The Seahawks spent most of the season expressing their desire to jump start their rushing attack only for it to seem like an afterthought in their first two games against the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears.
Seattle gave the ball to running backs on just 14 of 55 offensive plays against the Broncos and on just 19 of 64 plays against the Bears. Chris Carson is averaging 5.8 yards per carry but has received just 13 carries through two games for the Seahawks.
Head coach Pete Carroll blamed himself and his impatience for the team getting away from the run during the first two weeks.
“My impatience a little bit, you know, figuring that we should be on the board more than we had and just got to throw the ball up more than I want to. I’m over that,” Carroll said on Wednesday. “Both games were so close throughout. We were close enough we could have done whatever we wanted to all the way down to the end of it. I just got a little bit impatient, threw the ball a bit more than we needed to, and so you look back and that’s with limited opportunities because we weren’t converting. It just kind of works together.
“I’m just owning up, but that’s what I would say is the issue with that. I need to be a little less impatient. I’m a little bit, tend to be that way, you know?”
Carroll has said after the game that the reason Carson had gotten just six carries - and none in the final 41 minutes of the game - was because Carson had gotten “gassed” with some additional reps on special teams units. However, he said on Wednesday that he misread the situation seeing that Carson had only played 19 plays in total, including special teams, against the Bears.
“I screwed up,” Carroll said. “I thought he looked like he was winded early in the game, so I was just concerned about him, and I thought it was because of the special teams because he hadn’t had a lot of plays yet. I talked to him. He didn’t think he was winded when I talked to him afterwards.... That was just a thought, but he played all the way through the third quarter.
Carroll was quick to say that nothing has changed with their depth chart and Carson is still the lead back at this point.
“We’re just trying to keep the guy fresh is what it amounts to, and he played it really well. He did a nice job running the football when he had his chances We need more,” Carroll said.