NFL

Jim Mora's Seahawks are 3-6 so far this season.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENTON, Wash. -- Games aren't the only thing Jim Mora is losing.

The Seahawks' coach just lost his workout buddy. He moved to Los Angeles. So the fiendishly fit Mora isn't sprinting up rugged Tiger Mountain near his suburban Seattle home for his renowned, pre-dawn runs much anymore.

He's also losing sleep.

"My teeth are like this, 3 in the morning," Mora said Wednesday, grinding them together with a pained expression on his face.

And, oh, yeah, about those games.

Mora has been an NFL head coach for four seasons. He's been an assistant in the league for 21 other years, almost always for winners or teams on the rise. His sunken Seahawks are neither.

Asked how he thinks he's done in his first season of a four-year contract worth almost US$5 million per season, Mora said: "Obviously not good enough, or we wouldn't be 3-7."

One thing Mora is not losing is the trust of his boss.

He has the unwavering support of team president Tim Ruskell. Ruskell was Atlanta's assistant general manager in 2004 when the Falcons surprised many by choosing Mora, then the defensive co-ordinator in San Francisco, as their first-time head coach.

But many around Seattle think Ruskell needs to go. His Seahawks are 7-19 since their last playoff appearance in January 2008. His top draft picks haven't panned out recently. And now Mora says fourth overall pick Aaron Curry -- whom Ruskell gave $34 million guaranteed this summer -- will have his role reduced on third downs because the outside linebacker may be hitting the proverbial rookie "wall."

Ruskell's running backs have also failed, ever since he signed Shaun Alexander to a US$62-million, eight-year contract in 2006. Ruskell cut him 26 months later.

Seattle is last in the league in rushing offence. It gained just four yards on 13 carries last weekend in yet another blowout loss, at Minnesota.

The mood is so grim, 36-year-old backup safety Lawyer Milloy, the oldest non-kicker on the team and a former Super Bowl winner with New England, addressed the team this week and warned them not to accept losing.

Quarterback and captain Matt Hasselbeck has said repeatedly he fears some are getting used to failure after almost two full seasons of it.

"It's something that needs to be brought up -- once," Hasselbeck said. "There's no magic potion. We've just got to perform (better)."

All this failure is new for Mora, who led Atlanta to the NFC title game in his first season there. He's four games under .500 and entering the final six games of the season with essentially zero chance at the post-season, both firsts for his head-coaching career.

"You've just got to forge on. You have no options," Mora said, adding he is focused solely on beating the 1-9 Rams on Sunday in St. Louis. "You need to embrace it a little bit, and realize that at the end of the day when you get through it you're going to be a better person, a better man, a better team."

No need to embrace all that's afflicted Seattle this season. It engulfed the Seahawks before they even had the chance to get their arms around it.

A baker's dozen starters have missed at least one game due to injury. Six-time All-Pro left tackle Walter Jones never played, and may never again following major knee surgery. He and three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Lofa Tatupu are on injured reserve.

Hasselbeck has been playing with broken ribs and a sore shoulder for about a month.

Offensive co-ordinator Greg Knapp can't believe his running game, which has finished in the NFL's top 10 for eight consecutive seasons and three different teams, is dead last now.

"When I look back at my career, some of the greatest lessons I've learned have been learned in the toughest of times," Mora said.

"The toughest of times, they've shaped my personality and who I am. And that's how I like to live."