No "green light," so no Alexander

KIRKLAND — Take a deep breath, Seahawks fans, and let this sink in: It's going to be at least another week before running back Shaun Alexander returns from a cracked bone in his left foot.

Seattle coach Mike Holmgren broke the news Monday at team headquarters that Alexander's injury hasn't completely healed.

Alexander had an MRI exam on his foot Monday.

"The medical people are reluctant to give me the green light on Shaun after what they saw in the pictures," Holmgren said. "He is getting better. He's feeling better and his crack has healed a bunch. But they were not ready to hand him over to me, so to speak, this week."

Until he is given clearance by team doctors, Alexander can continue to run on the foot, which he has been doing on a treadmill. But he cannot practice or put the type of stress on the foot required in a game.

Holmgren had hoped to have Alexander available for next Monday night's home game against the Oakland Raiders, the team against which Alexander has his highest single-game rushing yardage total, 266. Alexander also had a career-high 35 carries and scored three touchdowns in that game, a Sunday night prime-time affair.

Alexander has missed four consecutive games with his injury, suffered against the New York Giants on Sept. 24. The Seahawks are 1-3 without him.

The Seahawks have rushed for 302 yards in those four games, getting 3.5 yards per carry. Maurice Morris started all four games in place of Alexander, and has rushed for 183 yards.

Holmgren said the Seahawks will emphasize the running game on offense this week. The team is already working to address a defense that, among other issues, is giving up big plays far too often.

"The part that's troublesome is we're not running the ball the way that we're used to," Holmgren said. "It just is a problem right now that we're trying to fix. You can't be one-dimensional in this league, and right now we can't run worth a darn. So we're working really hard on that phase of our football this week."

Alexander was the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 2005. He dealt with a nagging bone bruise in his foot after the first game of this season at Detroit, and the bruise became what tests later revealed was a nondisplaced, or hairline, fracture in the fourth metatarsal.

"I'm a little disappointed that he can't play this week, but we've been playing without him for a while, so it's not that big a shock," Holmgren said. "Biding our time? We can't bide our time until he gets back. You can't approach games that way.

"He's been bugging me a lot, but we'll get him back when the doctors say he's OK."

The Seahawks are even more shorthanded this week without the services of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, whose sprained knee has him on schedule to return the week of the San Francisco game in mid-November.

Wide receiver Bobby Engram is "week-to-week," Holmgren said, until he gets his energy back. Engram is on medication for a thyroid condition that has caused fatigue.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com