Despite Recent Slump, Pete Carroll Confident Seahawks Can 'Make a Move' Towards Playoffs
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Mired in a lengthy slump that has dropped them to the .500 mark after a surprising 6-3 start and knocked them out of the playoff picture, there aren't many positives to glean in regard to the current situation for the Seahawks.
Following up a four-game winning streak in October and November that pushed Seattle to the top of the NFC West, coach Pete Carroll's squad hasn't been able to get back on track since losing a 21-16 contest in Munich to Tampa Bay in Week 10. Over the past month, the team has only won one of its previous four games, including losing three straight home games to fall out of one of the final wild card spots with three weeks left to play.
At the core of the team's recent struggles, the Seahawks have been abysmal defending the run, allowing over 200 yards on the ground per game dating back to the loss against the Buccaneers. The run game issues haven't been limited to defense either, as backfield injuries and inconsistent offensive line play have led to a one-dimensional offense averaging under 65 rushing yards per game and a dismal 3.6 yards per carry in that stretch.
On top of the lackluster play, injuries have started to take a toll as well, as Seattle lost receiver Tyler Lockett to a broken bone in his left hand and defensive tackle Bryan Mone to a torn ACL in Thursday's loss.
But while Carroll's mounting frustrations have become more and more evident as the losses and injuries have piled up, the typically upbeat, gum-chewing optimist saw some positive signs the Seahawks were potentially ready to come out of their recent tumble in Thursday's latest defeat. With their backs against the wall and a trio of tough opponents left on the schedule, he still believes his team has the players to finish strong and make a run to sneak into the postseason.
“I think we do have a chance in these last three games here of the regular season to make a little bit of a move," Carroll told reporters on Friday heading into a mini bye. "We had a wave in the middle of the year where we really improved and then we kind of dipped. The consistency has not been there, but the things that we did and the way we play showed us that we are more on track than we have been. It’s exciting for me to think we can make another push here to finish the season.”
With just one win since November 6, Carroll's relentless positivity may seem misguided given how poorly the Seahawks have played for more than a month. Making matters worse, with the exception of Thursday's 21-13 defeat, his team hasn't exactly lost to juggernauts either. Three of those losses came to teams with records under .500, including the 3-7 Raiders and 4-8 Panthers on their home turf.
Quality teams can be excused for slipping up once against an inferior opponent. Last season, Buffalo lost at home to a lowly Jacksonville squad that wound up picking first overall for a second straight NFL draft. But Seattle has looked like anything but a playoff team with those two losses as well as an earlier home loss to Atlanta, who now has a 5-9 record. That track record suggests they are closer to being in contention for a top five pick than a Super Bowl despite their surprising success earlier in the season.
However, examining his remarks on Friday, Carroll may be onto something beyond simply grasping for straws trying to find a way to positively support his team entering the final stretch run. Even in defeat, there were signs of progress, particularly on defense against a dominant 49ers run game.
After getting gashed by the Panthers to a tune of 223 rushing yards only five days earlier, the Seahawks held star running back Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers to just 54 rushing yards in the first half. Prior to allowing a 55-yard breakaway run to rookie Jordan Mason in the final minute that made final numbers look far worse, the opposition was averaging under four yards per carry and the run defense had been dramatically better than the previous four games.
Though Mason's explosive run to close out the game illustrated Seattle still has room to improve, Carroll was understandably encouraged by what he saw with better execution of run fits and tackling at all three levels of the defense. But with Smith and the offense struggling to find traction against the NFL's No. 1 scoring defense, the few mistakes they did make were magnified and proved costly.
"We played a lot better on defense against a team that we had a lot of respect for their running ability," Carroll explained. "We felt like we had a pretty good command of that. They had a couple of plays, but they were going to have some. There were just some misplayed moments in there that it was all that it took in this game. This game, if this was the game that we’re going to win, it was probably going to be 13-10 or something like that. We needed to keep the score like that, but unfortunately, they had a couple of easy ones.”
As for Seattle's dormant rushing attack, while results aren't anywhere close to what he expects from his team on game day, Carroll saw progression on that front as well. With rookie running back Ken Walker III back in the lineup after sitting out a game with a jammed ankle, the team rushed 14 times for 70 yards, the highest total San Francisco had allowed in a game since Week 7.
This number was inflated to an extent by an 18-yard scramble by Smith, but Walker still flashed his dynamic playmaking ability out of the backfield. Early in the fourth quarter, he took a handoff and bounced out to his right, turning on the jets to out run an oncoming defender to the sideline and rocketing upfield for a 15-yard gain. Later in the quarter, he played a key role in the Seahawks only touchdown drive, catching a check down from Smith and racing 33 yards into the red zone, setting up a scoring toss to Noah Fant.
Swarmed by the 49ers suffocating defense all night, Walker had four rushes that went for a yard or less, including being stuffed in the backfield for a loss twice. An illustration of the chronic inconsistency hindering their run game, these negative plays have put the Seahawks behind schedule far too often, a development that has irked Carroll for weeks.
With a home run threat like Walker back healthy, as evidenced on a few flashy plays against a dominant San Francisco defense, Carroll remains hopeful Seattle will rediscover its identity with a more balanced attack and be able to lean a bit more on the run game to support Smith down the stretch.
"It just hasn’t happened for us. We haven’t been able to find the rhythm of it, and we’ve lost at the line of scrimmage at times in games, and probably got knocked off course in the plan, and how we like to go with it," Carroll elaborated. "We just need to stay with it more. Shane (Waldron) and I keep talking about it. We have to stay with it and just keep pounding away and the plays will happen. Threes and fours need to be okay because you know you are going to bust something. In particular with Ken [Walker III], the ball is going to break out and you just have to keep pounding until it happens.”
Down to the final three weeks of the season, the Seahawks will need a few breaks to fall their way to make the playoffs. Both the Giants and Commanders, who battled to a tie in their first NFC East divisional matchup, remain in front of them in the wild card standings. Meanwhile, the surging Lions have vaulted to 7-7 to enter the conversation as a possible postseason team. There's plenty of competition for two playoff spots.
But in the end, what New York, Washington, and Detroit do won't matter if Seattle can't take care of its own business. With a difficult road trip to Kansas City on tap and minimal margin for error, Carroll knows moral victories won't pave a road to the playoffs and whatever progress was made defending the run and running the rock on Thursday night must now translate to on-field wins to play beyond Week 18.
“There’s kind of a baseline that I have about that and it’s to try to be really consistent. Of course, we have an opportunity to be playing at the end of the year, but it means nothing unless we get after this game, and we need to nail this one and nail some games here to have a chance.”
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