Returning stars on offense won't matter if Seahawks' defense doesn't improve

Wash. -- Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is following league MVP Shaun Alexander back from injury.

The assumption is that - Voila! - Seattle (6-4) will regain Super Bowl quality, beginning with Hasselbeck's expected return Monday night against Green Bay (4-6).

But if the defense doesn't improve from its latest, mysterious spate of horrid tackling, it wouldn't matter if Jim Brown and Johnny Unitas were returning for the Seahawks.

Coach Mike Holmgren was so infuriated by Frank Gore stampeding his defense for 212 yards during Sunday's loss in San Francisco that he ripped into the players following the game. The lashing was so fierce, Holmgren felt compelled to apologize to the team the next day.

"I think I know what they're capable of playing and I get frustrated and angry when they don't do certain things. And I don't think I'm being unrealistic," Holmgren said Wednesday.

The frustration grows when the Seahawks consider there's been only one major change to their defense from one that was so improved last season while boosting Seattle to its first Super Bowl: The arrival of dynamic linebacker Julian Peterson. And that's been anything but a problem. Peterson, a two-time Pro Bowler, has a career-high eight sacks in 10 games.

"Essentially, this is the same defense as last year. Last year, we let one back gain 100 yards - and that took five quarters," middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu said, referring to Tiki Barber of the New York Giants in an overtime win for on Seattle Nov. 27, 2005.

"Things have that snowball effect."

It's been an avalanche lately.

San Francisco's 262 yards rushing last week came three weeks after Kansas City and Larry Johnson romped for 191. That followed Minnesota rolling for 175 yards on the ground, including Chester Taylor's 95-yard touchdown run - a Vikings record.

Seattle has allowed an average of 29 points in each of those games, all losses.

Why?

After Sunday's debacle, defensive end Grant Wistrom said opponents are exploiting a lack of gap discipline, especially on the backside of Seattle's defense on cutback runs.

And as Holmgren noted: "The teams we play are going to be looking at it and we have to have an answer. We have to fix it and have an answer if we expect to reach our goals this year."

Tatupu said that alone is "embarrassing."

"That's a tape that's going around the NFL now," Tatupu said of the 49ers running over the Seahawks. "I think that's what people are going to try to do. We've just got to respond."

Packers running back Ahman Green, probable with a sore knee, ranks just behind Shaun Alexander as the sixth-most-productive NFL running back this decade, with 7,747 yards. But Green has had just 55 and 28 yards rushing in Green Bay's last two games - following three consecutive 100-yard games.

After Green, Seattle will face Denver runner Tatum Bell - though he's questionable for this week with turf toe. Then it's Arizona's Edgerrin James, Gore again - and San Diego's white-hot LaDainian Tomlinson.

As for last week, Tatupu credited Gore with being "an unbelievable running back."

"But when it comes down to it ... it's just discipline," he said. "Whether it was a d-lineman, a linebacker, a safety or a corner (it's) being where you need to be and holding yourself accountable.

"Another thing would be the tackling."

Oh, that.

Tatupu said coaches let the defense know that Gore gained a whopping 130 of his yards after the Seahawks' first hit on him.

"On occasion, it was people not being in the right place," Tatupu said. "But sometimes it was just him wanting it. And going and taking it.

"There's no one in here shying away from contact," he said, including himself as a culprit of missed tackles. "It's just taking the right steps in tackling."

Defensive coordinator John Marshall said being out of position is not causing the poor tackling. Marshall said his defenders were generally in their assigned places in San Francisco, unlike in earlier games, but they just whiffed making stops.

"They've just got to make the plays," Marshall said.