Macdonald addresses the state of Seahawks’ struggling run game

Nov 25, 2024, 1:18 PM

Seattle Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III...

Kenneth Walker III of the Seattle Seahawks runs the ball during a 2024 game. (Rio Giancarlo/Getty Images)

(Rio Giancarlo/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Seahawks are coming off their best defensive performance of the season, but the same can’t be said for the offensive side of the ball.

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The offense was unable to get much going in Sunday’s 16-6 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The unit put together just two scoring drives, turned the ball over in the red zone late with a chance to put the game away and once again found little success running the football.

It was enough to win on Sunday thanks to the defense’s performance, which included a game-changing pick-six in the third quarter that gave the Seahawks a two-score lead.

During his weekly appearance with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, head coach Mike Macdonald addressed the team’s offensive performance and the overall state of its struggling run game.

“Right now it’s winning football. I mean, we won the game the way we played,” Macdonald said. “… The low-hanging fruit is like, ‘Hey, we threw the pick in the red zone, there’s a couple penalties that got us behind the sticks, the ball was in jeopardy a few times (and) we didn’t get the explosives that we’re looking at getting.'”

The Seahawks were able to move the ball through the air with some consistency on Sunday. Quarterback Geno Smith completed 22 of 31 passes for 254 yards, but the rushing attack mustered just 65 yards on 2.6 yards per carry.

It was the fourth time in 11 games this season that Seattle was held under 70 rushing yards and third time in the past six games. After the performance, the team ranks 28th in both yards per game (89.1) and yards per carry (3.9).

Sunday’s matchup was good opportunity for the run game to get on track. The Cardinals entered the game 19th in opponents’ rushing yards (127.5 per game) and 21st in opponents’ yards per carry (4.5). However, it was an all-too-familiar story with Seahawks running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet having to scratch and claw for every yard while oftentimes drawing first contact behind the line of scrimmage.

But Macdonald has faith things are heading in the right direction.

“I think our run game is still making strides,” he said. “… I think we kind of know who we are in the run game and the complements off of it. We just got to keep hammering away. It’s going to come to life. I mean, there’s some really cool stuff on tape. I really believe that, and so I’m excited about were we’re going.”

Offense’s turn to turn around

The Seahawks had a similar problem earlier this season with their defense. After strong showings against less-than-stellar competition through the first three weeks, they took their lumps against improved competition and struggled defensively during much of a 1-5 stretch.

However, Seattle made some key additions (and subtractions) on the defensive side, stayed the course and has strung together three good showings in a row.

“There’s some things we gotta clean up,” Macdonald said of the offense. “… It’s very similar conversations we had when we felt like we were falling short on defense of, ‘Hey, we just gotta keep working through these things, keep focusing on the right things.’ … You want to be targeted with this stuff rather than just these blank-slate changes and all this stuff.

“Just keep moving and shifting and veering towards where you want it to be and eventually we’re going to get to where we want to go. That’s just what we believe in, so we’re gonna keep doing it.”

Some criticism has gone the way of first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Although his system was known more for its passing, he led one of the nation’s best offenses during his two years with the UW Huskies, but he hadn’t coached at the NFL level before this season. He also doesn’t have the same luxuries he had on Montlake, which included the nation’s best offensive line.

Macdonald doesn’t believe the transition has been too much for his play caller.

“I think it’s just … the whole staff is a first-year staff,” Macdonald said. “… There’s maybe four or five of us that have worked together with some sort of connection at some point. So there’s all these little connecting-dot points that you got to make throughout the year and (you have to) go through all these situations so you can be on the same page about all the things.

“It’s not an excuse … but you got to get through that type of stuff, and I think that’s what our staff is doing, that’s what our football team is doing.”

Macdonald also pointed out that the run game coming together later than other aspects of the team is somewhat expected due to the combination of the new coaching staff and limits to what teams can do physically during practices in the offseason.

“It’s not easy to kind of ID the run game in the spring because it’s more of like a passing thing, so we’re just kind of later in the process of finding our stride here in the run game, but it’s better late than never,” he said. “I think we’re on our way.”

Mike Macdonald joins Brock and Salk om Monday’s after Seahawks games at 9:30 a.m. for The Mike Macdonald Show. Listen to the full conversation at this link or watch the video in this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.