Seahawks' running game will be key to 5th straight division title

By Gail Wood | The Olympian • Published September 06, 2008

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So much has changed since Matt Hasselbeck's last pass fell incomplete in January, sealing Green Bay's playoff win against the Seattle Seahawks.

Shaun Alexander is gone, unemployed. Mack Strong is gone, retired. Bobby Engram and Deion Branch are injured, receivers in waiting.

And fickle Josh Brown is a St. Louis Ram, an exiled kicker.

Uncertainty and change surround a Seahawks team that's reached the playoffs five straight years.

Today, someone other than Alexander, the Seahawks' career rushing leader who averaged 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns from 2001 to 2005, will start at tailback when Seattle's season begins in Buffalo. And someone other than Strong, a Seahawk since 1993, will start at fullback.

They had been the Seahawks' opening-day backfield since 2002.

But light bulbs still work even without Thomas Edison around to flick the switch. The Seahawks' new inventors of touchdowns — free agent pickups Julius Jones at running back and Mike Wahle at guard — will put the light back into the running game.

"Compared to the last couple years, I hope you'll see more yardage gained, for starters," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "But you'll see more substitution."

As any Seahawks fan knows, Seattle's running game has been in the dark the past two seasons. In the Seahawks' run to the Super Bowl during the 2005 season, Alexander led the NFL in rushing yardage (1,880) and broke an NFL record for rushing touchdowns (27) for a season. Just two years later, he's out of the game.

The Seahawks averaged 153.6 yards rushing that Super Bowl season. That slipped to 120.2 in 2006 and 101.2 last season. Only five teams rushed for fewer yards last season. None of them reached the playoffs.

Alexander, playing all last season with his left hand in a cast, was the target of boo birds and was released in the spring.

Holmgren's offense couldn't run to set up the pass and became one-dimensional, predictable. Hasselbeck became a target of blitzes, often throwing under pressure.

The Seahawks averaged 3.8 yards per rush last season, the team's worst average since 1999.