Published: Monday, November 23, 2009
Seahawks rush for 4 yards on 13 carries
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Jeff Wheeler / Minneapolis Star Tribune
Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice catches a 7-yard touchdown pass as the Seahawks’ Marcus Trufant (left) Deon Grant (right) and Jordan Babineaux (center) try to defend in the third quarter.
MINNEAPOLIS — Last weekend, the Seattle Seahawks found hope in their run game.
Sunday, it was back to futility.
Just four games after establishing a franchise record for fewest rushing yards in a game, the Seahawks managed to knock the bar a little lower in Sunday’s 35-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings by finishing with 4 rushing yards on 13 carries.
What a difference a week makes.
Against Arizona, a strong run defense, the Seahawks rushed for 164 yards, including 123 from Justin Forsett, who was filling in for the injured Julius Jones. A month earlier the Cardinals had held the Seahawks to 14 yards rushing — then a franchise low — but with a healthy offensive line, the Seahawks hoped their showing in Arizona was a sign of better times to come.
Instead, with that same healthy line, and with Forsett making his first career start, the run game was as bad as ever. Plenty of credit is due to the Vikings, who feature one of the NFL’s top defensive lines, but the end result was no less discouraging for Seattle.
“Today we struggled in the run,” Seahawks coach Jim Mora said. “That’s probably the understatement of the year right there. We couldn’t get anything going. We couldn’t get anything going downhill, they had penetration and they got after us pretty good in the run. But we’re going to keep working at it now.”
To make matters worse, the Vikings were able to stuff the Seahawks without doing anything fancy.
“It definitely made it a lot more frustrating, because they lined up just how we expected them to line up, they didn’t do anything different or do anything funky,” Seahawks center Chris Spencer said. “They were where we knew they were going to be. It’s real frustrating.”
Forsett’s first NFL start wasn’t all bad. He rushed for just 9 yards on as many carries, but had 80 receiving yards, more than half of which came on a 47-yard screen pass. That play set up Seattle’s only touchdown of the day, a 1-yard run by Forsett.
Burleson bounces back
Nate Burleson, who didn’t catch a pass last week, finished with six catches for a game-high 100 yards. He hauled in a 36-yard, one-handed catch despite pass interference in the third quarter to set up a field goal.
Rubbing it in
In case the Seahawks and their fans had somehow forgotten about Steve Hutchinson, the Pro Bowl guard they lost after the 2005 season, the good folks of Minneapolis were happy to serve up a few reminders. As usual, there were a handful of Seahawks fans that made the trip for the game, and upon entering the stadium they were greeted by vendors selling the Vikings Game Day Magazine with Hutchinson on the cover. During a break in the action, the stadium video screen highlighted Hutchinson as the Vikings’ “Beast of the Week.”
Penalty problem
Through eight games the Seahawks were one of the least penalized teams in the NFL, but that has changed drastically in the last two weeks. Against Arizona, the Seahawks were flagged nine times for 113 yards. In their latest loss, the Seahawks committed 10 penalties for 64 yards.
At least they’re healthy
The Seahawks may have struggled in all phases of the game Sunday, but the one minor consolation was that they appeared to get through the game healthy.
“I don’t think we suffered any injuries that will keep anyone out next week,” Mora said.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
Sunday, it was back to futility.
Just four games after establishing a franchise record for fewest rushing yards in a game, the Seahawks managed to knock the bar a little lower in Sunday’s 35-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings by finishing with 4 rushing yards on 13 carries.
What a difference a week makes.
Against Arizona, a strong run defense, the Seahawks rushed for 164 yards, including 123 from Justin Forsett, who was filling in for the injured Julius Jones. A month earlier the Cardinals had held the Seahawks to 14 yards rushing — then a franchise low — but with a healthy offensive line, the Seahawks hoped their showing in Arizona was a sign of better times to come.
Instead, with that same healthy line, and with Forsett making his first career start, the run game was as bad as ever. Plenty of credit is due to the Vikings, who feature one of the NFL’s top defensive lines, but the end result was no less discouraging for Seattle.
“Today we struggled in the run,” Seahawks coach Jim Mora said. “That’s probably the understatement of the year right there. We couldn’t get anything going. We couldn’t get anything going downhill, they had penetration and they got after us pretty good in the run. But we’re going to keep working at it now.”
To make matters worse, the Vikings were able to stuff the Seahawks without doing anything fancy.
“It definitely made it a lot more frustrating, because they lined up just how we expected them to line up, they didn’t do anything different or do anything funky,” Seahawks center Chris Spencer said. “They were where we knew they were going to be. It’s real frustrating.”
Forsett’s first NFL start wasn’t all bad. He rushed for just 9 yards on as many carries, but had 80 receiving yards, more than half of which came on a 47-yard screen pass. That play set up Seattle’s only touchdown of the day, a 1-yard run by Forsett.
Burleson bounces back
Nate Burleson, who didn’t catch a pass last week, finished with six catches for a game-high 100 yards. He hauled in a 36-yard, one-handed catch despite pass interference in the third quarter to set up a field goal.
Rubbing it in
In case the Seahawks and their fans had somehow forgotten about Steve Hutchinson, the Pro Bowl guard they lost after the 2005 season, the good folks of Minneapolis were happy to serve up a few reminders. As usual, there were a handful of Seahawks fans that made the trip for the game, and upon entering the stadium they were greeted by vendors selling the Vikings Game Day Magazine with Hutchinson on the cover. During a break in the action, the stadium video screen highlighted Hutchinson as the Vikings’ “Beast of the Week.”
Penalty problem
Through eight games the Seahawks were one of the least penalized teams in the NFL, but that has changed drastically in the last two weeks. Against Arizona, the Seahawks were flagged nine times for 113 yards. In their latest loss, the Seahawks committed 10 penalties for 64 yards.
At least they’re healthy
The Seahawks may have struggled in all phases of the game Sunday, but the one minor consolation was that they appeared to get through the game healthy.
“I don’t think we suffered any injuries that will keep anyone out next week,” Mora said.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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