Defense sinks to the occasion
By TED MILLER
P-I COLUMNIST
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- None other than Mike Holmgren set up the story line for the Seahawks last week.
The Kansas City game wasn't about backup quarterback Seneca Wallace making his first NFL start. It was, he said, about 21 other guys stepping up and doing their jobs well so the loss of Matt Hasselbeck for at least three weeks wouldn't cripple a season that began with such promise.
Holmgren said the next few games would be "very much a measure of what your team is really like at its core."
After suffering a loony 35-28 defeat to the Chiefs in which they were battered in every statistical category -- except bizarre plays -- it's clear the Seahawks' core is ailing and frustrated.
Particularly on defense.
Remember when the offense struggled early in the season and the optimistic party line was the improved defense would pick up the slack? Remember when the Seahawks gave up just 507 yards combined in their first two games?
Kansas City piled up 499 yards Sunday, slipping below the 500-yard mark only after kneeling to kill the clock on the final two plays.
The Chiefs' 30 first downs doubled the Seahawks. They had nearly a 25-minute advantage in time of possession, their 42:15 with the ball being the franchise's best total since 1997. They produced 11 plays of 15 or more yards and four of 25 or more.
Despite an injured groin, Damon Huard, Trent Green's backup, passed for 312 yards and finished with an eye-popping 124.1 quarterback rating. Larry Johnson ran for 155 yards. The Seahawks secondary made Eddie Kennison look like Marvin Harrison.
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The Chiefs entered the game averaging 294.5 total yards and 99 yards rushing per game, so they are not a dominant offense merely extracting their pound of flesh.
On a day when the defense needed to assert itself, it appeared overmatched and outschemed by a second-tier team.
"They were running and throwing and we didn't get them stopped," understandably grumpy defensive coordinator John Marshall said before hustling out of the locker room.
"I've got to watch the film before you start blaming the scheme or the players. You need to take a look at the film. That's not fair to anybody."
Here's what Marshall will see when he cues up that film, which he might want to save for Halloween, because it might be no less frightening than "The Exorcist":
Marshall will see missed tackles from nearly every Seahawk. He'll see players unable to get off blocks being driven backward. He'll see wide-open receivers on the flanks and over the middle. He'll see the Chiefs repeatedly converting on third-and-long.
He won't see a pass rush. He won't see an interception.
He won't see players making plays.
"I don't know what's going on," said cornerback Kelly Herndon, presenting a frustrated shoulder shrug that typified the postgame reaction.
"We're a fine defense. We get to the ball. But we've got to wrap up and get guys down. ... We haven't been tackling very well and we have to do better on our communication and make sure everybody is being smart and understanding what they need to do."
In terms of talent, this defense is better than last year's bunch, which gave up 316.8 yards per game. It's mostly healthy, certainly more healthy than it was at points in 2005, when it only twice surrendered more than 400 yards.
"It's not that everybody is living on last year but everybody is giving us their best shot," linebacker Lofa Tatupu said.
Even stalwarts such as Tatupu struggled. On a first-and-goal from the Seahawks 9-yard line with less than a minute before the half, Johnson hauled in a dump from Huard over the middle and ran through Tatupu's attempted tackle for a touchdown that gave the Chiefs a 20-14 lead at the break.
On their first possession of the second half, the Chiefs went 88 yards in 13 plays -- 12 of them runs.
The Seahawks yielded four touchdown drives of 74 or more yards.
Asked about his defense after the game, Holmgren twice requested confirmation that his inquisitor was talking about the unit "right now?" Er, yes, when else?
It felt as if he was trying to create a buffer between his real emotions and how he wanted to answer the question.
"I thought we would have played these guys a little bit better," he then replied mildly.
Concerned last week about defensive struggles -- particularly receivers sneaking behind the secondary and making big plays -- Holmgren benched safety Michael Boulware and replaced him with Jordan Babineaux.
It didn't seem to work, particularly when Kennison, after a pump fake from Huard, sneaked by cornerback Marcus Trufant and safety Ken Hamlin on a 51-yard completion that set up the game-winning touchdown.
"We had practiced the pump (throw) and they fell right into our hands," Kennison said.
There's only so much the Seahawks can do as far as personnel changes. And they shouldn't have to resort to that. The talent is there. The present malaise is caused by something else, but no one was willing or able to volunteer potential solutions in the postgame locker room.
Here's a hint: 11 players and the defensive coaching staff will find the problem if they look in the mirror.
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