{"id":17065,"date":"2016-10-21T08:03:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T15:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/sewhawks-run-game-lagging-behind-standard\/"},"modified":"2016-10-21T08:03:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T15:03:40","slug":"sewhawks-run-game-lagging-behind-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/sewhawks-run-game-lagging-behind-standard\/","title":{"rendered":"Sewhawks’ run game lagging behind standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. <\/strong>\u2014 The standard in Seattle has been that the Seahawks are going to be among the better teams in the NFL at running the football.<\/p>\n

Except this year. And it\u2019s not as simple as Marshawn Lynch no longer being around.<\/p>\n

Going into Sunday\u2019s game against division rival Arizona, the Seahawks are near the bottom of the league in a number of rushing categories. Seattle is 25th in the league averaging just 88.8 yards per game and 30th in yards per attempt at just 3.2.<\/p>\n

They are very un-Seahawks-like numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re OK. We just need more emphasis added, we just need more turns,\u201d coach Pete Carroll said. \u201cWe need to run it more. We just need more numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are a number of reasons that Seattle\u2019s run game is off this season, from a revamped offensive line to presumptive starting running back Thomas Rawls being limited in the season opener then suffering a hairline fibula fracture in Week 2. He won\u2019t be back for a few more weeks. Christine Michael is Seattle\u2019s leading rusher with 354 yards, but 106 of those yards came against San Francisco in Week 3.<\/p>\n

The biggest culprit in derailing the run game could be Russell Wilson. Or, more specifically, a combination of the ankle and knee injuries that have slowed Wilson early in the season.<\/p>\n

Through five games, Wilson has just 35 yards rushing and no run longer than 9 yards.<\/p>\n

Compare that with the first five games of previous years and it\u2019s clear what\u2019s lacking. Through five games last year, Wilson had 198 yards rushing. In 2014, it was 221 yards on the ground. And in 2013, Wilson had 233 yards rushing.<\/p>\n

The running threat usually posed by Wilson simply has not been there this season and the trickle-down is affecting the rest of Seattle\u2019s run game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different run game that we\u2019re using right now,\u201d offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said. \u201cIt\u2019s still a part of us, it\u2019s still something that we\u2019ve always had, just the zone read part of it is not been used as much as we\u2019ve gone to other styles of runs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the Seahawks are struggling to find consistency with that different style. Seattle has 140 rushes in five games and only 11 have gone for 10 yards or more; the Seahawks have 34 rushes for no gain or negative yardage. The revamped offensive line has shown flashes of being the bullying unit offensive line coach Tom Cable wants, but also moments where simple blocks aren\u2019t being made.<\/p>\n

\u201cHitting combinations. Putting your helmet where it needs to be based on the run call, consistently. Because we\u2019re doing it a bunch,\u201d Cable said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing some nice things in terms of being on the same page, staying on schedule, meaning the down and the distance. But you certainly would like to have more consistency when you run the football.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say everything has gone wrong up front for Seattle. The Seahawks have been surprisingly good at protecting Wilson, allowing just 10 sacks in the first five games. Compare that with a year ago, when Seattle allowed 22 sacks in the first five weeks.<\/p>\n

The Seahawks are also getting enough production from that passing game, which is helping to make up for the lack of a ground attack.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the way this team wants to achieve its offensive success.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d like to get them both. That\u2019s really what we\u2019re chasing here, is to find that balance,\u201d Cable said. \u201cI think that makes us really dangerous and more explosive. Explosive play has been OK, but I think that\u2019s the one element that would then tie the whole thing together. I think we would be pretty tough then.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. \u2014 The standard in Seattle has been that the Seahawks are going to be among the better teams in the NFL at running the football. Except this year. And it\u2019s not as simple as Marshawn Lynch no longer being around. Going into Sunday\u2019s game against division rival Arizona, the Seahawks are near the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17065"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}