Bump: Seahawks’ run game too ‘predictable’ in opening loss
Sep 8, 2025, 1:37 PM
After sporting one of the league’s worst rushing attacks last season, the Seattle Seahawks threw a lot of resources toward fixing their sputtering ground game.
‘Not the start that we wanted’ for Seahawks’ offense
They hired new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who brought a tried-and-true Shanahan-style scheme to the Pacific Northwest. They brought in veteran offensive line coach John Benton, who has decades of experiences molding and developing NFL O-lines.
They spent their first-round draft pick on left guard Grey Zabel. They even added a fullback, drafting fifth-round college tight end Robbie Ouzts to be the franchise’s first regular player at that position since 2016.
But in the debut of Seattle’s new-look offense on Sunday afternoon, the run game once again struggled to get untracked.
The Seahawks rushed for just 84 yards on 26 carries in their season-opening 17-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, averaging just 3.2 yards per attempt on the ground. That included just 67 yards on 22 carries from running backs Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker III, whose combined average was even lower at 3.0 yards per carry. Quarterback Sam Darnold had the longest run of day at 9 yards.
Why weren’t the Seahawks able to get their run game going against the 49ers? Former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus was posed that question Monday on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.
“Some of their runs were so predictable,” Bumpus said. “It was like, all right, we’re heavy right – Ouzts is to the right, we’ve got two tight ends to the right, we’re running the ball to the right side. Or we’ve got heavy left – Ouzts is to the left, two tight ends to the left, we’re running to the left side.
“So offensively, I’m looking at the way that the 49ers are playing against this Seahawks offense, and they can almost predict what’s gonna happen because of just the formation,” he added. “Yeah, you do your motions or whatnot. But nine out of 10 times, the Hawks are going to run the football to the strong side. (The 49ers) picked up on that, and that D-line did their thing.”
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