Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald had a clear view of the team’s recent struggles: Seattle needs to run the ball more. “I mean, everybody knows that,” Macdonald said.
The Seahawks have lost two games in a row after starting the season 3-0. They will face the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night at Seattle’s Lumen Field in an NFC West matchup.
While the Seahawks have relied on veteran quarterback Geno Smith, who has thrown for the most yards in the NFL with 1,466 yards in five games, they have also recorded the fewest rushing attempts in the league, averaging only 21 per game.
In their recent 29-20 loss to the New York Giants, Kenneth Walker III had just five carries. As a team, the Seahawks managed only 102 rushing yards, with Smith accounting for most of that.
“Obviously, it’s always important to be balanced and to take advantage of all the weaknesses in the defense. Our running game has got to be the defining factor for our offense.
I think as we go along throughout the season, the pass (and) run numbers tend to balance up. But, we definitely want to run the ball,” Smith said.
Walker, who rushed for 1,050 yards last season, has had 37 carries this year for 202 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. However, he has missed some time this season due to an oblique injury.
“Got to get the ball to (Walker) more,” offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said, reflecting on the loss to the Giants. “I think we had plenty of run game in the plan, didn’t have anything to do with not having enough calls for that, just didn’t get called.
And for us, we leaned on the wrong thing. And I think if we get Ken 10 more touches, 15 more touches, things are going to look different.”
Before losing to the Giants, the Seahawks played a Monday night game against the Detroit Lions, where they lost 42-29, making Thursday’s game against the Niners their third in just 11 days.
Seattle has lost five straight games to San Francisco, including a playoff game. This is the longest losing streak the Seahawks have ever had against the Niners.
San Francisco is also facing its own challenges in the run game, particularly in the red zone, while waiting for the return of Christian McCaffrey after their recent 24-23 loss to the Cardinals.
“The circumstance is what it is. We’re 2-3 going into a Thursday night game against a divisional rival, primetime, with the stakes of being No. 1 in the division,” 49ers linebacker Fred Warner said. “If I have to give some sort of grandiose speech to get you ready for this moment, we probably don’t have the right guys.”
