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Film Breakdown: Seahawks Bully Vikings with Zone-Heavy Rushing Attack

With the offensive line dominating in the trenches and the duo of Rashaad Penny and Chris Carson clicking on all cylinders, Seattle racked up 218 rushing yards against Minnesota. How’d they do it?

Since arriving as head coach in 2010, Pete Carroll has always emphasized running the football as part of the Seahawks' offensive attack.

While the approach has drawn plenty of fire from critics over the years, including when Seattle failed to make adjustments against Dallas in the playoffs last January, there’s no denying his philosophy has yielded outstanding results on the field.

After reviving their run game last year, the Seahawks remain one of the NFL’s best rushing teams in 2019, ranking third in the league averaging 143 rushing yards per game.

Enjoying its finest performance of the season thus far, Seattle showed it can still ground and pound even the stoutest of opponents into submission during a 37-30 win over Minnesota. Facing the league's fourth-best run defense, the Seahawks churned out 218 rushing yards and picked up 16 first downs via the run, winning in the trenches throughout the evening.

Eclipsing 100 yards for the fifth time this year behind a physical offensive line that imposed its will on the opposition, Chris Carson led the way for the Seahawks with 102 rushing yards, while Rashaad Penny ran for 74 and rookie Travis Homer scooted 29 yards on a fake punt in the fourth quarter.

"It was a special night," quarterback Russell Wilson said after the game. "I think the offensive line did a tremendous job. They were so physical all night. We were able to run the ball extremely well. They kept playing two high shell, just super deep. They didn’t want any shots thrown on them. So we said, okay, and we’ll just run it and do what we do really well."

How did the Seahawks do it? Check out my latest film breakdown as I revisit some of Seattle’s best runs from Monday Night Football.