KIRKLAND — At a time of the year when most remaining teams have already settled on their primary lineups, the Seattle Seahawks are still working through some things at two key positions.
Seattle enters the playoffs with rotations at halfback and left guard as the coaching staff continues to look for the right combination to improve a struggling run game.
“We just did what we thought we had to do, for a couple different reasons, and fortunately it’s worked for us,” coach Mike Holmgren said, referring to the Seahawks’ position in the playoffs.
Former NFL most valuable player Shaun Alexander has accepted a split role with Maurice Morris at halfback. The rotation has sparked some life into the ground game, but neither runner has shown enough to win the job outright.
“Shaun has made it work,” Holmgren said of the rotation. “Mo (Morris) has gotten more time; Shaun is the one getting less time. He has handled it as well as a big-time athlete, in my opinion, could possibly handle it. That’s very, very hard. It’s very difficult for those guys to give up playing time.”
Alexander shrugged off the significance of the new role, saying that it was done for “health” reasons. He struggled with wrist and knee injuries this season and has a career-low 3.4 yards-per-carry average.
“When I have been healthy, it has not been a co-thing,” Alexander said. “Since I am not, (Holmgren) is doing whatever it takes to win. I think that is the best thing for our team to win.”
Since the duo started splitting time, Morris has 182 rushing yards, 23 more than Alexander’s total during that span.
“We’re comfortable about what’s going on,” Morris said. “We know how to deal with it, and we’re taking it like it is.”
At left guard, second-year player Rob Sims started every game during the regular season. But the subpar running attack led Holmgren to start giving veteran Floyd Womack a few series over the past few games.
“As a younger player, I needed to get knocked back down to size, so to speak,” Sims said on Thursday. “To see Chop (Womack) go in there, I learned from him.”
Sims said that his biggest problem was getting too excited before games. He learned a lot from watching the low-key demeanors of Womack and Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones.
Sims has also grown from quality competition. He has played well in the past two games after getting manhandled by Carolina’s Kris Jenkins three weeks ago.
“I’m one of those guys that, every player I play against I want to dominate,” Sims said. “That guy (Jenkins), he was every bit of a man. What I learned is that sometimes you’re going to get beat. You’re going to get beat once in awhile, but you have to keep going.”
That same strategy has helped Sims get through the recent rotation in playing time.
“The good thing about it is I didn’t go in the tank and shut it down,” Sims said. “I just fought through it, and here I am. I’m still doing my thing and hoping to have a good playoff run.”
Firing up the fans: Lacey native and Washington fullback Mike Sellers created a firestorm this week when he made comments to a Washington, D.C., newspaper regarding the noise at Qwest Field.
“That place has to be miked up because the last time we played there, it was ridiculous,” Sellers told The Washington Times on Tuesday. “We couldn’t hear ourselves talk. For a stadium that small, it can’t be that loud.”
Holmgren was asked about the comments Thursday and said there’s no truth to the accusations.
“Everyone that knows us and has been here knows that we don’t have to pump anything in,” Seattle’s coach said. “It’s all fans. They have learned to do that. They realize how much they help us. So we shouldn’t need to encourage them a lot.
“Now, I would suspect that if they think people are accusing us of doing something like that, they might come with even more noise.”
Branch’s status still unknown: Holmgren said that Deion Branch would be a “Saturday decision” after the wide receiver missed another practice on Thursday.
Branch has been nursing a calf injury that he suffered at a practice last week.
“He’s getting better,” Holmgren said. “I’ve got to see him do a little something before I can activate him.”
Linebacker Niko Koutouvides (knee) returned to practice Thursday, and Holmgren said he’ll probably play in Saturday’s game.
Bad timing: Seahawks rookie Baraka Atkins was looking forward to his first playoff game, but an ankle injury that he suffered in Sunday’s regular-season finale derailed those plans. He was placed on injured reserve earlier this week.
“It’ll probably be even harder going to the game and watching,” Atkins said. “It’s definitely unfortunate. There aren’t many rookies who get a chance to play in the postseason, and we were. Unfortunately for me, it’s not going to happen.”
Atkins, who walked without a cast Thursday, was disappointed that his postseason came to an end before he got a chance to start rehabbing.
“They made the decision, and I’ve got to deal with it,” he said of the team putting him on IR.
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