Seahawks behind 8-ball

RENTON -- The faces of the Seahawks defensive players and coaches said it all as they trudged off the field at Giants Stadium on Sunday.

Frustration. Disappointment. Disbelief. Embarrassment.

That will happen when you spend the afternoon chasing, bouncing off and getting trampled by a 264-pound running back. But if the Seahawks think Brandon Jacobs' 136 rushing yards and 9.1-yard average carry were demoralizing, they ain't seen nothing yet.

During their next eight games -- starting with Sunday's matchup against the Green Bay Packers at Qwest Field -- the Seahawks will face eight of the league's top 20 rushers, plus a couple of other backs capable of doing special things.

Defensive coordinator John Marshall and his staff spent Tuesday trying to find ways to rejuvenate their rundown unit, which plummeted 15 spots to No. 27 in the league after being shredded for 523 yards by the Giants.

Through three games, the run defense had not been the problem. The Seahawks had faced three quality backs and lived to analyze how they not only held the Bills' Marshawn Lynch (76 yards), the 49ers' Frank Gore (61) and the Rams' Steven Jackson (62) to modest double-digit totals, but in the case of Gore well below his average (90.5) against other teams this season.

Sunday, however, the players had no answers for Jacobs -- on the field, or in the locker room at Giants Stadium. It was the same thing Monday, after sitting through a video review of their performance.

They did say things; they just weren't solutions.

"Everybody has to look into the mirror," said linebacker Leroy Hill, the team's leading tackler. "Everybody has to approach the game with a better attitude."

Offered Pro Bowl linebacker Julian Peterson, "Obviously that was not a game that we want to remember. But we have to look at it and see if we can improve, and put it behind us and move on to next week."

The one thing the Seahawks defenders do know is that in the copy-cat world that is the NFL, other teams will see the video of the Giants pushing them around and devise similar game plans.

"There's a lot of good backs in this league, and we're going to see a lot of them," free safety Brian Russell said. "So we've got to get ready to play."

The next eight weeks will deliver a steady diet of backs with the ability to make something from nothing, and that have had success against the Seahawks in the past -- a list that includes the Packers' Ryan Grant, a rematch with Gore in San Francisco, the Eagles' Brian Westbrook and the Cardinals' Edgerrin James.

Sprinkle in the Buccaneers' Earnest Graham, the Dolphins' Ronnie Brown and Cowboys rookie Felix Jones -- backs the Seahawks have yet to face -- and the daunting task could become downright deflating

"What happened on Sunday is not acceptable," Russell said. "How you bounce back, that's probably the truest test."

Bouncing back, rather than off, would be a needed step because missed tackles lead to big plays. In their first three games, the longest running play the Seahawks allowed was a 23-yarder. Sunday, Jacobs broke runs of 44 and 38 yards, Ahmad Bradshaw added a 32-yarder and Derrick Ward had a 21-yarder as the Giants rushed for 254 yards.

"If you make the tackle on the initial hit, then there's no big plays for the most part," Peterson said. "Simple plays, where we can rally to the ball and make tackles, we just haven't been doing a good job of that."

Coach Mike Holmgren definitely agrees.

"I'll state the obvious: We missed some tackles," he said. "Big plays hurt us.

"We couldn't stop the run."

As a result, the team's upcoming opponents won't stop running until the Seahawks prove they can stop them.

HAWK TALK: Wide receiver Courtney Taylor was released Tuesday when the team signed wide receiver Jordan Kent off the practice squad. If Taylor clears waivers, it is expected that he will be signed to the practice squad Wednesday.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK BACKS

The Seahawks will face eight of the NFL's top 20 rushers over the next eight weeks, as well as a couple other backs also capable of doing damage. Here's a rundown on each runner:

SUNDAY: RYAN GRANT, PACKERS

Then: Grant, above, ran for 201 yards and three touchdowns in the Packers' 42-20 playoff victory over the Seahawks in January.

Now: Grant's production is part of what ails the Packers, as he is averaging 3.7 yards per carry and his 269 yards rank 20th in the league.

WEEK 7: EARNEST GRAHAM AND WARRICK DUNN, BUCCANEERS

Then: The Seahawks have not faced Graham, but Dunn had 70 yards and a 5.8-yard average against them in the regular-season finale last year while playing for the Falcons.

Now: Graham, a former special teams standout, is averaging 5.9 yards per carry and is seventh in the league with 393 yards. Dunn is averaging 5.1 yards per carry and is 19th in the league with 271 yards.

WEEK 8: FRANK GORE, 49ERS

Then: No one can forget what Gore did to the Seahawks in 2006, when he gouged them for 212 yards in San Francisco and then added 144 at Qwest Field. But in his past three games against Seattle, Gore has a total of 212 rushing yards.

Now: Gore leads the league with 603 combined yards rushing and receiving. He is fourth in rushing with 423 yards and also has scored four touchdowns.

WEEK 9: BRIAN WESTBROOK, EAGLES

Then: Westbrook had 203 all-purpose yards against the Seahawks in Philly last season.

Now: Injuries have limited Westbrook to 54 carries and 194 yards, but he has scored six touchdowns to share the league lead.

WEEK 10: RONNIE BROWN, DOLPHINS

Then: The Seahawks have not faced Brown.

Now: Brown has run for six touchdowns and also passed for a TD. He's also produced 22 first downs to rank fourth in the league and is 16th in rushing with 286 yards.

WEEKS 11 AND 17: EDGERRIN JAMES, CARDINALS

Then: James had only two 100-yard rushing performances last season, but one came against the Seahawks (128) in Week 2. He also ran for 115 yards against Seattle in 2006.

Now: James is 12th in the league with 334 yards. His longest run is only 16 yards, but he has run for three touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.

WEEK 12: CLINTON PORTIS, REDSKINS

Then: Portis gained only 52 yards on 20 carries in Washington's loss at Qwest Field in the playoffs last season.

Now: He is second in the NFL with 514 rushing yards and 30 first downs, and has scored four touchdowns.

WEEK 13: MARION BARBER AND FELIX JONES, COWBOYS

Then: Barber got only three carries and gained only 4 yards in Dallas' playoff loss at Qwest Field in 2006. But he had a 95-yard effort against Seattle in 2005. The Seahawks have not faced Jones, the Cowboys' top draft choice.

Now: Barber continues to be the basher, with 395 yards, a league-high 32 first downs and five touchdowns. But Jones is the new dasher (having replaced now-Seahawk Julius Jones), averaging 9.0 yards per carry with four touchdowns.

-- Clare Farnsworth

UP NEXT: GREEN BAY PACKERS

WHEN/WHERE: Sunday, 1:15 p.m., Qwest Field

PACKERS' RECORD: 2-3, after losing their third consecutive game Sunday

WHERE THEY RANK: No. 11 on offense (23rd rushing, 8th passing); No. 26 on defense (27th rushing, 13th passing)

SERIES: Packers lead 6-5, but the Seahawks won the last regular-season meeting -- 34-24 in a snowstorm at Qwest Field in 2006

STAR POWER: Greg Jennings. During a stretch where not much has gone right for the Packers, their third-year wide receiver has been right on. Jennings doesn't just lead the league in receiving yards (569), he has 102 more than his closest competitor (Larry Fitzgerald of the Cardinals). That's how you average 19.6 yards on 29 receptions. After watching the Seahawks secondary be turned to toast by the Bills' Lee Evans (four catches for 102 yards), the 49ers' Isaac Bruce (four for 153) and the Giants' Domenik Hixon (four for 102), Jennings has to be saying, "All right."

UNSUNG HERO: Aaron Rodgers. The Packers' quarterback has a sprained right shoulder, right? He is right-handed, isn't he? You never would have known it Sunday, when he completed 25 of 37 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns in the Packers' Lambeau loss to the Falcons. That after throwing only in practice Friday last week, and then only a few lob passes.

ON THE SPOT: The run defense. The Packers allowed only three 100-yard rushers all of last season. This season, it's four in their first five games. The big picture look shows that they are allowing averages of 161.4 rushing yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry. The problem? It's gap control. Or, in this case, a lack of it. The Packers have fallen into the same trap that has plagued the Seahawks in the past. By vacating their assigned gap in an attempt to do too much, they are giving away too much.

BURNING QUESTION: What has happened to Chad Clifton? The Packers' left tackle went to the Pro Bowl last season. This year? Well, as Green Bay line coach James Campen put it after the loss to the Falcons, "He had a poor game. And his fundamentals were poor." Clifton didn't finish the game because of a sore hamstring and he has been limited in practice all season because of sore knees.

FAMILIAR FACES: Backup linebacker Tracy White played for the Seahawks (2003-04).

Linebacker coach Winston Moss played (1995-97) and coached (1998) for the Seahawks. General manager Ted Thompson (2000-04), director of college scouting John Dorsey (1999) and director of football operations John Schneider (2000) all had stints with the Seahawks before returning to the Packers. Assistant director of pro personnel Tim Terry played for the Seahawks (2000-2002).

THE LAST WORD: "I look at the defense as a thermostat in a football game. They need to keep the game in order, and it starts with stopping the run. And we're not doing a very good job of it." -- Packers coach Mike McCarthy

-- Clare Farnsworth