Chris Carson, Carlos Hyde out again for Seahawks. Russell Wilson or bust again at Rams
It was to be pretty much Russell Wilson or bust for the Seahawks offense.
Again.
Seattle (6-2) on Saturday downgraded its top two running backs Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde from questionable to out for Sunday’s game for the NFC West lead at the Los Angeles Rams (5-3).
The left the Seahawks again with Travis Homer, rookie DeeJay Dallas and Alex Collins as the running backs available to play. Collins last week came up from the practice squad to play in his first NFL game in two years.
As expected, the Seahawks also promoted former All-Pro defensive tackle Damon “Snacks” Harrison and running back Alex Collins from the practice squad to play Sunday.
It will be Harrison’s debut for Seattle. He signed Oct. 7.
The Seahawks activated special-teams ace and backup cornerback Neiko Thorpe off injured reserve to the active roster for Sunday.
Thorpe took the roster spot of defensive tackle Byran Mone. Mone went on injured reserve Saturday because of a high-ankle sprain. He will miss a minimum of three games.
Last week, Buffalo basically disregarded any threat to run by Seattle. That freed the Bills to blitz and besiege Wilson with their pass rush. They sacked the Seahawks’ quarterback five times, hit him 11 times—the most times a QB has hit the ground in a game this league season—and forced Wilson into four turnovers.
Seattle lost for the second time this season.
The Seahawks also downgraded defensive end Benson Mayowa to out.
Carson, Hyde and Mayowa were to miss their third consecutive games. They got hurt in the team’s overtime loss at Arizona Oct. 25.
The Seahawks were missing seven players, four of them starters, Sunday in Los Angeles. Injured cornerbacks Shaquill Griffin and Quinton Dunbar were declared out Friday. So was center Ethan Pocic.
Tre Flowers and perhaps D.J. Reed were to be the starting cornerbacks against the Rams.
Kyle Fuller, a 2019 practice-squad player, was to start at center for the first time in his career. They were to be his first snaps on offense for the Seahawks. They were to come against Rams All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
Donald has 12 career sacks against Wilson, his most against any NFL opponent. Eight of those sacks have come in the last four meetings.
Carson has a sprained foot. He leads the Seahawks with 323 yards rushing this season. He has six touchdowns, three running and three receiving. He rushed for 2,400 yards total in the two season prior to this one, his contract year.
He had set his goal for 2020 playing in all 16 regular-season games, to show the league he was more durable if he enters free agency this coming spring. He has yet to complete a full season injury free since junior college.
Hyde has been out with a hamstring he strained celebrating a score after replacing the injured Carson during Seattle’s loss at Arizona last month. Hyde has two touchdowns rushing in his first season with Seattle.
The Seahawks have averaged 129.5 yards rushing on 23 carries per game with Carson and Hyde playing this season.
The offense has averaged 79 yards on 23 carries per game in the last two games Carson and Hyde have missed.
Not having Carson and Hyde has effected the Seahawks beyond the numbers.
Wilson’s first of his four turnovers in a 44-34 loss at Buffalo likely would not have happened had the pounding Carson or Hyde been playing.
Down 14-0 in the first quarter and trying to keep the game from getting away early, Seattle had third and 1 at the Bills 5-yard-line. Seahawks play caller Brian Schottenheimer had Wilson had the ball off to Homer. The third-down back is on the team for pass blocking and receiving, not to run up the middle for a tough yard near the goal line. The play’s flow and blocking were to the right. Homer saw traffic there and tried a quick cut back left. He ran directly into unblocked Bills linebacker A.J. Klein and safety Jordan Poyer for no gain.
Coach Pete Carroll decided to go for it on fourth and 1, because a short field goal would still leave Seattle down two scores.
Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf lined up to the left of a tight formation. Tight ends Jacob Hollister and Will Dissly were to the right, on the edge of the line. Homer was behind Wilson, but the Bills knew it wasn’t going to be another run by Homer. They were ready as Wilson rolled out toward his tight ends to throw.
Homer ran a safety-valve pattern into the right flat. As Wilson rolled away from them, he saw Metcalf getting bracketed by a safety and a linebacker running across the goal line. The Bills were also ready for Lockett running a backside hitch route; they double-teamed that to take it away. Buffalo covered both tight ends. A linebacker held the edge Wilson scrambled toward. With no one open and, as he said later, not wanting to throw the ball away on fourth down, Wilson flicked a pass toward Hollister. Poyer, coming back up field off the useless Homer in the short right flat, intercepted it.
After taking leads of 17-0 and 24-7 in the first half, Buffalo’s defense just ignored Seattle’s meek running game. It sent swarms of blitzers at Wilson, who dropped back to pass 47 times. The Bills sacked him five times and hit him 11 more. It was the most times a quarterback has been knocked down in an NFL game this season.
Two of Wilson’s four turnovers came on fumbles he lost on sacks by the Bills while they disregarded Seattle’s non-existent threat to run.
It’s logical to assume Wilson would not have been knocked down all 16 of those times, nor committed all four of those turnovers, if Carson or Hyde were running behind him.
Carson has loved running against Donald and the Rams’ notoriously rugged defensive front. His average of 103.3 yards rushing in three games against L.A. is his highest average against any team he’s played more than once in his four-year career.
So much for that.
This story was originally published November 14, 2020 at 3:03 PM.
