Kenneth Walker leads old run formula, Seahawks’ 37-27 win on Super Bowl celebration day
Kenneth Walker ran, caught, spin and scored. On some plays he resembled Marshawn Lynch. On another, key one, Doug Baldwin.
Zach Charbonnet looked all like Lynch when he ended a 12-yard run by lowering his shoulder into a defensive back and sending him careening through the south end zone about halfway to Tacoma.
Jarran Reed? He celebrating dumping Carolina’s quarterback for the fourth-down stop that clinched this win by doing Michael Bennett’s hip-thrust sack dance. You remember, the one with the former Super Bowl-champion defensive end’s hands behind his back. The one of which Bennett once said, after the NFL sanctioned his dance: “Two pumps gets a baby. Three pumps gets you a fine.”
“That’s a shout out...to my OGs of the game. I thought it was only right,” Reed said.
Walker, Charbonnet, Reed and these Seahawks celebrated the 10th anniversary of their only Super Bowl-winning season in the best way: They played like them, with almost all of them watching from the sidelines and in suites at roaring Lumen Field.
From the start, this commemorative game — the Seahawks for this home game even wore the road, white-over-blue uniforms they wore winning Super Bowl 48 10 seasons ago — had the same championship approach: Run. And stop the run.
Six of Seattle’s first 11 offensive plays were runs. They finished with 146 yards rushing, behind Walker and Charbonnet romping as coach Pete Carroll envisioned this summer. And the run defense continued its improvement from being at the bottom of the league last season, holding Carolina to just 44 yards rushing — like Carroll’s championship defenses once did.
That’s how, despite not scoring a touchdown until the third quarter, the Seahawks beat the Panthers 37-27 in the rain Sunday in front of most of the players from that 2013 Super Bowl 48-winning season.
Walker had 97 yards on 18 carries, plus 59 yards on three catches. Charbonnet added 46 yards on nine rushes.
For the first time this season, Carroll recognized his championship style on the field.
“Rush for 146 yards? Heck, yeah. Scoring points at the end of the game, finishing? Yeah, it did,” Carroll said.
This and their upset win in overtime at Detroit the previous weekend have made Seattle’s coaches and players feel their face plant to begin the season, a 30-13 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams, could have happened to the 1970s Seahawks.
“I’m really pumped about that,” Carroll said. “The first game was such an outlier. I can’t even imagine how that happened. But to go finish 60-plus minutes last week and to come back again this week, that’s really a big statement for us to build on.
“We’re going to need it. We are going to need it all the way down the schedule.
“It’s a young team that’s coming together and finding ourselves, and we can really make something of that.”
Geno Smith’s pass in the back of the end zone for the first career touchdown for undrafted rookie Jake Bobo capped a 25-point second half for Seattle (2-1). On the ensuing two-point conversion try Smith ran one way, turned, scrambled and threw a jump ball back across the field to Tyler Lockett. Lockett deked his defender by pretending the ball was coming their way. Then he leaped and caught the pass in the end zone. He took a celebratory bow.
It was reminiscent of Russell Wilson’s mad scramble then throw Luke Willson caught for two points during the Seahawks’ wild rally to beat Green Bay in overtime in January 2015, to advance to Super Bowl 49.
These Seahawks got a bad-then-good day from Smith, a 100-yard receiving day from DK Metcalf and enough of a pass rush to affect veteran Carolina backup quarterback Dalton, starting for injured Bryce Young to win its second consecutive game.
Even the sold-out Lumen Field crowd of 68,699 affected the game like it was 2013.
“It felt more unique than it’s felt recently, and for whatever reason,” Carroll said.
“The fact that they responded like that in this early part of the season after we screwed it up last time we were here, that’s where we start moving forward.”
Yes, Seattle’s fans had booed the Seahawks off their field the last time they’d played on it. Sunday, they kept roaring, louder, as the Panthers committed each of their eight false-start penalties.
As the Seahawks lost home games routinely, 12-14 in their last 26 home games (not counting the fan-less season during the pandemic), the fans in the house in SoDo hadn’t had this much of an impact on a game in years.
“They were unreal,” Bobo said.
“I’ve never really seen anything like that,” the rookie said.
The false starts were three short of the record for a game on an opponent in this stadium, by the New York Giants in 2005 during Seattle’s first season that ended in a Super Bowl.
“To have eight false starts,” Lockett said, “that’s incredible.”
The Seahawks take their mini turnaround to New York next, to play the Giants (1-2) on Monday night Oct. 2.
Smith completed 23 of 36 passes for 296 yards with one touchdown. He rebounded from a first half in which he threw his first interception of the season and had a completion rate under 50% to surge Seattle into the lead. He completed nine of his first 10 throws after halftime.
The most unique and impacting: 36 yards down the left sideline to Walker. The running back lined up wide out there. He ran a go route past Donte Jackson, while Carolina’s cornerback jumped a shorter route outside by tight end Colby Parkinson in front of Walker.
“I like playing wide receiver,” Walker said, with a grin almost as large as the one he had this past week when an ice cream truck rolled up to practice and he snagged a Sponge Bob popsicle. “I played it in high school (in Arlington, Tennessee). That’s one of my favorite positions.”
Walker said when he saw the cornerback jump the shorter route he knew the ball was coming his way. Or hoped it was.
“I just kept running, looked up and hoped Geno was going to throw it,” Walker said. “And he did.”
That creative design by play caller Shane Waldron — practiced throughout training camp but used only sparingly in games — set up Walker’s 1-yard touchdown run, his third rushing touchdown of the season. After five drive stalls and field goals by Jason Myers, Seattle finally had its first touchdown, and control of the game via a two-score lead at 22-13.
The Seahawks took a 15-13 lead early in the third quarter on the fifth field goal by Jason Myers, who missed two last weekend at Detroit. That drive featured Metcalf’s sixth catch — for 112 yards, his 10th game with 100 yards in his career — and Walker taking a short pass and eluding a Panthers defender in the open field for an 18-yard gain.
From there, it was mostly Walker’s and Charbonnet’s running and a pass rush teeing off with a lead and no worry about stopping the run to close out the win. Like how Lynch, Bennett and those Seahawks used to do it.
“I think the O-line just really took the game over,” Smith said.
80% of O-line backups
The season-high 146 yards rushing came with injury fill-ins playing in four of the five positions and starting rookie guard Anthony Bradford for the first time. By the fourth quarter, the Seahawks had a third-string lineman clearing lanes for Walker and Charbonnet, recently signed Raiqwon O’Neal.
“It was a great performance. I think we had two or three line changes during the game,” said center Evan Brown.
The only Seahawks starting offensive lineman healthy enough to play said he’s never started a game, at any level, with four backups flanking him.
“They stepped up, big time,” Brown said.
That opener, when the Seahawks scored zero points and gained just 12 yards after halftime? Did that really happen to these Seahawks?
“I think initially, across the league you are going to see offenses struggle a little bit early on. For the most part, most guys haven’t played together in the preseason,” Brown said.
“As came start going, you start getting that continuity. You start flowing better, figuring out how things fit together, from an offensive-line perspective.
“The more we get into it, the more we communicate, the more we talk, the better we are going to be.”
Defensive error costly
The game’s only touchdown of the first 2 1/2 quarters was because the Seahawks screwed up.
The Panthers took the lead in the second quarter by confusing Seattle’s defense. D.J. Chalk and a second Panthers receiver crossed at the snap. Right cornerback Michael Jackson, playing for injured Tre Brown, who was playing for injured Riq Woolen, went with the inside receiver. No defender went with Chalk outside. He was alone to catch Dalton’s pass. Safety Julian Love arrived late and then overran Chalk, who jogged into the end zone for a 47-yard touchdown. Carolina led 10-9.
In a box above the field, defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt pounded the table in front of him.
Smith had gotten away with throwing passes that could have been two interceptions at that point. Lockett had stuck out his arm and hand to break up both throws a Panther was about to steal.
But Smith didn’t get away with a third throw. To answer Carolina’s touchdown he tried to connect with rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the left slot. Carolina linebacker Deion Jones came over to intercept the pass at the Seattle 28.
The Panthers turned that into a field goal and 13-9 lead late in the half.
After the interception, Metcalf went down the row of offensive teammates along the Seahawks’ bench, shook each player’s hand and encouraged them.
In Seattle’s ensuing 2-minute drill, Smith threw to Metcalf for 19 yards across midfield. Metcalf then ran a slant route, caught Smith’s pass and broke two tackles for a 22-yard gain that got Seattle into the red zone. The drive stalled when Carolina’s pass rush beat the Seahawks’ fill-in tackles, and forced Smith to throw under pressure incomplete. Jason Myers’ fourth field goal of the half cut Seattle’s deficit to 13-12 entering the third quarter.
At that point Smith, the NFL’s leader with a completion rate of 69.8% last season, was just 11 for 23 passing.
Tre Brown injured
Already missing injured starter Riq Woolen because of the chest injury he got in Seattle’s overtime win at Detroit the previous game, Seattle lost his replacement starter Sunday. Tre Brown left in the second quarter with a concussion and did not return.
He got hurt on a Carolina running play. He was trying to roll over on the ground and sit up but couldn’t. A Seahawks doctor took his helmet from him as he wobbled and needed help getting to the sideline.
Michael Jackson, the starter opposite Woolen last season, replaced Brown. He broke up a pass on a slant route in front of him on the second drive he played, and other on an in route with 5:42 left and the Panthers desperately trying to rally from being down two scores.
“Mike...so classy in the way he played a couple of them,” Carroll said.
“We’re lucky that we have that kind of depth. And we’ll come back. We’ll have a lot of guys coming back next week. It’s going to be excited to have those guys come back.”
That includes the likely return of Woolen and the 2023 season debut for safety Jamal Adams, in New York where he once starred.
Damien Lewis exits
Stone Forsythe started his second consecutive game at left tackle because Charles Cross’ sprained big toe kept him out again. The right tackle was backup Jake Curhan, because Abe Lucas is on injured reserve. Bradford got his first career start because right guard Phil Haynes was out with a calf injury.
Then Damien Lewis left in the first half with a hand injury. That forced Ben Brown, signed to the practice squad at the end of the preseason, in at left guard.
Bradford stayed down on the field injured and had to be helped off on Walker’s touchdown run in the third quarter.
Yet Seattle rushed for 146 yards.
“Yeah, thrilled about that, the commitment to it,” Carroll said.
“That’s the kind of day. It’s the right numbers. We completed I don’t know, 23 or something passes, ran 33 times. You know, those numbers really stand for consistency. So that’s what we’re going to stay with it.”
Dre’Mont Jones injured
Defensive end Dre’mont Jones left in the fourth quarter. He was bent over along the sideline after limping off the field.
Carroll said his hip tightened on Jones.
This story was originally published September 24, 2023 at 4:39 PM.
