3 problems Seattle Seahawks need to fix ahead of Week 3

The Seattle Seahawks should likely be 2-0, right? The tough part of the first part of the schedule was supposed to be going to Detroit to beat the Lions. Seattle did that and won, but they lost to a Los Angeles Rams team in Week 1 that is clearly in some kind of rebuild.

Thankfully, we aren't too far into the season to not fix some things that will make Seattle better. The Seahawks didn't look anything like a playoff team in Week 1, but Seattle should feel a lot better about itself after beating a Lions team that could win their division this year. The season isn't a lost one. Yet.

Some things that many 12s might have counted on as improving this year haven't. And one part of the success of 2022 has surprisingly been bad in 2023. Here are three bits that Seattle needs to fix immediately.

Seahawks must fix their run game explosiveness

Last year, Kenneth Walker III led the league in rushing touchdowns of 10-plus yards with 7. He also led all rookies with 4.6 yards a carry. Overall, he had 10 carries that resulted in 20-plus yards. He was a breakaway threat many times he touched the ball and this was assumed to only get better in 2023. One reason Seattle chose Zach Charbonnet in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft is that we could presume Charbonnet would be the thunder to Walker's lightning.

But so far in 2023, Seattle's longest run through two games is only 15 yards. 26 other NFL teams have had a run longer than that already. Seattle does have 2 touchdown runs this year, but both are relatively short runs that took some effort by the running back to get in. For whatever reason, while the pass protection has been better this year, especially up the middle with new center Evan Brown, the run blocking isn't opening huge holes.

Seattle is currently 20th in the NFL in yards per carry at 3.9. The running backs combined, though, average just 3.6 yards per rush. Pro Football Reference has Seattle's success rate at around 53 percent, however. That means when the Seahawks run the ball, many times they are setting up second and third and longs. Seattle needs to keep running the ball, but the Seahawks also need to start breaking off some long runs.