Kenneth Walker hurt, iffy for New England. Ryan Grubb still likely to have Seahawks run
Kenneth Walker said he was fine.
He always says that.
“I’m good. Hell, yeah,” the Seahawks’ lead running back said Sunday.
That was after his seventh career 100-yard rushing day ended about two drives before the Seahawks’ season-opening, 26-20 victory over the Denver Broncos did. Walker left the game in the fourth quarter after 20 carries for 103 yards, 84 halftime. The team said he had abdominal pain.
Wednesday, Walker was not good. He missed practice. The team refined his injury as one to his oblique.
The third year running back is iffy to play Sunday when the Seahawks (1-0) travel to Foxborough, Massachusetts, to meet the New England Patriots (1-0) (10 a.m., channel 13).
Walker had an oblique injury last November. He left a game at the Los Angeles Rams after seven snaps on offense. Seattle lost by one point.
He then missed the next two games. When he returned, nearly a month later, he rushed eight times for just 21 yards at San Francisco.
The Seahawks lost all four games after Walker’s last oblique injury.
Is this one as bad?
Walker, starting right tackle George Fant and key outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu missed practice Wednesday.
“We’ll see how those guys play out,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “’Chenna will be out this week.
“But the rest of the guys coming out after the last game, we’ll take it day by day with reports.”
Ryan Grubb will still run it
If Walker cannot play, Zach Charbonnet will replace him as Seattle’s lead runner in New England. Charbonnet closed the opening-game win for Walker against Denver.
Charbonnet called Walker “electric” after the win over the Broncos.
“Kenneth is a playmaker, and that’s what he did,” Charbonnet said. “He brought sparks to the offense in the second half.”
The Seahawks’ second-round pick from UCLA last year, Charbonnet started the two games Walker missed with his previous oblique injury last November. Last weekend Charbonnet caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Smith in the second half to put Seattle ahead of Denver by two scores.
Kenny McIntosh would become the second back if Walker is out. The seventh-round pick from Georgia last year played mostly on special teams as a rookie. The team would likely elevate undrafted rookie George Holani from Boise State from the practice squad to be the third running back if Walker is out.
Even if Walker can’t play, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb is likely to run the ball against New England.
Ryan Grubb’s roots
Quarterback Geno Smith, Macdonald and other Seahawks praised Grubb for sticking with the run last weekend despite a dead-end first half in the play caller’s first NFL game. Walker had just 19 yards on seven carries in the first two quarters trying to run straight into the interior of Denver’s defensive line.
In the second half against the Broncos, Grubb had Walker running more laterally away from those interior defenders. More runs targeted the gaps next to the offensive tackles, further outside though not necessarily end-run sweeps.
Walker’s 23-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that gave Seattle its first lead was a trap-blocking play inside that the running back bounced outside around right end. The Seahawks didn’t trail again while scoring 17 unanswered points.
“Yeah, I thought Grubb did a tremendous job staying disciplined and with the run game,” Smith said. “Obviously, when you start out the way we started off the first quarter and the first half, you know, a lot of the coordinators would say, ‘Hey, let’s just pass it.’ I thought Grubb trusted the O-line.”
He should.
Grubb was the offensive line coach at Eastern Michigan from 2014-16 then at Fresno State from 2017-19. That was before he became Fresno’s offensive coordinator for coach Kalen DeBoer.
Grubb said his background in offensive-line coaching makes him a better play caller who understands the intricacies of run blocking and, thus, the essence of the running game.
“Yeah, I think it just helps you understand the communication between position groups and the opportunities that you have,” he said.
“I think that that’s the way you can see it from both sides, where you understand the complications and the stresses that an offensive line unit would have — but then also how to manipulate stacks and bunches and motions to try to help free up receivers for clean releases, vision help for a quarterback.
“I think all those things tie together. But from the O-line standpoint, not just glazing over the details of how important that group is.”
Grubb’s national reputation after two prolific, high-flying seasons calling the University of Washington’s plays before this one was that he just had Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. just chucking the ball 40 and 50 yards most plays. Penix had NFL-ready receivers such as Chicago Bears rookie top-10 pick Rome Odunze and Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie third-round choice Jalen McMillan. They got all the attention.
But Grubb’s deep-strike offense was based upon the powerful rushing of 1,200-yard back Dillon Johnson at UW. That run game set up the Huskies’ play-action and deep passing game. It made college defenses have to play Penix’s passes honestly, while weary of the running game.
When Johnson was injured and unable to run the same early in the national championship in January, Michigan teed off on Penix with its pass rush. The Wolverines were one of the only defenses in two years to throttle Penix and the Huskies, and won the national title.
“I think we all saw U-Dub play last year...and so many of us get so caught up in ‘Man, they were able to throw the ball. They threw the ball 40 or 50 times.’” Seahawks’ 10th-year wide receiver Tyler Lockett said. “But I think it’s incredible that you even have a running back that rushed for 1,000 yards while doing that.
“It’s very creative the way that Grubb is. With the little amount of time that I’ve been around him, he’s super sophisticated, and I think he sees the game a lot differently than how I’ve kind of seen it in the past.”
Wide receiver DK Metcalf said one of the first things Grubb said in his first meeting with his new Seahawks this spring was this offense is going run — then pass.
“The first offensive meeting that we had, Ryan Grubb said, ‘All right guys, I know we have explosive players, but we’re going to run the ball.’” Metcalf said.
“So, I kind of got mad really quick.”
Metcalf was joking. Kind of.
“But, you know, I think the foundation of running the ball first is going to open up everything else for me, Jax (Jaxon Smith-Njigba), Lock, Noah (Fant), everybody else in the receiver room and the tight-end room,” Metcalf said.
Was that really the first thing Grubb said to the team?
“Yeah,” Metcalf said. “Well, he was happy to be here. Then he said we’re going to run the ball.
“Our run game, we’re going to run the ball downhill and make the defense stop our run first. And then, you know, after that it’s pretty much dealer’s choice with how we want to take the game from there. We can continue to run the ball or push the ball down the field or get singled up on the outside and exploit the corners.
“So, I think it all just starts with the run game and building a foundation from there.”
With, and even without, Walker.
This story was originally published September 12, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
