Seahawks seek more from Marshawn Lynch, Travis Homer so Russell Wilson can throw in Lambeau
Nine years to the week after Marshawn Lynch’s Beast Quake run into Northwest immortality, Pete Carroll says to expect more Beast Mode this week.
That’s because Lynch runs. And running is what the Seahawks want to do more of Sunday in the NFC divisional playoff game at Green Bay.
Yes, Russell Wilson torched the Eagles for 318 yards passing in Seattle’s wild-card playoff win at Philadelphia.
But (and feel free to skip ahead if you’ve read and heard this before) Seattle’s offensive line—and now especially with injuries to left tackle Duane Brown and left guard Mike Iupati—must help run the ball effectively to keep teams honest defending them. That is, keep edge pass rushers from zooming up the field in a straight line to Wilson with no regard for a running play coming at them.
The Packers will have two elite pass rushers with a combined 25 1/2 sacks in 16 games this season primed to get after Wilson. Za’Darius Smith had 13 1/2 sacks, fifth-most in the league. Preston Smith had 12 sacks.
Statistically driven analytics profess running is basically a waste of time in today’s NFL, that passing and the chunk yards it brings is the more efficient and effective way to play.
Those people don’t coach the Seahawks.
Carroll does. For the 68-year-old head man, balance of running and passing isn’t just a goal on offense.
It’s a way of football life.
“It’s always been that,” Carroll said this week.
Thing is, it wasn’t that for the Seahawks in Philadelphia last weekend.
The Eagles run-blitzed cornerbacks and safeties outside and clogged lanes inside. They held Seattle rookie Travis Homer, the replacement lead back since Chris Carson got a season-ending hip injury last month, to 12 yards on 11 carries. Lynch managed 7 yards on six carries in his second game since coming out of a 14-month sabbatical and signing back with the Seahawks.
One of Lynch’s carries was a thumping run of 5 yards for one of Seattle’s two touchdowns in a 17-9 win.
“They’re really good. They did really well. They loaded it up. They took a lot of shots at us,” Carroll said of the Eagles. “They brought guys off the edge to try to stop the running game. They’ve been a real committed run team all year. They gave up 90 yards a game rushing all season long, so they’re really good at it.
“We weren’t able to counter it like we had thought. We thought we’d put the ball in the perimeter a little bit on them and try to balance them out, but we didn’t get much out of that, either. That’s just the way it went.”
The Seahawks’ answer to Philadelphia taking away the run: play-action passes, faking the run then throwing down the field. The offensive line with fill-in starters George Fant at left tackle and Jamarco Jones at left guard mostly gave Wilson time to do that against Philadelphia, which was one of the NFL’s worst defenses this season against deep passes to outside receivers.
With Philadelphia stacking against the run Wilson threw for 318 yards on just 18 completions. He was sacked just once in 31 dropbacks. He repeatedly had time to take home-run shots down the field to 6-foot-3, 229-pound DK Metcalf, who set an NFL record for rookies in a playoff game with 160 yards receiving, including a diving, 53-yard touchdown.
“We felt like with the play-action and stuff like that, me moving around a little bit every once in a while, would be a good thing, too,” Wilson said.
Many want Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to put the Packers game in Wilson’s hands, specifically his throwing arm, as they did in Philadelphia.
But that ignores what Seattle’s offensive line is capable—and, specifically, incapable—of doing against the Packers.
Wilson is unlikely to get as much time to throw in Green Bay unless Homer and Lynch are more effective running the ball. Seattle’s road-grading offensive line is not built to drop back in pass protection 40-plus times.
Wilson got sacked 48 times in the regular season, the sixth-most times in the league. That was even while the Seahawks were 23rd in the league in passes attempted (517).
Even though the Seahawks lost Carson, Rashaad Penny and C.J. Prosise, their top three running backs, plus center Justin Britt to season-ending injuries, they finished fourth in the NFL in rushing this regular season (137.5 yards per game).
In 2018, with Carson and Penny, basically the same offensive line plowed for the league’s top running game (160 yards per game).
It’s just who Brown, Iupati, Britt, fill-in center Joey Hunt, right guard D.J. Fluker and right tackle Germain Ifedi are.
To win in Green Bay for the first time since 1999 and advance to the NFC title game, the Seahawks must run and pass.
The recipe to lose to Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay in Lambeau Field: fall behind early, abandon the run, have to pass and have the Smiths wreck your day.
When Wilson threw a career-high five interceptions at Green Bay Dec. 11, 2016, the Seahawks fell behind 21-3 in the second quarter. That led to them calling 45 pass plays to just 22 runs. They lost 38-10, Seattle’s most lopsided loss in six years.
This regular season suggests Seattle will run for more than 19 yards on 18 carries in Green Bay.
The Eagles were third in the NFL in rush defense this season. The Packers were 23rd (at 120 yards allowed per game). Philadelphia was eighth in yards per carry allowed. Green Bay was 24th.
Plus, the Eagles didn’t have and 13 1/2- and 12-sack monsters wanting to chase after Wilson. The Packers do.
“Hopefully, we don’t want to just run the football. We want to do everything,” Carroll said.
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 7:01 AM.
