If ever a game epitomized the old saying “they don’t ask how, they ask how many,” it was the Seattle Seahawks’ squeaker of a win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15 of the NFL season. The Colts, losers of three straight and with their postseason lives hanging in the balance, very nearly pulled off the unlikely win behind 44-year-old, recently-unretired quarterback Philip Rivers.
Only the miraculous right toe of Jason Myers allowed the Hawks to avert disaster and keep pace in the ultra-competitive NFC West.
The Seahawks entered the contest with one of the best defenses in the NFL and it seemed through most of the game that Mike Macdonald was content to adopt a vanilla approach. The Colts were missing their starting right tackle and would lose his counterpart on the left side in the first half.
Seattle Seahawks must rediscover their running game if they want to have playoff success
It was apparent early on that Rivers couldn’t move especially well and had a lot of trouble driving the ball downfield or outside the hash marks.
Still, Seattle’s defense mostly sat back and allowed the veteran time to dink and dunk his way down the field. They never dominated the game in the way many analysts expected. In the end, it is hard to criticize Macdonald’s defensive approach too much. Seattle did hold the Colts to 16 points and got the win. So there’s no real concern about Seattle’s defense.
But there is major concern developing about the Hawks’ stalled running game.
22 carries for 50 yards. 2.3 yards-per-attempt. Those were Seattle’s rushing stats for the game. And that simply is not going to cut it against stronger teams with more potent offenses. Seattle does not beat Los Angeles or San Francisco in the final weeks of the season with rushing numbers like that.
A little historical perspective for fans who are envisioning a Super Bowl this year. Klint Kubiak’s offense entered the Colts’ game averaging 4.0 yards per rush. That placed them in the bottom quarter of the NFL, almost a full half-yard below the league average of 4.4.
With the anemic performance on Sunday, that number dipped to 3.9. The last time a team won the Super Bowl with a rush average under 4.0 yards per carry was eleven seasons ago. The Patriots won that year with a 3.9. But the overall league average was a couple of tenths lower back then. You have to go back 14 years to find a Super Bowl winner that was a full half-yard beneath the league average.
Kubiak clearly wants to run the ball, and he has shown this season that he will stick with it even if it is not going gangbusters. Seattle entered the weekend with the fourth most runs in the league, but only the 18th most rushing yards.
The offense is predicated on the run. The continual pounding of Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet draws the defense forward and allows for big plays in the passing game. In the first half of the season, it seemed to work perfectly. Jaxon Smith-Njigba rained terror down on opponents and was on pace to set a new NFL mark for receiving yards.
In theory, that should have had a symbiotic relationship with the run. It should have forced opposing defenses to drop back, thus creating more room in the box for Walker and Charbonnet. But that has not happened. Defenses have indeed turned their attention to stopping JSN, but Seattle has been unable to take advantage on the ground.
In its last three games, Seattle’s two primary backs have run the 61 times for 231 yards, or 3.8 yards-per-carry. They are slowly but surely dropping as the season progresses. Walker does not resemble the explosive back that dominated in the early part of the season. Charbonnet still runs hard, but rarely has lanes to exploit.
As Seattle readies for crucial games over the final weeks, Kubiak has to figure out how to jump start the run game – especially Walker. As the season has progressed, it has become clearer that despite promising play from young linemen Grey Zabel and Jalen Sundell, they are not yet world beaters.
Their grades, along with those of Anthony Bradford, suggest that Seattle has one of the least effect interior lines when it comes to run blocking.
Sunday offered a clear comparison. The Colts, who were playing with a couple of novices at tackle, have just about the best interior three offensive linemen in the NFL and despite Seattle’s formidable defense, Jonathan Taylor was far more effective than either of the Hawks’ backs.
With Kobie Turner, Poona Ford, and Nate Landman, the Rams have been tough to run on this season. Kubiak has a short week to figure out his run game. It will prove crucial on Thursday, and even more important once the postseason begins.