KIRKLAND – You’re a kid at Christmas.
You’ve sifted through the new sweaters, the plastic desk sets and the Matchbox cars, finally settling on the latest Harry Potter book.
No matter what else happens on Christmas Day, you’ll always have the newest adventure of Harry Potter and his friends to get you through.
Only this year, something’s wrong. You eagerly crack open the virginal binding, flip through the crisp pages and realize that the adventures of Harry and the gang aren’t living up to expectations.
There are no dragons or magical spells. Hermione and Ron ditch Harry. Voldemort becomes a good guy. It’s just not the same.
Well, now you know what it feels like to be Mike Holmgren.
For all the question marks surrounding the Seattle Seahawks this season, the one slam dunk given was that his offense would produce another big year. The quarterback would excel, the receivers would overcome their propensity to drop the ball, and the passing game would flourish.
Much to the chagrin of Holmgren, the Seahawks’ head coach and chief offensive guru, it hasn’t happened. It’s been a baffling question that often leaves him shaking his head.
“We, as coaches, try to put the team in position to make the play,” Holmgren said at his Wednesday press conference. “That’s our job. Sometimes, we’re good at it. Sometimes, we’re just OK at it. The players’ job is to make the play. This season, we’ve been a little inconsistent that way.”
Statistically, the Seahawks’ offense is still in the top half of the league. Seattle ranks 18th in passing yards per game (212.8) and 10th in total yards (349.4). But for Holmgren, whose offense came in with the potential to be among the top two or three offenses in the league, those numbers aren’t anywhere near good enough.
“I’m really very unhappy with how we’ve been playing offense,” Holmgren said. “So the numbers, I’m not paying a great deal of attention to the numbers right now. I think we have a bigger issue, and that issue is how we’re executing in our decision-making.”
Fair or unfair, everything starts with the quarterback. Matt Hasselbeck struggled with consistency even before suffering a bruised thigh, and he looked even worse Sunday when hobbled by the injury.
To his credit, Hasselbeck refuses to give any hint of just how debilitating the injury was.
Wide receivers Darrell Jackson, Jerry Rice and Bobby Engram also have been hobbled by injuries lately, while starting wideout Koren Robinson is one week into his four-game NFL suspension.
Without all the components available for practice, it has been hard for Seattle’s depleted passing offense to find any continuity. This marks the first full week that Jackson, Engram and Hasselbeck have practiced together since the middle of October.
“The coordination of the passing game has not been there because we’ve been beat up a little bit,” offensive coordinator Gil Haskell said. “Now, the guys have been playing in the games, so (outsiders) might say, ‘Something’s missing.’ But they’re not practicing every day.”
Injuries are the easy excuse, but it’s one Holmgren refuses to accept. He’s more concerned with a number of key issues that have handicapped Seattle’s offense.
* Playmaking. Other than running back Shaun Alexander, Seattle’s best offensive weapons generally haven’t delivered. Hasselbeck’s play has dropped off, Jackson got off to a great start but has since been inconsistent, and Robinson was plagued by drops and rumors before finally getting suspended.
* Screen passes. Once a staple of Holmgren’s passing game, the screen has produced very little yardage (38 yards on seven completions). The Seahawks have completed just 7 of 15 screen passes, including three that went for 3 yards or less.
* Dropped passes. The unofficial number is up to 34, which is on pace to challenge last year’s eye-popping total of 46. Jackson alone has nine in the past seven games.
* Third-down conversions. Seattle’s rate of 34.4 percent this season ranks 22nd in the NFL. The Seahawks have been held to 25 percent (9 of 36) the past three weeks.
* Red-zone efficiency. Seattle has scored 30 times from inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, but just 17 of those have been touchdowns. Their 50-percent touchdown rate inside the red zone ranks 18th in the NFL and includes just 3 of 9 proficiency over the past three games.
* Inopportune fumbles. Jackson, Engram and Alexander have all had crucial fumbles in opponents’ territory. Those turnovers squelched big plays.
The question now isn’t what happened to the offense through the first 11 games of 2004, but whether it can jell over the final five.
On Wednesday afternoon, following a practice in which Hasselbeck looked better than he has in weeks, Seattle’s offensive coordinator watched with a case of what-if.
“This is one of the best practices we’ve had,” Haskell said. “The quarterback’s back, (Jackson is) back, Bobby Engram is playing. The line’s played great all year.”
All three were playing in synch. When Seattle’s offensive stars are playing like that, not many units look better.
“If they play up to their capabilities,” Holmgren said, “we’re OK. I don’t think we’ve done that.”
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Notes: Seahawks wide receiver Jerry Rice will be part of the lead-in to Monday Night Football. Nicollette Sheridan will not. … In addition to playing against the team he followed as a kid growing up near Dallas, Seahawks defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs will face a former high school teammate Monday. Cowboys wide receiver Patrick Crayton was the quarterback at DeSoto High School when Tubbs played tight end there.
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