RENTON, Wash. -- Deion Branch might miss at least one game with a bruised heel. Matt Hasselbeck is apparently fine after a scare over his knee.
If only those new injuries had something to do with the Seahawks' sickly defense.
While all of Seattle's attention has been on a battered offense trying to get healthy, a supposedly stingy, star-filled defense has the four-time NFC West champions sinking at 1-3 -- and in what linebacker Julian Peterson is calling "almost" panic time before Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers (2-3).
Sure, 12 games still remain in the season after Sunday's 44-6 loss to the New York Giants, a debacle Pro Bowl linebacker Lofa Tatupu called "embarrassing." But right now that just seems like 12 more chances for the Seahawks to give up 30 or more points.
"We've got no time to mess around," Peterson said on Monday. "It's not necessarily a panic situation, but it is almost."
Three startling losses later, having the entire defense back may be Seattle's problem instead of its strength. Now a couple of those starters may be on their way out.
Coach Mike Holmgren said the defensive game plans will get simpler, "so hopefully we can become good in a fewer number of things."
And he said personnel changes are next, though he added, "I'm not ready to tell those right now."
Holmgren only named one defender who is having a good season: Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Trufant.
Including the regular-season finale of 2007, the Seahawks have allowed 44 points by Atlanta (which was ending a 4-12 season), 42 in a blizzard during January's playoff loss to the Packers, 34 by Buffalo in this season's opener, then 33 by San Francisco in another loss last month before a win against woeful St. Louis.
Then came Sunday's misery in the Meadowlands. Dozens of missed tackles and blown plays made the undersized Seahawks look infinitely behind the league's elite.
So much for that.
"Number one: big plays. People have caught us sometimes when we've blitzed and we've been in single coverage, and we haven't handled that very well," Holmgren said. "They got three (Sunday). You know, 21 points.
"The second thing, I'm not excited about our pass rush particularly right now. We had some one-on-one situations (Sunday), which is what you count on, and we didn't get home," he added.
"Thirdly, in our blitz package, we have to be more precise. We have some nice blitzes in, but we didn't execute them properly. We kind of ran into each other."
Other than that, things are just great on defense.
The Seahawks haven't been built to beat a team like the Giants, whose 264-pound halfback Brandon Jacobs ran though them for 136 yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries. They aren't built to handle what awaits them this Sunday, either: the straight-line running of 226-pound Packer Ryan Grant. He stomped them for 201 yards and three scores in January.
Team president Tim Ruskell has remade the defense with relatively small players to feature quickness. That's fine when speedy blitzers like Peterson smash into quarterbacks or ball carriers in the backfield. But when they don't, runners break through Seattle's many arm tackles and receivers bounce off shoulder-only hits, turning short receptions into big plays.
Peterson was particularly guilty of the latter on Sunday. He took responsibility for it on Monday, saying he will focus more on running his feet under hits and getting his head across the body of ball carriers in practice this week.
The entire defense needs results in games -- immediately -- to keep this 10th and final season for Holmgren as Seattle's coach from turning into a nightmare.
"Coming in, I had very, very high expectations. And I still do. So when do we start here? When do we get it going?" Holmgren asked. "When do we play the way that we think we are capable of playing?
"It's got to be pretty soon here."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
