GREEN BAY, Wisc. — There have been Sundays when the Ahman Greens, Jamal Lewises and Marshall Faulks of the world scared the dickens out of the Seattle Seahawks.
Let’s be frank here: there have been Sundays when even the Thomas Joneses, Kenny Watsons and Rudi Johnsons had this team shaking in its cleats.
But as the Seahawks prepare for a first-round playoff game against Green and his Green Bay Packers teammates, those worries seem to be a thing of the past.
"I think we’re a lot better, as far as being disciplined," Seahawks middle linebacker Randall Godfrey said. "We had a lot of guys who were new to it, but now we’ve got guys who are playing faster and not doing a lot of thinking."
The Seahawks boast the second-best run defense in the NFC over the past seven weeks (99.3 yards per game), and the No. 2 unit in the entire NFL in the past three (74.7). They have held five of the last seven teams they have faced under 100 yards on the grounds.
"We’re not giving up big runs," said Cedric Woodard, one of two defensive tackles who are starting for the first time this season. "We’re not giving up 200 yards in the rushing game or anything like that, so we definitely haven’t been hurting the team."
That statement couldn’t be made in recent years. The Seahawks ranked dead last in the NFL in rushing defense last season and 28th in 2000. The names of running backs that have had career games on Seattle during those years didn’t exactly make up a who’s-who list.
It’s more like a who? list.
Thomas Jones has just one 100-yard effort since breaking out for a career-high 173 yards against Seattle in the 2002 Seahawks Stadium opener. Kenny Watson ran for 110 while playing with the Washington Redskins last season but has since been released.
And does anyone remember the name Tshimanga Biakabutuka? The former first-round bust of the Carolina Panthers went off for 103 yards in 2000, marking his only 100-yard game of that season.
It looked like the no-name success had continued into this year when some guy named Rudi Johnson stepped in for Corey Dillon at the last second and busted out for 101 yards in his starting debut for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Johnson turned out to be quite a runner, doing similar damage on several other teams en route to 957 yards this season. And the Seahawks’ defense eventually turned out to be tougher than it looked.
Jamal Lewis, who led the NFL with 2,066 rushing yards this season — the second-most in NFL history — had a modest total of 117 against Seattle in late November. St. Louis Rams running back and future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk had 85 yards on 28 carries three weeks ago.
Last week, the Seahawks faced one of the NFL’s hottest running backs. San Francisco tailback Kevan Barlow took over for starter Garrison Hearst and put together three games in which he combined for 393 rushing yards before Seattle bottled him up for just 40 last Saturday.
"It’s been a big emphasis," safety Reggie Tongue said of stopping the run. "We realize that in order to win games, you’ve got to stop the run. More or less, it’s the people we have up front. The guys up front, and the linebackers, they’ve been getting it done for us."
As far as personnel, the Seahawks’ recent success against the run has been due in part to 324-pound rookie defensive tackle Rashad Moore, who has started six of the past eight games, and a veteran linebacking corps that has only recently started to look healthy.
Chad Brown and Anthony Simmons were co-leaders in tackles last week, with 10 apiece, while Godfrey has looked more like himself after struggling with rib and chest injuries during November.
The Seahawks’ run defense will have to show improvement today, when it faces a running back that went for 118 yards and two touchdowns in an Oct. 5 meeting. Green led the Packers to a 35-13 victory that day, and finished the season as the NFC’s rushing leader with 1,883 yards.
"We’re totally different," Simmons said of Seattle’s run defense. "We watched that game three or four times, just to break it down. And we didn’t play a very good football game. Personally, I probably played one of the worst games I’ve ever played. And I think there are a couple other guys who would probably say the same thing.
"Right now, things are different."
The Seahawks might be a different defensive team, but Green will be looking to have a similar game.
"He is, if not the top back, one of the top backs in football right now," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. "It’s a huge challenge for any team to stop him, so it will be a good test."
Based on recent statistics, the Seahawks’ run defense seems up for it.
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