CHICAGO – In his first few moments filling the most valuable player’s shoes, Maurice Morris did a pretty feeble impersonation.
He followed Shaun Alexander into the spotlight, and completely dropped the ball.
Fortunately for the Seattle Seahawks, it happened four days ago – not on the football field but in front of the microphones and television cameras.
Shortly after Alexander had engaged the media with his trademark smile and a few crisp one-liners, Morris stood in front of the same reporters and looked – as they might say in his native South Carolina – about as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“The main thing is to get the offense down and go out there and play hard,” Morris said when asked about starting today’s game against the Chicago Bears.
Even when Morris started off well, he seemed to fall back on familiar clichs.
“Running behind an MVP player and league leader in rushing (and) touchdowns, those are big shoes to fill,” he said at one point last Wednesday. “But the biggest thing is to go out there everyday (and) work hard like you are going to start, regardless. Go out there and play football. Football is football.”
Fortunately for the Seahawks, the soft-spoken Morris will be judged not by how he runs his mouth but by how he runs away from defenders. So his first true test as the Seahawks’ feature back will come when the Seahawks and Bears square off tonight in a battle of 3-0 teams.
“This is a big game,” Morris said with his typical brevity. “The main thing is to focus this week in the playbook, watch film, and go out there and play hard.”
No matter who’s been running the football for Seattle this year, the team has generally struggled. The loss of Pro Bowl left guard Steve Hutchinson to free agency has disrupted some of the continuity and left the Seahawks with a 3.3 yards-per-carry average – good for 23rd in the league. Alexander and Morris are averaging just 2.9 yards per carry between them.
“We just need to keep practicing and working hard,” fullback Mack Strong said. “We’ve got the guys we’re going to go to war with every week. We just have to come out every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and get better. And then hopefully it will start showing on Sundays.”
Despite all the changes, Strong didn’t seem overly concerned about the slow start.
“It was the same way last year,” he said. “It’s not like we were running away with the running game. It takes time to develop. It’s always like that.”
This time around, the Seahawks will have to come together without one of their key components.
Alexander might not be playing tonight, but he believes his rarely-tested teammate will be ready.
“I’m not going to put too much pressure on Mo playing against the great Chicago Bears team, but he’s going to play well and that’s what we need him to do,” the injured Pro Bowler said. “He’s got all the tools to be a great running back, and he’ll get to do it this week.”
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