Seahawks still running on empty

Nov 23, 2017 - 2:24 AM RENTON, Wash. -- It might be a broken record at this point, but the Seattle Seahawks still can't run the football.

Mike Davis gave Seattle a bit of a spark Monday night against Atlanta only to leave the game with a groin injury in the third quarter. Eddie Lacy and J.D. McKissic managed only 32 yards on 10 carries in Davis' absence as quarterback Russell Wilson continues to carry most of Seattle's rushing load.

The Seahawks rank 17th in the league in rushing with 104.2 yards per game on the ground. However, Wilson remains Seattle's leading rusher with 376 yards on 58 carries. The trio of Lacy, Thomas Rawls and McKissic have gained 377 yards combined this season.

"We have just been inconsistent," head coach Pete Carroll said. "We haven't found our consistency. We've been trying. You've seen us, we've been experimenting to get the right guy on the field at the right time. ... Nobody has really found the consistency that we're looking for connected to how we've been blocking up front and all that, it just hasn't worked out the way we wanted. We're behind it right now. We're still finding yards and Russell is doing a fantastic job of finding us yards, but not exactly the way we anticipated, and we want it to be. We like to get those guys more productive and more on point, so we're just working at it."

Davis sparked the group last week with 59 total yards rushing and receiving in just over two quarters of action before a groin injury sidelined him for the rest of the game.

"He did a nice job in his first game out," Carroll said. "We're really pleased with the showing. Was kind of what we had hoped that he would show a little bit of something and he did, run game and pass game."

It's been a constant theme for Seattle this season. As soon as any back starts to get any momentum going, they suffer an injury that knocks them out of a game. Chris Carson, Lacy, Davis and C.J. Prosise all have missed games due to injury this season. Carson and Prosise are on injured reserve.

It's created a rotating door of options in the backfield that hasn't been able to find consistency.

"The reality is we're not running our best right now," Wilson said. "That's the truth. We're not running our best. The truth of it though is we can be better and that's what we look forward to. ... We got a lot of great players. We got some great running backs. Have they played their best yet? Not yet, and that's not necessarily because of them; it's all of us. We've got to play better."

After being inactive last week, Rawls will be right back in the mix again this week as Seattle's options change once again. Rawls has struggled to recapture his form from 2015 this season and has been bypassed for other options at times this year.

"Don't try so damn hard," offensive line coach Tom Cable said of what Rawls needs to do to get back on track. "You see it all the time when guys are trying to make a statement or they're trying to stake a claim to something, sometimes they kind of overstep on the gas if you will. He just needs to relax and be Tommy and play ball.

"You're not going to become a 1,000-yard rusher on one run."

SERIES HISTORY: 38th regular-season meeting. Seahawks lead series, 22-15. Seahawks have won seven straight and nine of the last 10 meetings between the two teams. The last meeting in San Francisco in Week 17 of last season was the only Seattle victory over the stretch decided by fewer than 10 points.

--The Seahawks promoted wide receiver David Moore from their practice squad on Wednesday to fill the vacancy created by the release of defensive end Dwight Freeney on Tuesday.

The Seahawks made the move with Moore because another team was attempting to sign Moore off their practice squad. They wanted to keep him and promoted him to the active roster to keep him in Seattle.

"We had to make roster stuff happen," head coach Pete Carroll said. "We had some injuries and some things we had to deal with. It is a spot where we have some guys that have played that spot. We're a little bit deeper there. We hated to do it but we had to do something and that's what happened.

"We just had to do something and this is where it came too. There are cap concerns and all kinds of issues that we're dealing with right now."

The Seahawks have just $189,034 in cap space remaining, according to NFLPA records, which is the least cap space of any team in the league. Moore costs Seattle less than half of what Freeney was making on a weekly basis. If Kam Chancellor is moved to injured reserve and the Seahawks need to add another contract to their roster, the savings of the move from Freeney to Moore could be significant.

Moore was a seventh-round pick out of Division II East Central (Okla.) in May. He's spent the entire season on Seattle's practice squad after being released the roster cut to 53 players.

"He's done a great job. He's a very versatile athlete," Carroll said of Moore. "Much like we saw the ability that Mike Davis had to come off the practice squad and help us, hopefully we can find a way to do that with David and we want to keep him on our team."

Freeney was claimed off waivers by the Detroit Lions.

NOTES: LT Duane Brown is "ahead of where he was last week" after playing through a sprained ankle on Monday night against Atlanta. Head coach Pete Carroll is expecting that Brown will be able to play this week as well. ... DT Jarran Reed was close to playing last week but didn't quite make it back due to a hamstring injury. Head coach Pete Carroll is expecting that Reed will be available this week. Reed was limited in practice on Wednesday. ... LB Michael Wilhoite did not practice on Thursday after straining his calf Nov. 9 in Arizona. It's the second time this season a calf injury has kept him out of practice. He also missed Seattle's season opener in Green Bay with a calf issue. ... CB DeShawn Shead is "really close" to being able to return to practice, but is still not quite able to clear a final hurdle in his recovery to get back on the field. Shead sustained a torn ACL against Atlanta in the playoffs last January. Head coach Pete Carroll said he'd be watching Shead's workout on Wednesday to get a better sense for his current status. ... LG Luke Joeckel practiced on Wednesday for the first time since knee surgery in October. He is expected to be able to return to the lineup this week. He was a full participant in practice.

... RG Oday Aboushi is expected to miss this week's game after dislocating a shoulder Monday night against Atlanta. ... CB Shaquill Griffin is in concussion protocol after being injured Monday night. Head coach Pete Carroll said it would be difficult for Griffin to make it back to play this week. ... RB Mike Davis did not practice due to a groin injury. Offensive line coach Tom Cable indicated that he believed Davis would miss a little time due to the injury. ... LB Bobby Wagner did not practice due to a hamstring injury. He's been rested for a day routinely the last several weeks.