At some point, you’d expect the coach whose reputation was built on his defensive acumen to solve — or at the very least, moderately mitigate — this running-game wreck.
Over the span of four games, you’d hope that the man who oversaw one of the stingiest defenses in a generation could stop — or at the least slow — opponents from grinding him up on the ground.
But from what we’ve seen the past few weeks, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is as stumped as his team is stagnant. There are simply no answers as to how Seattle is going to stop opponents from running right through its front seven, and as a result, no sign it’s going stop anytime soon.
“I gotta do more. I gotta do better. I gotta help our defense better, and I’m really disappointed,” Carroll said after Sunday’s 30-24 loss to the Panthers, who rushed for 223 yards on 46 carries. “I’ve been looking at the [Panthers’] running game for a long time, and there [were] no new plays. This was the same stuff, and we just have to do it better.”
Sunday marked the fourth consecutive game in which the Seahawks run defense was practically nonexistent, and the third time during that stretch in which Seattle lost. The anguish began in Week 10 when the Bucs — the least-productive running team in the NFL — compiled 161 yards on the ground in a five-point win in Germany. One game later, Seattle surrendered 283 rushing yards on 40 carries to the now 5-8 Raiders, who beat the Seahawks 40-34 in overtime.
One game later, a depleted Rams team dependent on the run racked up 171 yards on the ground, forcing Seattle quarterback Geno Smith to engineer a last-minute touchdown drive to win the game and perhaps save the season. And then there was Sunday, when a Carolina squad, now 5-8, treated the Seahawks like finish-line tape — running through it with no resistance whatsoever.
That’s 838 rushing yards allowed in four games — good for a 209.5-yard average. Houston, which has the worst rushing defense in the league, allows 165.8 rushing yards per game. The Seahawks (7-6), meanwhile, are 31st in the NFL in running yards allowed per game (160.5) and seem poised to take over the bottom spot.
Unless, of course, Carroll can come up with a response. But lately, the quality of his responses have been on par with those of a Celebrity Jeopardy! contestant.
“At this point, every team knows that that’s our weakness. So they’re going to stay committed to the run,” Seahawks middle linebacker Jordyn Brooks said Sunday. “These coaches, they watch film, they see that, ‘You know what? As long as we stay committed to it [the run], they’ll break.’ I’m talking about us. So they stay committed to it during the whole game. … They’re not throwing the ball a lot. They’re going to keep running the ball.”
One could argue that Seattle’s offense is equally inept in the running department, and that doesn’t fall as much on the more defensive-minded Carroll. Sure. But there’s a semblance of an excuse there. The Seahawks have been without running back Rashaad Penny — who was averaging 6.1 yards per carry before damaging his ankle in Week 5 — and didn’t have Kenneth Walker III or DeeJay Dallas on Sunday, who both suffered injuries the previous week.
One could also argue that the Seahawks are simply lacking the defensive personnel — especially up front — which analyst and former Seahawks quarterback Brock Huard suggested Sunday afternoon.
“Watching an NFL team unable to stop the run is like watching an MLB team unable to hit. Effort is the immediate/easy answer to scream, but the reality is talent and skill are often what’s missing,” Huard tweeted. “Many of these Seahawk front seven defenders are fringe NFL players and that’s come to light.”
That might be (probably is?) the case. It still puts the onus on Carroll, though. First, he is the man ultimately in charge of putting this roster together, even if Seattle general manager John Schneider runs most of the day-to-day executive operations. And second, Carroll is tasked with molding mediocrity into something formidable. He did that for a four-week stretch earlier in the season, when Seattle allowed 99.2 rushing yards per game vs. the Cardinals (two meetings), Giants and Chargers — all of which resulted in victories.
Most Seahawks fans would have taken a 7-6 record through the first 13 games if you offered them that deal before the season began. Most 12s would have taken Seattle being a half-game out of the final NFC playoff spot at this point, too.
But early Seahawks success whet the die-hards’ appetites, and now they want answers. Carroll is the one who’s supposed to provide those. He hasn’t. Not with the ground-game defense, at least.
Opponents have been running all over the Seahawks, and their postseason chances are running away.
