Since the Seahawks lost Chris Carson, it seems that Russell Wilson is the running attack. But is that really true? Maybe so…maybe not.
The Seahawks running game hasn’t been exactly the NFL’s best this year. At least with Chris Carson in the backfield, it was respectable. Since his injury, it seems that Russell Wilson is the only threat to run. But is that really true? Word of warning: this is going to get pretty mathy, people.
Let’s start with the Seahawks with Carson. He played in four games – and sadly is still their leading rusher despite missing the last three. Carson had 208 yards on 49 carries, a 4.2 yard average. Not bad at all. When you consider the next two running backs have done less than that, it’s astounding.
Lacy and Rawls not exactly getting it done
Thomas Rawls and Eddie Lacy have not lived up to expectations. I would prefer to have the duo of Cagney and Lacy in the backfield at this point. I’m pretty sure that Sharon Ferrell and Tyne Daly combined weigh about 240, so as great as they are, they’re not NFL running backs. And so far, neither are the two players we expected to revitalize the Seahawks running game.
The photo above captures the season of Lacy and Rawls so far. Yes, Lacy is setting his feet for his cut. But it sure looks like there is zero forward momentum, doesn’t it? And that describes the season of both running backs so far. No forward momentum.
Lacy has played in five games so far. He has 42 carries for 108 yards, a 2.6 average. Rawls has been in five games as well, and carried the ball 30 times for 59 yards. You have to round up to get a 2.0 yard average. They’ve combined for 168 yards in 10 games. That’s 40 fewer yards than Carson in more than twice as many games. Injuries are part of it, but they have to up their game.
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Should the Seahawks O line take some blame?
To some extent they should. But remember, it’s the same offensive line as Carson ran behind. Well, mostly the same. Left guard Luke Joeckel missed the last two games. Joeckel only graded out as the 48th best run blocking guard according to Pro Football Focus. Then again, that’s the best grade of any Seahawks guard.
Rawls and Lacy were actually decent against the New York Giants. They each had 11 carries, Rawls for 36 yards, Lacy for 34. Not great by any means, but compared to their performance against the Houston Texans, it was stellar. Losing one yard on 12 combined carries is an attack alright. It’s just not a running attack. More of an attack on decency.
The offensive line isn’t opening huge holes, but it’s not like Carson was running behind Jones and Hutchinson. He was getting decent production behind that line. Rawls and Lacy (and Prosise) need to step up.
The Texans made it look worse than it is
You can say the Texans exposed the Seahawks running game, or that it was just an outlier. That game alone dropped both Rawls and Lacy’s rushing averages by about half a yard. It was already bad, but not as awful as Houston made it look.
Houston is very good against the run, in the top ten in all categories. Other than rushing touchdowns allowed, New York ranks between 20th and 23rd defensively. And the Washington Redskins rank almost exactly between the Texans and Giants. So there’s cause for optimism this week.
Seahawks have part of the answer now
Part of that optimism is the addition of tackle Duane Brown. He doesn’t grade terrifically at run blocking, but he’s better than average. That is a major improvement over the play of Rees Odhiambo. Russell Wilson will certainly be happier with Brown on his blind side. Speaking of our quarterback, just how much of the load does he carry?
With 13 more yards, Wilson will take the lead as the Seahawks leading rusher. This is not what Pete Carroll envisioned at the start of the season. Of course if Eddie Lacy plays like he was expected, that could change tomorrow.
As for Wilson, it may surprise you to learn he isn’t carrying a bigger share of the rushing offense since Carson went down. He was the running game against Houston, sure, but versus the Giants he only ran twice for 10 yards. Seattle had 104 yards on the ground in New York. He had 16 yards of the 62 rushing yards versus the Rams. The Texans game painted the worst possible picture.
With Carson in the lineup, Wilson accounted for 28.2 percent of Seattle’s rushing yardage. Without him, DangerRuss has accounted for 28.7 percent of the Seahawks ground game. Wilson was always a big part of Seattle’s rushing attack. If you want to check my math, here are the stats.
Related Story: Seattle's running game has to change
For those of you who prefer the tl;dr version, Wilson was carrying too much of the load even when Carson was playing. The rushing yards per game averaged 122 with Chris Carson. Without him, the average is 66 yards per game. That overall production has to change against the Redskins, and I expect it will.