Big Ray explains why the Seahawks’ run game is stuck

It’s tough for anybody to put a smile on their face when talking about the Seattle Seahawks’ running game, but former NFL offensive lineman Ray Roberts managed to do so during a conversation Tuesday with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

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The Hawks managed just 84 yards on the ground in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets, fewer than their 88.7 rushing yards per game that ranks fifth-worst in the league. So with five games remaining, host Bob Stelton wondered if it is time to accept this is who the Seahawks are, and with those limitations being known if it means it is on the coaches to call the plays accordingly regardless of how it looks. For Roberts, who was ready with a colorful analogy, the answers aren’t that simple.

“I think of it more like when I get asked to come to events and I’ve got to dress up, and I go to my closet and I put on a sport coat and a shirt and a tie and pants and shoes and socks and none of it matches,” said Roberts, who played nine NFL seasons and is now a Seahawks Radio Network analyst. “And it’s not the jacket’s fault, and it’s not the pants’ fault, and it’s not the socks’ fault or the shoes’ fault. It just is what it is. Like, I’m gonna walk in and ‘Who put this dude out in public like that?’ And that’s what I think of when you look for why this running game isn’t working.”

The visual prompted the smiles and provided a reminder that the running game is a sum of its parts. Each part important on its own but needing to work with the other parts to be complete.

The first focus for Roberts? The O-line.

“When I watch the offensive line play, I don’t see them executing the little things that they practice,” he said. “The footwork, the pad level, the hand placement and the finish. You don’t see that in the games, and so that is either like a lack of trust in the techniques or just being lazy in the techniques. Or you go, ‘Man, I don’t know it. I can’t execute it that well. So I’m gonna go back to what I’m comfortable doing,’ which can be something that doesn’t help the play.”

Roberts pointed to a number of examples he saw in the Seahawks’ win over the Jets where proper blocking technique could have opened lanes or made things more difficult on the defense.

“It’s little things like that where I saw them practicing these little things all through training camp – it just hasn’t translated from the practice field to the game, and that matters a lot. Those little things have to happen before the big things happen,” he said.

As for play-calling, Roberts sees a work in progress that is trending in the right direction.

“I think they haven’t quite figured out what plays to call and what types of blocks to execute that work well with this offensive line,” he said. “I think the last few weeks they found a couple of things where they’ve had some good double teams, especially between (center Olu Oluwatimi and right guard Anthony) Bradford before he went out, and then Olu and Sataoa Laumea this week. Also ‘Big Charles’ (Cross) and (Laken) Tomlinson had a couple of good double teams on the left side, so they they found some things that they can that can work with. Now they have to figure out how to dress that up so they can keep doing that.”

It is not all O-line, however. The running backs factor into the puzzle as well.

“You want to have this physical, powerful running game, but you have a scatback,” said Roberts, referring to third-year running back Kenneth Walker III. “You have a guy that wants to cut things back and make people miss and and make big plays, which is all great. Love that he can do that, but it doesn’t quite mesh with how they want to run the football.”

Against the Jets, Walker was stuffed from the 1-yard line on third down in a drive that ended with the Seahawks turning the ball over on downs.

“If he had followed the fullback in, he would have scored the touchdown. But his first instinct was to cut it back, so he hesitated, took a step to his left and then tried to go back to his right, and then the backside pursuit caught him and they tackled him in the backfield.”

There is a lot to address, but with that comes a lot of opportunity for improvement at a time in the season where improvement will have the most impact.

“It’s a lot of little things,” Roberts said, “like my coat and my shirt and my tie and my socks and my pants and my shoes. They’re just not all matching up, and so I think in order for them to have some type of progress down the stretch here, they have to find more of those things that match up. It may not be everything, but man, those pants better match the socks, or the shirt better match the top, you know? I’m saying, like, find something.”

Hear the full Wyman and Bob conversation with Seahawks Radio Network analyst Ray Roberts in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Wyman and Bob from 2-7 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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