Pete Carroll impressed with RB Chris Carson’s home debut: ‘I think we’ve got something here’

Oklahoma State running back Chris Carson was a draft favorite for Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who said in April he fell in love with Carson’s toughness. After amassing 100 yards of offense in his first home start with the Seahawks, the rookie running back may well have won over the hearts of fans, too.

Carson finished with 93 rushing yards on 20 carries, plus a catch for another seven yards, in Seattle’s 12-9 win over the 49ers Sunday. Five of those attempts picked up a first down for Seattle. With second-year back Thomas Rawls limited in his carries and veteran Eddie Lacy inactive, Carson got the bulk of the work – and it left the rookie exhausted by the fourth quarter.

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“There were a couple times I looked to the sideline just because I was tired,” Carson said postgame. “But Doug Baldwin’s always been in my head about being tougher, you know, staying in there. So once I looked over there, he was like, ‘No, stay in, finish this off,’ so that gave me a little bit more juice to try to finish it.”

Carson also credited the offensive line for creating space for him to run.

“The line did a great job. (I was) just trying to drop my feet and obviously (they) gave me good lanes to run through, so it made my job a lot easier.”

Carroll was impressed with Carson’s home debut, especially considering the rookie’s limited experience in college.

“Chris has really shown us nothing but positive stuff,” Carroll said. “There’s a style about the way he runs that you might recognize; high knees and… eating that ground up, and he’s really running downhill at you. And we’ve seen it for a long time and keep hoping to see it continue. I think we’ve got something. I think he’s a really good football player. I say that because he’s a good pass blocker, and he’s a good catcher and he’s a good route runner, and he can contribute on (special) teams too. That’s a lot of real positives for a first-time guy.

“Really, he has very little background: Junior college kid, didn’t play much as a junior, (and) I think he carried the ball 80-something times as a senior. So he has not had a lot of football behind him, but you would never know it. That’s not what we’re seeing and it’s not what we saw in the offseason and in finding him. I’m really fired up for him.”

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