Seattle Seahawks tape study: who is Thomas Rawls?

The Seattle Seahawks were left without star running back Marshawn Lynch for much of last week’s game against the Chicago Bears. Thomas Rawls was forced to carry the load, and he did a great job in doing so.

Seahawks fans were left wondering if Rawls’ 16 carry, 104 yard performance a sign of good thing to come or just a flash in the pan?

To answer that question, I examined every run from last Sunday’s game. 16 carries is a fairly small sample, and this clearly wasn’t the toughest competition, but there were some definite trends that were worth examining here.

Before we get into the findings, lets take a look at his best and worst play from Sunday’s game.

His Best Play

The Seahawks run counter inside outside zone. Rawls’ reads are LT Russell Okung first, and TE Luke Wilson second. Those blocks will determine which hole Rawls is expect to run though.

As soon as Rawls get the ball, he plant is right foot and breaks across the formation. Rawls is already reading the blocks.

The first hole appears open, but outside defender sprints out of position and gives up edge. Plus, Doug Baldwin is coming inside to seal the edge.

Rawls see the Baldwin’s block and continues his run outside for a huge gain.

Overall, this is a well blocked blocked play by the entire line, the TEs, and by Baldwin. Rawls uses his vision and acceleration to take advantage of the blocking for big play.

His Worst Play

It is tempting to say his awful drop in the 1st quarter was his worst play. That might be accurate, but it doesn’t help us in our evaluation of Rawls as a runner.

Besides, not all drops are created equal. I’d much rather have a concentration drop like his over a hands-of-stone drops (like many from Luke Willson and Jermaine Kearse). Concentration drops are correctable.

Instead let’s look at this run from the fourth quarter. This is a positive gain because of the offensive line, but Rawls left a lot of yards on the field.

The Seahawks are in milk-the-clock mode. The line up with two TEs on the right side, and motion Baldwin to that side as well.

Rawls’ initial movement is that way, but the play is designed to go to the weak side. Rawls is expected to read the block of LG Justin Britt, and go through either the A or B gaps to the left of the center.

When Rawls gets the ball, the blocks are already established. The read here is the B gap, since Britt has established outside leverage.

Rawls waits far to long to make his cut. He lets safety Antrel Rolle (No. 26) get in on him when there’s no need to.

Then, instead of cutting through the gaping hole on the left side, Rawls runs right up into the crowded middle of the field where there is no room.

Rawls wasted a good opportunity on a play that was well blocked. Had he cut throw the hole on the left right away, he would have had a huge gain just like the play above.

When looking at the video of the play, you can he how much the offensive line blows the Chicago defense back off the line of scrimmage. This should have been a much bigger gain.

Conclusions

Based on this game, there are six key observations on Rawls as a runner:

I only saw him hesitate once. He’s decisive.
Great vision. Reads blocks well and sees most cutback lanes.
Good acceleration, gets to stop speed very quickly.
Doesn’t have elite speed.
Only broke 3 arm-tackles in 16 carries. Also doesn’t make people miss.
Falls forward on every run.

Some of those are positive, some negative. The positives outweigh the negatives, but his fit in Seattle long-term is difficult to see.

He’s not a guy who’ll turn nothing into something the way Marshawn Lynch often does. Rawls requires at least decent-level blocking to be successful.

What happened in camp was that when the blocking broke down, Rawls looked horrid. Lynch, Christine Michael and Rod Smith were able to work around it. Rawls isn’t built to do that.

The other side of that coin is that Rawls isn’t going to turn something into nothing. He’ll maximize the yards blocked for him on almost every run. In the right system and with the right team, he can be very productive.

Rawls combination of vision and acceleration are the same traits (though not necessarily at the same level) that made Shaun Alexander great. Rawls lacks the speed to fully reach that level though.

Instead, Rawls is similar to another former Seahawk: Justin Forsett.

I see Forsett as Rawls’ ceiling. His floor is that of Robert Turbin (as a runner, not as a 3rd down back, at least not yet).

Overall, I believe the Seattle Seahawks would be happy with that.

Next: Cliff Avril loves his contract

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