Chris Carson’s act for Rashaad Penny at goal line wows Seahawks backup, shows harmony
Chris Carson had just bulled for another long run. He had put his Seahawks near the goal line. The next carry was likely going to be for a touchdown.
But then Carson tapped his helmet, the universal football sign asking for a substitute.
Seattle’s lead running back, on his way to another 100-yard game, summoned his understudy onto the NFL’s Monday night stage.
That’s how Kumbaya it is right now in what is assumed to be a running-back competition between Carson and Rashaad Penny.
After the game, Penny gushed about how Carson’s gesture in the third quarter after Carson’s 25-yard run got Seattle down to the 5-yard line exemplified how much the backup respects and admires the starter.
In fact, Penny says he loves Carson.
Winning, of course, cures everything. And the Seahawks had just won for the fifth time in a row, for the eighth time in nine games, 37-30 over Minnesota. Seattle is 10-2 and in first place in the NFC West with four games left in the regular season. That will make any Seahawks happy.
“I was on the sideline. I mean, that can be an easy walk-in for the guy. And he called me in,” Penny said. “And the next play I scored.
“That just shows you the guy he is, you know. He cares, you know? The love I have for him is deep.
“Any other running back would stay in and try to punch it in. But that shows you the guy he is.
“I’m a big fan of him.”
Penny then grinned. He nodded. The throwback Kevin Durant rookie Sonics basketball jersey he was wearing looked as sharp as Penny did running with Carson Monday night.
Yes, there’s a whole lotta love in Seahawks’ backfield after its season-high 218 yards rushing against Minnesota (29 of those yards came on a fake punt by rookie running back Travis Homer, but you get the point).
The Vikings stayed in a two-deep zone defense, with their safeties playing 10-15 yards off the ball. So offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer kept calling runs. When he didn’t, quarterback Russell Wilson kept changing pass calls to more runs.
The result: Seattle’s most yards on the ground in 13 months, since Nov. 11, 2018, when the Seahawks romped for 273 yards at the Rams. The offense had a season-high-tying 43 carries against Minnesota.
Carson gained 102 yards on 23 rushes. Penny, the Seahawks’ first-round draft choice last year, had 74 on 15 carries. Each had a touchdown rushing.
Massive guard D.J. Fluker loved it.
“Those are my type of games: running,” Fluker said, with a big grin. “That’s what the game is all about.”
Penny had another touchdown receiving. His catch and run for 13 yards on a screen pass from Wilson completed Seattle’s 24 unanswered points for a 34-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.
“It is awesome. It is so much fun to see those two guys battling it out,” coach Pete Carroll said. “I think Chris got 100 and Rashaad got 70-something. That’s fantastic.
“I thought Rashaad looked so fast tonight. He just looked so explosive. The screen play was a beautiful call, and beautiful execution, and it just showed that burst that he has and why he’s so exciting.”
It was as 1 and 1A as it’s ever been. Carson was in for 39 plays. Penny had 35 snaps. He had been averaging 14 per game entering Monday night.
This, after Penny’s career day with 122 yards rushing and a game-breaking touchdown run of 58 yards in the 17-9 win at Philadelphia.
Carson fumbled that day, his seventh of the season. That is the most among non-quarterbacks in the NFL.
Penny’s breakout game, the fact he’s faster after losing more than 10 pounds and Carson’s latest mistake had many assuming a hot competition at running back.
But Penny’s love for Carson—and the coaches’ love that Carson is 19 yards from his second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season—says that competition will remain what has been for two years: Carson the starter, Penny the complementary piece behind him.
The Seahawks aren’t going to bench Carson after his 2,132 yards in his last 26 games, fumbles and all.
But riding the hot hand during games? That will continue. It’s happened in Philadelphia two games ago. It happened again Monday against Minnesota.
“You guys keep asking me, but there’s no plan on this one. They’re just playing,” Carroll said. “And when we see how the game goes, we might give a guy a few more here or a few more there. We don’t know, because they’re both really good. We love them and we just play them.
“Chris is the starter, so he winds up getting some more carries, but they’re playing as 1-2, and I don’t know who is one and I don’t know who is two. They’re doing great.”
Carson 1 and Penny pretty much 1A makes the Seahawks’ offense that much more difficult to defend over the final four regular-season games and into the playoffs. Seattle can clinch a postseason berth in Los Angeles Sunday night with a win at last-gasp, defending NFC-champion Rams (7-5).
Defend how Minnesota did, by dropping two safeties way off the line to keep Wilson from adding to his league-leading total of 26 touchdown passes? Or play one safety nearer the line to better defend all this running from Carson and now Penny, but risking more big pass plays by Wilson in the spaces where that second safety could have been if not for defending the run?
That’s why the Seahawks are averaging 27.4 points per game this season, fifth-most in the NFL.
“It’s incredible,” Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown said of the Carson-Penny duo right now. “Our run game has been a staple of our offense. That’s the foundation.
“Both of those guys are amazing backs. They’re really coming on. Penny especially. Chris has been great throughout the year and Penny is really coming on these past few weeks. Having that one-two punch is really going to help us going forward.”
It looked for a spell Monday night that it might be one punch, Penny, out of necessity.
Carson slammed his head into the leg of tight end and teammate Jacob Hollister at the end of an awkward run and fall in the first quarter. He stayed on the ground for a moment, then went with a Seahawks doctor into the observation tent behind the bench. He emerged a few minutes later, smiling.
Penny took the first four plays on Seattle’s next offensive possession. Then Carson returned, and returned to romping through the Vikings.
“He went through the whole (concussion) protocol and the whole thing, and he was clear and all that,” Carroll said. “I didn’t see the hit on that one, but it was worthy of that kind of consideration, and fortunately they went through the whole thing, and I think took him into the locker room and all of that. And he was fine.”
Carson says he is just as fine with his partnership with Penny.
“Yeah. It’s good. It keeps both of us healthy not putting the load on one person,” Carson said. “We complement each other really well. It’s good to see that.
“It’s great. We have two different running styles, so it keeps the defense on their toes. They don’t know what to expect. Rashaad has been practicing so hard these last few weeks, really since training camp. He’s just trying get his feel of the game and it’s starting to show up.”
So this running back “competition” doesn’t appear or sound like the one many want, or make it out to be. At least not to the guys competing.
“The chemistry that the two running backs have, Penny and Carson, and they have been great for us,” Wilson said. “To have that bond, to have that work ethic, you should see these guys work on a daily basis, how they understand things, how they understand the game. It’s an honor and pleasure to play next to them. And just talking to them in the midst of the game and us going over protections and talking and all that stuff. They have been great professionals since they have walked in the building.
“That’s what you always want and that’s why it’s fun to play with so many great guys.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 7:31 AM.
