Seattle still searching for run game solution

RENTON, Wash. - One week left in the preseason and Pete Carroll still doesn't have an answer for Seattle's stumbling run game.

Carroll doesn't need one back to emerge from his stable of three or four competing for playing time. He just wants to see something more than a couple of yards at a time.

"I don't think we've had enough success running the football to allow the guys to distinguish themselves," Carroll said on Monday. "They've all run hard and I've looked at all of their runs in groups to make sure I can see them and styles of runs to see if there's anything going there and right now all these guys are battling."

The Seahawks coach said all three of his running backs - Justin Forsett, Julius Jones and Leon Washington - will get playing time on Thursday night when Seattle closes out the preseason at Oakland.

So far, none of the three have shown enough in the preseason to claim the job outright. Carroll said the job won't revolve around just one back when the season starts, but he wants to see improvement from the paltry numbers posted so far.

In three games, the Seahawks are averaging just 3.4 yards per carry as a team. Broken down, only Washington is averaging more than 3 yards, but he has just 10 carries.

Forsett, the diminutive 5-foot-8 speedster, has received the most work of all three, getting 18 carries in three games.

Washington showed his explosive speed in Seattle's second preseason game, bursting through the line for an 11-yard touchdown run that for the moment ended questions about his speed that lingered following his gruesome broken leg last year with the New York Jets.

Julius Jones has received just 12 carries this preseason and his longest run is six yards.

In Seattle's second preseason game against Green Bay, Jones didn't see the field until the second half. Last Saturday against Minnesota, Jones carried just twice, while Forsett and Washington both got a half-dozen attempts.

Even running back/fullback Quinton Ganther has gotten more carries than Jones.

"We're going to go with the guys who are giving us the most juice and making it happen and doing well," Carroll said. "It gets frustrating sometimes for those guys, I've been through that before, but I don't really worry about that. I want them hungry to get out there and fighting for their snaps."

Carroll said he's still hopeful injured left tackle Russell Okung will be back to help the run game for the season opener. Okung, the No. 6 pick in April's draft and the heir to Walter Jones at left tackle for the Seahawks, suffered a high right ankle sprain on the first play of Seattle's second preseason game against Green Bay.

Okung watched practice on Monday, but Carroll said it would be a "pretty special recovery" if he's ready to go against San Francisco on Sept. 12.