may be finished, the decisions it must make going forward are just beginning.

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