"Before piling on Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch for his dismal performance in the Seahawks' loss to the Saints on Sunday in New Orleans, let's look at some numbers.

In the first 869 runs and receptions of his NFL career, Lynch lost four fumbles. With three touches in the third quarter on Sunday, Lynch lost two fumbles.

Meanwhile the Seahawks continued their statistical slump toward the bottom of the NFL rushing stats (rating 30th of 32 teams).

Lynch was picked up in a trade with Buffalo and first appeared with the Seahawks in Chicago on Oct. 17. He was expected to be the workhorse power back the Hawks haven't had. The failings of the rushing attack up to that point would be reversed by merely handing him the ball.

Wouldn't they?

Well, in six games, he's averaging just 3.1 yards a carry.

Wanna know why?

The man has nowhere to run.

The Hawks have had seven different starting offensive line combinations in their 10 games. And rookie top draft pick Russell Okung has played in just slightly more than two games since Lynch has been on board.

Does that make a difference? On typical run downs - first and second - Lynch averaged 4.8 yards a carry when Okung is playing. When Tyler Polumbus has played left tackle, he's averaged 1.9 yards.

Lynch isn't affixing blame. "It's a collective thing," he said of the team's rushing performance. "When you look at the numbers, the numbers don't show effort or what is going on. Some of those 2- or 3-yard runs help wear down defenses for later."

And sometimes, just getting back to the line of scrimmage has been a strenuous chore for Lynch.

"I'm not a negative person, and I try to take a positive out of everything," he said in the locker room before Wednesday's practice. "So I always want to turn a negative run into positive yardage. As a running back, you take pride in never going backward."

The fumble problems on Sunday, according to coach Pete Carroll, are partly a function of Lynch's die-hard running style. When backs fight for extra yardage, it makes them vulnerable to being stood up and getting the ball stripped by a swarming defense.

"His nature to try to fight for extra yards hurt him on a couple situations," Carroll said. "He was pulling away from the guy pulling at the football."

Carroll said his staff has coached a technique to deal with that situation, particularly during the offseason training activities, but Lynch was still with Buffalo then."