All Seahawks eyes on Chris Carson, Kyler Murray for Sunday’s NFC West game at Arizona
The Seahawks flew here Saturday, following coach Pete Carroll’s program of flying one day before games in their same, Pacific Time Zone.
They go two days early for games two time zones away. Seattle (2-1) has four more games in the Eastern Time Zone this season, including their next trip after this one, for the Oct. 13 game at Cleveland.
Here are my five players to watch in the Seahawks’ first NFC West game this season, Sunday against Arizona (0-2-1) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale.
1. Chris Carson is the Seahawks’ most pressing issue. He’s lost four fumbles in three games. They’ve all led to foes’ scores. The Saints returned his latest one last weekend for a touchdown that changed a 7-7 game and put Seattle behind for good.
Coach Pete Carroll’s entire run-first system revolves around Carson as the lead back—and Carson keeping the ball off the ground. “It’s all about the ball,” is Carroll’s first and biggest rule on the team.
Carroll, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and quarterback Russell Wilson spent this week professed their trust and belief in Carson as this team’s lead running back.
“Just keep putting your support in him. Keep working it. He’s working his butt off doing the drills and stuff. It’s going to pass,” Schottenheimer said. “We don’t have any doubt about that. We totally support him. Nobody feels worse about it than he does. ...He’ll bounce back.
“A lot of guys go through it. I remember, Tiki Barber years ago—I think I was coaching—he had a couple fumbling issues and you start seeing him carrying the football a different way, right? What we want Chris to do is we want Chris to be able to go out and play and not worry about the ball. You saw him on the fumble. He was trying to cover it up and on his way to the ground. A kid came out and made a nice play.
“He’ll work through it. We have complete belief in him and that’s not just me saying that. That’s the entire offense.”
Asked if he was making Carson carry the football to bed with him each night, Schottenheimer said, chuckling and referring to running backs coach Chad Morton: “Like The Program (movie)? I’m not sure if Chad’s doing that.
“Again, he’s aware of it. He knows it. He’s going to be fine.”
But if Carson loses the ball again, he could lose his job. Number-two back Rashaad Penny is coming back from a hamstring injury. He is questionable to play Sunday. If the first-round pick from last year had been available instead of inactive last weekend, Carson may have gotten benched for more than the three running plays he watched against the Saints.
2. All eyes—and opposing pass rushers—are on Kyler Murray. The Cardinals’ number-one choice in this year’s draft has been sacked an alarming 16 times through three games. That’s second-most in the NFL. The Panthers got Murray eight times in their win in the desert last weekend, five after Carolina took a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Some of those sacks have come when Murray has been Wilson-like in holding onto the ball and extending plays. A lot of them have been because Arizona’s offensive line is so poor. Teams don’t get first-overall picks and the chance to draft talents because of Murray because they’ve been good.
“I think he’s competed very well,” Cardinals rookie coach Kliff Kingsbury said this week on a conference call with Seattle media. “Obviously, there are things we have to clean up. Each game he plays is just going to make him better and we’re going to go through some ups and downs.
“We understand that process when you’re starting a rookie quarterback. He’s given us a chance late in the games the first three weeks, and for a young guy, that’s saying a lot.”
Murray has gone from a 54-percent passer in his first NFL game to 70 percent in game three. He has four touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s averaging 6 yards per rush when he takes off in rookie coach Kliff Kingsbury’s wide-open, Air Raid offense.
Carroll says Murray is “a fantastic athlete, and he can throw the ball all over the place, and you can see why he’s that pick.”
But can the Cardinals keep him upright?
3. and 4. Arizona’s problems protecting Murray should give Jadeveon Clowney and Ziggy Ansah opportunities to affect a game together for the first time as Seahawks’ bookend pass rushers. If Ansah plays, that is.
Ziggy Ansah is questionable to play, 18 plays into his Seahawks career. He has a new back injury, after shoulder surgery then a groin issue last month delayed his Seattle debut. The other two times Ansah has been listed as questionable on a Friday this month, for the opener against Cincinnati and for week two at Pittsburgh, he hasn’t played on Sunday.
But Carroll says Ansah has a good chance to play.
The Saints had Teddy Bridgewater throwing quickly on one- and two-step drops with nine passes short to running back Alvin Kamara. That neutralized Clowney and Ansah on the 15 snaps they played together last weekend. Defensive line coach Clint Hurtt said when quarterbacks are throwing as quickly as Bridgewater, and Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton when he threw for 418 yards on Seattle in the opener, Clowney, Ansah and the pass rushers need to get their hands up.
Last weekend was Ansah’s first game in nine months, since shoulder surgery. Carroll likened it to a first preseason game for the 30-year-old.
If Clowney and Ansah aren’t getting to Murray in this one, it could be time to wonder when they will get to anyone.
“We’re excited about getting the guys going,” defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said. “Our pass rush has to get going whether it’s this week, last week, or in the following weeks, for us to be successful.”
5. Tre Flowers has become a target for opposing offenses in the passing game. He is in his second year playing cornerback after being a safety all his college days at Oklahoma State. Teams are breaking off routes in front of him for easy catches. And he’s been playing through a hamstring injury at a thin position in the Seahawks’ defense.. That’s a large reason why Seattle is 21st in the NFL in passer rating by opposing quarterbacks.
If Arizona can give Murray time to throw, he’s probably going to throwing in the direction of number 21 in white on Sunday.
Like Schottenheimer with Carson, Norton is fully supporting Flowers publicly.
“He’s doing very well,” Norton said. “We’re very impressed with him last week going through his injury situation. Really working out and coming to really sucking it up and playing tough. Tough reps last week. He showed us a lot.
“Again, very, very happy with his development.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2019 at 11:49 AM.
