Seahawks ‘still believe’ in Chris Carson but maybe they should not

The Seahawks still have Chris Carson listed as their number one running back. He has been good. But if he fumbles again he should sit.

Seahawks running back Chris Carson is a steal of a 7th rounder. He has made Seattle better and is scary when he has the ball in his hands. Unfortunately, being scared now is part of defender trying to tackle Carson’s mentality and also part of 12s mentality as we fear Carson might cough up the ball. Again.

Against the Saints on Sunday, Carson had the ball knocked out of his hands, it was picked up by New Orleans and returned for a touchdown. The play was the turning point in the game. Seattle could move the ball well enough to beat the Saints but kept shooting themselves in the foot. Or hitting their coach in the face with a football, which analogy you like best.

Of course, Seattle didn’t lose the game simply because of Carson’s fumble. Pete Carroll’s odd clock management helped. So did a defense not being able to tackle Saints running back Alvin Kamara.

But a Seattle team that feels like they cannot rely on Carson not to fumble and in return sits him is a weakened team unable to reach its potential. Since there was no Rashaad Penny due to injury on Sunday, Seattle had to go with C.J. Prosise as Carson’s backup. Because of Carson’s dropping the ball, Prosise had to play more and wound up with more snaps than Carson.

In a Monday press conference, Carroll said of Carson

"Because we do believe in him, we’re going to continue to show him that. He’s a terrific football player, and we want to make sure and maintain that level of play from him so we’ll work at it, work with him on it."

That’s all well and good, but if Carson fumbles in Sunday’s game against the Cardinals, the Seahawks need to take Carson out of the game and keep him on the bench. Carson has officially fumbled three times in 2019, matching his total from all of 2018. But really, he has fumbled four times because Carson took a well-placed hand-off from Russell Wilson and let it bounce off him. The fumble was attributed to Wilson because those kinds of fumbles always go to the quarterback. But 12s know it was really Carson’s fault.

I like Chris Carson and I like the way he runs. But no NFL team can overcome multiple fumbles by one of their best players. If Carson fumbles in week four or five, the Seahawks should do the right thing and sit him on the bench. Even a weakened running game that isn’t fumbling is better than a strong running game that is.