Getty Head coach Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks suffered another crushing loss.
The 2022 season for the Seattle Seahawks has quickly turned from dream scenario to nightmare.
After starting the campaign 6-3, the Seahawks have lost three of their last four games to teams currently with losing records. With four weeks remaining, Seattle now sits outside the final wild card spot in the NFC.
It’s not hard to figure out what’s been troubling the Seahawks over the last month. Seattle’s defense has allowed 209.5 rushing yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry in the last four games.
After yet another disappointing outing against the Carolina Panthers, which saw the Seahawks yield 223 yards on the ground, veteran defenders lamented their frustrations about their lack of ability to stop the run.
“That’s our kryptonite right now,” Seattle safety Quandre Diggs told the media. “Until we stop that, teams are going to continue to do it.”
“It was super frustrating. F—ing unbelievable,” fellow Seahawks safety Neal said when talking about not being able to stop Carolina’s ground attack on its final touchdown drive. “It makes you sick in the stomach. Stuff like that, I’m not going to sleep on that tonight, because that just irritates my soul.”
Seahawks Struggling to Stop Run
Carolina has experienced one of the worst quarterback carousels in the league this season, but that didn’t matter at Lumen Field in Week 14.
That’s because Carolina recorded 46 rushing attempts versus only 24 passes. The Panthers stuck to their ground attack because they averaged 4.8 yards per carry on their way to 223 rushing yards. Carolina was Seattle’s second opponent in three weeks to record 200 yards on the ground.
“They ran the same play over and over and over again,” Diggs said. “At some point, you’ve just got to take a stand and know, ‘I’m a go take my shot right here.’ That’s what it’s got to be. It’s tough to see. It’s not that guys don’t want to; we’ve just got to do it consistently.”
The Panthers are ranked No. 13 in the league in rushing yards per game. But the Seahawks have struggled against even bad running teams recently.
The Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are ranked 30th and last in rushing yards per game this season. Yet, both recorded at least 160 rushing yards versus the Seahawks.
Seattle’s run defense has made a huge difference in the results of games this season. When the Seahawks have allowed under 150 rushing yards, they are 6-0. But in games where the Seahawks have yielded more than 150 rushing yards, they are 1-6.
During Weeks 7 and 8, Seattle held its two opponents to 3.0 yards per carry. After struggling early in run defense, the Seahawks appeared to turn the corner with those two performance.
But with the unit now getting worse in run defense over the last month, those two weeks are clearly looking like an aberration.
Seattle’s Playoff Hopes After Week 14 Loss
At the midway point of the season, the Seahawks were sitting pretty at a surprising 6-3 and in first place of the NFC West. But thanks in large part to the run defense falling apart, Seattle has fallen to 7-6.
Losing at home to non-playoff teams such as the Panthers and Las Vegas Raiders makes the recent losses feel even worse.
Those defeats mean the Seahawks will enter Week 15 in eighth place of the NFC. A much tougher schedule also waits Seattle to end the season.
First, the Seahawks will face the San Francisco 49ers, who are ninth in the NFL in rushing and ran for 189 yards in the teams’ first meeting this season.
Seattle will also have a short week to fix its run defense. The Seahawks-49ers matchup will be on Thursday, December 15.