The domino effect of Kenneth Walker’s, Zach Charbonnet’s runs on all of Seahawks’ offense
Yes, of course Geno Smith was encouraged with the win, and with how he played nearly perfectly at the end to seize it.
But the Seahawks’ quarterback was most inspired following his team’s 29-26 victory over Washington by his offense looking and feeling familiar, seven days after it looked inept in a 34-point loss at Baltimore
“Coming back after last week, felt like we did a lot of uncharacteristic things in that last game, and it was important for us to kind of get back to who we are. And I felt like we did that,” Smith said Sunday following the win over the Commanders that leaves Seattle 6-3 heading to play the Los Angeles Rams (3-6) this weekend.
Specifically, the Seahawks’ offense ran the ball against Washington. For a change.
Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet rushed 25 times combined, for 107 yards. It was almost twice the 13 carries Walker and Charbonnet combined for in each of the previous two games.
Smith threw eight play-action passes off the increased runs Sunday. He completed six of those fake-handoff throws for 98 yards. That included the 64-yard catch and run by Walker for a touchdown on a check-down throw by Smith beneath deeper coverage. That adjustment gave Seattle its first lead, 16-12, early in the third quarter.
Smith threw for 369 yards, the most in his 11-season NFL career. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron called multiple tight-end sets 21 times, and ran 12 times for 55 yards out of those. Waldron also used Jaxon Smith-Njigba 62% of the time as a third wide receiver behind DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.
The more varied Seahawks gained 489 total yards against the Commanders. It was Seattle’s most yards since week two of the 2022 season, a 48-45 win at Detroit.
“I feel like Shane called an amazing game. I felt like the O-line did exactly what they were supposed to do. They were great in the run game, great in the passing game,” Smith said. “It allowed us to really dial up some plays and get some guys going.”
Part of the reason for difference in the Seahawks’ offense from Baltimore to Washington is, of course, the quality of opposition. The AFC North-leading Ravens entered their Seattle game leading the NFL in sacks and pass defense. The 6-3 Browns, the Seahawks’ foe before Baltimore, had the league’s top-ranked defense.
The 4-6 Commanders entered Sunday 28th in total defense and 27th against the pass.
Yet what allowed the Seahawks call plays they hadn’t been using in the previous weeks — specifically, running plays — was getting more first downs. After getting through penalties that killed drives in a sputtering first half, Seattle finished with 27 first downs against Washington. It was its most since 27 in week three against Carolina. Sunday the Seahawks had more first downs than in the previous two games combined, against Cleveland (17) and Baltimore (six).
The added first downs directly contributed to a more balanced Seahawks offense, and thus less pressure on Smith to win by almost exclusively throwing against a pass rush that could ignore the run. Half of Walker’s and Charbonnet’s 25 carries against Washington, 12 rushes (for 43 yards), came in the middle of drives immediately after Seattle got first downs.
Carroll saw this as so important, he highlighted running the ball in a team meeting with his players Monday.
“(Running the ball give us) more balance and helps the rest of our game. We talked about it today in our meetings, how important it is to run the football and how it affects so many other aspects of your play,” Carroll said. “We aren’t 3 yards and a cloud of dust. We just want balance as best as we can get to it.
“That balance doesn’t even mean 50-50 all the time. It just means the complements really work together to strengthen the other aspect of the game.”
The Washington game was the sixth time in nine games Seattle ran at least 23 times. They are 5-1 when they do.
“I’m still working at it,” Carroll said of his run-pass numbers. “It’s still a work in progress.”
First downs allow for no-huddle
More first downs also enabled Waldron to use a no-huddle offense in the middle of the second quarter.
Smith is at his rhythmic best in passing accuracy and decision making in no-huddle, on-the-fly plays. The Seahawks surprised Washington by going no huddle on three consecutive plays starting from the Commanders 43-yard line with 3 minutes left in the second quarter. Those three plays, runs by Walker for 13 and 5 yards sandwiched around Smith’s 11-yard pass to Jake Bobo, got Seattle into the red zone.
That drive ended with Jason Myers kicking one of his five field goals Sunday, to tie the game at 9 into the third quarter.
The Seahawks want to get Smith into no-huddle in the middle of games more often. They need to sustain drives with more first downs to do that. Going no huddle on three-and-out drives means your defense is back on the field about 30 seconds of game time after coming off it.
“He’s really good at it,” Carroll said of Smith in up-tempo mode. “He’s really well-equipped. There’s a big tool box there (from him). There are a lot of things that we can call and he can adjust. He’s totally in command of it.
“So it’s a really good part of our game, when it matches up right. We go in and out of it, and try to get the most out of it. But there’s no restrictions.”
Going no-huddle in the middle of drives and quarters allows Smith to get his offense to the line in time to see the defense while Waldron tells him in his helmet speaker what to look for or where might be best to go with the ball. NFL rules allow headset communications from the play caller to the quarterback until 15 seconds remain on the play clock between snaps.
“Protection-wise versus pressures, the whole thing, he’s got the whole thing shooting match that he can call on,” Carroll said of Smith in no-huddle.
The running game was the reason Carroll chose not to have Myers try a 57-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter of a 16-12 game. On fourth and 1 from the Washington 36, out of shotgun formation, Charbonnet cut behind a bulldozing block by 41-year-old right tackle Jason Peters for 7 yards and another first down.
Peters, playing more than twice more than starter Stone Forsythe Sunday, took out Washington’s Efe Obada then linebacker Jamin Davis to spring Charbonnet for that first down.
“The line protected their tails off, they blocked,” tight end Will Dissly said. “You can see some explosive runs. You can see them wearing down in the second half. A lot of those 3-, 4-yard plays turned in to 6-, 7-yard plays.
“I think we had a whole drive where I don’t know if we threw a pass. It was fun. It was a fun game, good team win.”
Jason Peters at right tackle
Peters played 56 of the 81 snaps at right tackle, his most of the three games he’s played for Seattle. That was after Forsythe started and played the first two drives.
Carroll said Peters was blocking so well he and line coach Andy Dickerson decided to leave Philadelphia’s former All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowl tackle in Sunday’s game.
“It was obviously his best play for us, and that’s why we left him in,” Carroll said. “We had planned to split the time. We liked the way he was going so we just kind of left him out there.
“There was some concern about how his endurance would be, staying out there, because he hadn’t played a lot in the last couple of weeks. ...
“He came through in a big fashion.”
Peters may stay there against the Rams Sunday.
Starter Abe Lucas is scheduled to return Wednesday to practice for the first time since he went on injured reserve Sept. 13. Coaches and trainers want to see how Lucas’ previously injured knee responds to his first practices in two months before they assess whether he can play in Los Angeles.
The Seahawks have to add Peters to the active roster this week or give him a chance at free agency. That’s because he’s been on the practice squad and has had the league maximum three elevations to game-day rosters.
It seems certain Seattle will sign Peters to the active roster.
