Seahawks Looked Like a Thriller but Are TD-Dancing in the Dark : Seattle Rocks but Can’t Roll

In Seattle, another tough practice has just ended. Into the locker room walks Michael Jackson, no relation to the singer, or, as events are about to demonstrate, to any singer.

Jackson looks around and is appalled to see the lethargy of his teammates. So he does what any outside linebacker would do in his position: He bursts into song.

Welcome to the National Football League’s first music video, “Locker Room Rock,” the Seahawks’ daring beachhead onto the shores of pop culture. Imagine the possibilities: The Raiders could do theirs intercut with footage from movies like “Captain Blood,” or “Cool Hand Luke.”

Back to the action. Jackson’s teammates are inspired by what he’s saying, er, rapping. They join in the song and dance around the locker room. Offensive guard Edwin Bailey comes out of the showers playing a saxophone.

The song’s refrain goes:

“We’re working hard for the Super Bowl,

“And the Blue Wave is on the roll.”

Shots of a sellout Kingdome crowd doing a wave--the Blue Wave--are interjected. Everyone has a rousing good time.

Now, if they could just get life to imitate art, the way it’s supposed to. . . .

The Blue Wave is on a roll, all right, but not in the direction that was forecast before the season, when lots of people, not all of whom lived in Seattle, picked the Seahawks to reach the Super Bowl.

Now the Seahawks are 4-4, having lost as many games as they did all last season. This has led Coach Chuck Knox to new heights of taciturnity, although Raider Coach Tom Flores has an idea how it happened.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Flores said Wednesday. “When you’re a preseason pick to go to the Super Bowl, other teams see that, too. All of a sudden, you don’t sneak up on anybody anymore. Teams’ attitude is a lot different than it was when you were just a .500 team.”

Knox refers queries to the Seahawks’ turnover ratio. A year ago, they took the ball away from opponents 24 more times than they gave it away. Included in that was a plus-eight just for their special teams. Now they’re minus-one, overall.

That’s on top, the Seattle house theory. There is another theory that this was a plucky band of overachievers who caught fire under the tutelage of one of the game’s ablest coaches, but how far could it go?

“I can’t really comment on that,” Knox said from Seattle Wednesday. “I think we’ve got some fine football players. We just haven’t made the plays.”

Quarterback Dave Krieg said: “You can only use that overachiever stuff so long. We have some pretty good football players. When you go to the playoffs two years in a row, they have to give you some credit. I don’t think a lack of talent is why we’re 4-4 right now.

“Overconfident? Not really. I don’t see how we could have been. We won our first two games. Maybe our defense wasn’t playing too well, but our offense came through from the start. Then it switched around. Our defense is back to what it was last year and our offense has struggled.”

Among other problems is remembering what got them there. Two years ago, when Curt Warner was a rookie, the Seahawks ran 52% of the time, the famous Ground Chuck offense that kept the ball away from their opponents. With Warner hurt last season and David Hughes leading all rushers with 327 yards, they threw more often.

With Warner back this season and in fine form, the reason the Seahawks were supposed to improve, they have run even less than they did last season, 39% of the time going into last week’s loss to the Jets. “Astro-Knox,” suggested NBC’s Dick Enberg.

As will happen in such circumstances, a good part of the blame is being directed at the quarterback, Krieg, whose press notices until now were happy ones that focused on his rise from defunct Milton College in Wisconsin--the only player to have his school retired instead of his jersey, it was said--to NFL stardom.

A year ago, Krieg threw 32 touchdown passes, the seventh-highest total ever, a fact that was largely obscured by Miami’s Dan Marino, who was in the process of throwing 48. One wonders how completely Seahawk management endorsed Krieg, since it kept trying out high-priced quarterbacks--Warren Moon a year ago, Bobby Hebert this season.

Krieg, however, has thrown for 17 touchdowns this season, which puts him ahead of even last season’s pace. He also has thrown 12 interceptions, and much is being made of that. But last season he threw 24, so he’s on the same pace.

“I haven’t played very well,” Krieg said. “I’ve only completed 18 passes my last two games and I’ve thrown 52. That’s not like me. That’s not typical of my performance.

“It’s a tough position. You can’t go out there and knock the stuffing out of somebody to let your frustrations out. You’ve just got to be consistent. One of the players I look at is Jim Plunkett, the way he’s battled back over the years.”

Actually, the Seahawks aren’t giving the ball away much more than they did last season. They’re taking it away less, though. A year ago, they intercepted 38 passes. This season they’ve intercepted 12.

But once you’ve told everyone, as the Seahawks have, to punch the ball loose whenever possible, what else can a coach do?

But there will be chances to regroup, like Sunday, when guess which hated AFC West arch-rival will be in town?

Another sellout crowd will be in the Kingdome but not to boo the home team, yet. Where there is half a season left, there is hope. They want their MTV.