Seahawks week three MVP: The beast 2.0, Chris Carson

The Seahawks had another disappointing finish in week three. That certainly wasn’t the fault of the man who starred in the first half. That would be my MVP, Chris Carson.

This Seahawks loss reminded me of an old saying; the only person that could stop Michael Jordan was Dean Smith. Sorry Lee Vowell, but you know it’s true. This applies to the Seahawks star running back Chris Carson. Well, he would be a star if they’d let him.

That has never been more abundantly clear than in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings. As I detailed in my piece on the under and overachiever of the game, Carson did all he could to bring the Seahawks the victory. Therein lies the problem – well, there are more problems than that , as our Jake Luppino points out – but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Seahawks week three MVP: Chris Carson

For now, let’s focus on what the Hawks fifth-year back accomplished. In the first half, Carson had ten carries, picked up 74 yards and scored once. Shoot, you don’t even have to get mathy to see that’s a 7.4 yard-per-carry average. That touchdown was on a 30-yard burst, so he showed the explosive ability that the 12s have come to expect from him.

So of course, the Seahawks called his number just three more times in the game. As they did against the Titans, the Hawks decided to revive the days of Air Coryell, and threw the ball 16 times in the second half. That’s 16 passes versus just three running plays. This from a team that has made a point of having a balanced offense.

A lot has been made of how Vikings backup RB Alex Mattison shredded the Seahawks defense. I agree, 171 yards of total offense was far too much. But Mattison had 26 carries, and added six catches on eight targets. His number was called 13 times in the first half. The Vikings liked what they saw, and went to their backup 21 times in the second half.

The Seahawks decided to go the other route. Clearly, Carson was performing like a champion in the first half. So of course they abandoned the run and decided Russell Wilson was the reincarnation of Daryle Lamonica, aka the Mad Bomber. Sure, he can make the deep throws. But are more likely to be open when the Hawks at least pretend to keep the running game going.

How different would this game have been if Seattle had kept feeding the ball to Carson? I can’t say that it would have definitely resulted in a Hawks win. I can say, most definitely, that number 34 did all he could to bring a win home with every chance he was given. And that, good 12s, is why Chris Carson is my week three MVP.