‘Fix This S***!’: Coach Pete Carroll, Seahawks Sound Off – With 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey Next

Throughout Weeks 7 and eight, the Seattle Seahawks restricted their opponents to 53 and 78 dashing yards, respectively. The 2-game stretch supplied vital hope that the crew’s run protection was enhancing … however at this level, it merely seems to be like an outlier of a season-long wrestle.

Within the six video games prior, Seattle allowed a minimum of 100 dashing yards to all of its opponents, with 5 cresting 140. And now, with 5 video games eliminated between them and that stout run, the Seahawks’ run protection has crumbled, giving up a minimum of 120 dashing yards in every contest, together with an astonishing 283 to the Las Vegas Raiders … and 223 to the Carolina Panthers in Sunday’s back-breaking dwelling defeat.

Time and time once more, when Seattle desperately wanted a cease on protection, Carolina broke by with a crushing run. Maybe much more regarding, the assault got here from quite a lot of sources, moderately than only one sizzling hand; Chuba Hubbard and D’Onta Foreman every had 74 yards apiece, whereas undrafted rookie Raheem Blackshear averaged eight yards per keep on his 4 touches.

It was an all-around dominant effort by the Panthers offensive line, one which Seahawks security Ryan Neal confused can’t occur once more.

“We’ve received to repair this s—,” Neal mentioned. “As a result of, you noticed what occurred, and
it’s been the identical factor the previous two weeks, and groups see it, and so they’re going to assault it, and so they’re
in all probability going to offer us the identical factor. In terms of stuff like that, all you are able to do is simply have a look at
the movie, and we’ve received to repair it. 

“It’s gotta get fastened. Level clean, interval.”

So, what can Seattle do to all of the sudden enhance its run protection in Week 15? Coach Pete Carroll immediately dominated out was effort, noting his crew is placing in all the work crucial. The identical is true for the sport plans being constructed all through the week, as Neal proclaimed the unit was “not one bit” stunned by something the Panthers did.

As an alternative, the foundation trigger is way deeper – and maybe tougher to repair.

“Our guys try,” Carroll started. “They’re working exhausting to get it accomplished. We
went by all the course of throughout the week to line it up, so we knew what they had been doing. We had been
not fooled by something as we speak. We had been on it. However it’s a must to play the road of scrimmage and get off the
blocks and play collectively. Everyone has to suit collectively. It is all the time about these suits. It wasn’t good
sufficient. It was simply plain outdated wasn’t adequate.”

Neal, who was Seattle’s second-leading tackler towards Carolina with 11, reiterated Carroll’s message, including that the largest points focus on scheme and tackling, with some coming from his teammates’ lack of physicality in run assist.

“It appears to be a mixture of all
of it, and that’s by no means factor,” Neal mentioned, bluntly. “Issues simply preserve coming out in locations the place they shouldn’t be
coming out. Guys received to make the hits. Guys received to get the ball service on the bottom and when it comes
to the again finish of the season, it turns into, ‘All proper, we’re going to out bodily you, and if you happen to’re not
going to cease it, we’re simply going to maintain doing that.’

“You see it throughout the league with groups that preserve
pounding the soccer, guys turning stuff down, or missed hits are taking place as a result of it’s late within the
season.”

One other key concern is that Carolina wasn’t precisely spicing up their runs; it was simply 46 punches proper into the guts of Seattle’s protection – and the unit merely failed “take a stand,” per security Quandre Diggs.

“They ran the
similar play time and again and over,” mentioned Diggs. “In some unspecified time in the future, it’s a must to take a stand and know that, ‘I’m going to
take my shot right here.’ That’s what it needs to be. Like I mentioned, it’s powerful to see. It’s not that guys don’t wish to,
we simply need to do it persistently.”

The consistency side, significantly when becoming the run, has been a typical level of dialogue from Carroll … and he is not alone. Veteran outdoors linebacker Bruce Irvin, who was part of a number of sturdy defenses throughout his earlier stint in Seattle, blended bits and items of each Diggs and Neal’s response, reaching the general conclusion that the crew might be in for an extended closing stretch except its run protection improves.

“Guys need to make tackles,” Irvin asserted. “After we match it
proper, guys aren’t making the tackles, and once we don’t match it proper, the ball will get by. It’s a
mixture of missed suits and guys not making tackles. Till we get this discovered, we’re going to
have 4 weeks of fellows pounding the ball on us.”

Now two video games again within the race for the NFC West crown, the Seahawks will welcome the division-leading San Francisco 49ers and their ninth-ranked dashing assault into city for a Thursday Evening Soccer showdown.

And whereas on paper, the short turnaround is not what Seattle wants because it searches for enhancements, the competition offers a direct alternative to make a press release … or succumb to the identical flaws which have the crew repeatedly of late.

“On the finish of the day, we’ve to repair this, and we’ve received to deliver it,” Neal mentioned. “We all know that, and
all people is aware of that. We received a crew coming in right here Thursday who likes to play like that, and we all know
that, so it’s received to get fastened. Level clean, interval.”

Seattle’s protection, with assist from Neal, Diggs and Irvin, will look to gradual San Francisco’s working assault – that includes Christian McCaffrey and extra – beginning at 5:15 Thursday evening inside Lumen Area.

You possibly can observe Daniel Flick on Twitter @DFlickDraft

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