Pete Carroll believes Seahawks proved to themselves in 2nd half in KC they can run to win
Finally, Pete Carroll had had it.
Inside the visiting locker room at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday, the Seahawks’ coach was sick of watching running backs dance, cut and go mostly nowhere. Carroll was tired of saying his team had to run the ball to be successful.
He challenged his offensive line to be tougher. He challenged his play caller to call more runs. He challenged lead back Kenneth Walker to stop trying to cut around Kansas City Chiefs and run more directly, into the line and right at them.
Basically, Carroll told his coaches and players to run the ball. Or else.
“Just in being pretty straightforward, pretty direct that we’re going to get back into this game by running the football: ‘Let’s go. And it’s on everybody. We have to call it. And we have to run it,’” Carroll said Monday.
“I talked to Ken, too, about that. Give us a little different rhythm hitting the line of scrimmage. And he totally did it. I think the combination, everybody just started clicking.”
The Seahawks didn’t win at AFC West-champion Kansas City. Their 24-10 defeat was the fifth in six games for Seattle (7-8), putting the team one more loss away from essentially playoff elimination.
But what Carroll and his offense learned in the second half gaining 107 of the Seahawks’ 133 yards rushing against the Chiefs’ fifth-ranked rushing defense — after a month of running into walls — gives Seattle belief it can duplicate that Sunday against the New York Jets (7-8) and the following weekend against the Los Angeles Rams (5-10) to get into the playoffs.
Their head coach showed the Seahawks that on Monday.
“I, in particular, showed some clips in our team meeting today to demonstrate how much better we played in the second half (at Kansas City),” Carroll said. “We just turned the running game around and the line of scrimmage really just changed.”
Walker gained 91 of his 107 yards against the Chiefs after halftime. Despite being down two scores the entire second half, Waldron called 19 running plays compared to 11 in the first half Saturday.
Rookie right tackle Abe Lucas left the game in the third quarter with a patellar-tendon injury. Stone Forsythe entered as Lucas missed his first snaps all season. Yet the running continued.
“It was the same guys blocking pretty much. Stone got a chance to play and contributed,” Carroll said. “It is, it’s sticking to it. We ran the ball 11 times in the first half and 20 times in the second half and we were just way more productive and explosive.
“I think Ken had something to do with that as well. Ken hitting the line of scrimmage a little more consistently in the second half helped us.”
Walker said more folks than his head coach was telling him to do away with most of the lateral cuts on which he had made so many defenders miss earlier this season but not nearly as often the last month.
“Everyone was telling me to run straight and be more decisive,” Walker said.
He admitted sometimes he tries to “make something happen.”
During their four-game winning streak that began in mid-October and had the Seahawks 6-3 atop the NFC West, they averaged 124 yards rushing per game. In those four games, Walker’s first career starts replacing injured Rashaad Penny, the rookie second-round pick had six rushing touchdowns.
When they had their most total yards (555) and points (48) this season, Oct. 2 winning at Detroit, the Seahawks romped for 235 yards.
But in losing four of five entering Kansas City last weekend, Seattle averaged just 62 yards per game on the ground. That’s exactly half the rushing the Seahawks were producing in that four-game winning streak.
Running effectively is what gives Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith the time and ability to throw more effectively off play-action. It slows opposing pass rushers from teeing off on Smith without any regard for the run.
“It opened up the entire offense,” tight end Colby Parkinson said of the running game at Kansas City. “Once the run game gets going, we are able to open up our entire offense. Once the run game gets going, we are able to open up our play passes, our pass screens and really spread the ball out more.”
Most of all, running better makes third-down conversions more attainable.
Running to nowhere on early downs the previous weeks and again in the first half at Kansas City resulted in third and 8, third and 10, third and 11. That’s why Seattle’s third-down conversions in recent games have been 1 for 9, 3 for 9, 4 for 13 and, against the Chiefs, 2 for 14.
“The issue was about first and second down, really. It’s making those situations shorter so that they facilitate converting,” Carroll said. “When you’re in third and 10, say, six of them or something with third and 10 or more, that’s just asking a lot. Let’s look at the odds around the league. What does it take to convert? It’s hard, and the numbers go totally in favor of the defense,
“So that’s why: Execution on early downs, run the football.”
And that’s the evidence the 71-year-old head coach was showing his team Monday, that, yes, they can do and have done what it will take offensively to beat the Jets and Rams and perhaps get into the playoffs.
“Absolutely, yeah, I’ve got the evidence. That’s what I showed them on film,” Carroll said.
“I made sure that we all saw it. And it’s undeniable what we’re capable of being like.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2022 at 5:10 AM.
