Why the Seahawks’ run game is hitting its stride — just in time for the playoffs

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — There are some memories that Seattle Seahawks fans will forever hold dear when it comes to their team’s rivalry with the San Francisco 49ers.

Kam Chancellor’s bone-rattling hit on Vernon Davis in 2012. Richard Sherman’s end zone tip to seal the NFC Championship Game the following season. Sherman and Russell Wilson eating turkey legs on the 49ers’ logo at Levi’s Stadium after a Thanksgiving beatdown in 2014.

And now, Kenneth Walker III on third-and-really-long.

Walker’s improbable conversion in the third quarter Saturday night was among the key plays that helped the Seahawks claim the NFC West and the conference’s No. 1 seed. What will make that the indelible moment of their 13-3 victory was what happened right after: NBC showing a slow-motion replay of 49ers general manager John Lynch putting his hands on his head in disbelief, then throwing them down in anger while appearing to yell, «Oh my god!»

«There was an open lane,» Walker said. «… I just felt like I could cut back, so I started cutting across the field. When I looked up, I had a first down.»

It was yet another sign of the Seahawks’ suddenly potent running game.

By the time they started celebrating one of the biggest regular-season wins in franchise history — with victory cigars and division champion T-shirts — Walker and Zach Charbonnet had combined for 171 of Seattle’s 180 rushing yards, the team’s second-highest total of the season.

On its own, doing that against a depleted 49ers defense wouldn’t be enough to make anyone believe that their run game has finally come alive after struggling to find its footing for much of the season. But this was the third straight week in which the Seahawks rushed for at least 160 yards, and it appears that part of Klint Kubiak’s offense is hitting its stride — just in time for the playoffs.

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«It’s just top to bottom,» left guard Grey Zabel said postgame, cigar in hand. «Wide receivers throwing their hat into the ring and going and digging out safeties. I think running backs are playing unbelievable right now. They’re reading things, they’re playing off our blocks … huge shoutout to our running backs.

«It all stems from a guy like Sam [Darnold] being able to take the top off a defense and throw the deep ball, so they’ve got to respect that. Then we get some lighter boxes. When that happens, we’ve got to be able to run the ball, and I think we did pretty well tonight.»

Mike Macdonald fired Ryan Grubb last January after one season as Seattle’s offensive coordinator and replaced him with Kubiak, two moves that were largely centered around the coach’s desire for a better run game.

No team has run the ball more this season than the Seahawks, whose designed rush rate of 47.6% leads the NFL. But until recently, their commitment to the run wasn’t yielding results. Macdonald’s frustration was evident three weeks ago, after they managed only 50 rushing yards in a win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Macdonald said a day later that «it’s kind of a little bit of everything right now» in terms of issues that were holding back Seattle’s running game.

«It’s a little bit late in the year right now to be saying that,» he admitted. «So I think we’ve got to pick it up, really on all fronts.»

At that point, Seattle’s 3.9 yards-per-carry average ranked 28th.

«It’s got to improve pretty quick,» Kubiak said that week.

And it has.

The Seahawks ran for 171 yards (6.8 per carry) in their overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams. The next week, 163 yards (4.7 YPC excluding kneel-downs) in their win over the Carolina Panthers. With 180 (5.1 YPC excluding kneel-downs) against the 49ers, Seattle totaled the second-most rushing yards of any team over the final three games of the regular season.

They finished tied for 10th in rushing yards per game (123.3) and 25th in YPC (4.1).

Rashid Shaheed has helped in that regard, as Seattle went from the most loaded boxes faced in the eight games before his arrival to 10th over the nine games since then, since defenses have had to respect his vertical speed.

Beyond that, Macdonald has described the improvement as a function of the Seahawks remaining committed to their bread-and-butter run plays — including the outside zone — while also honing their game plans.

«We have a better idea of how much we can handle on a week-to-week basis,» he said. «How many runs can we carry? How many different types of runs? How many different formations can we build it out of it? How much do you put on your quarterback’s plate? … How much stuff can we bring into a game where we have the right balance of answers and enough scheme to really give us an advantage, or we feel like it’s an advantage? Then there’s a balance of how much can you actually execute given the amount of reps throughout the week?

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«So I think that’s been something that we’ve chiseled away at throughout the year and really throughout the last month. … Coming out of the Thursday game, we really had a better understanding of what that balance is, so it’s helped us.»

Walker and Charbonnet traded 100-yard performances against the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina, respectively. Charbonnet (74 yards on 17 carries) scored the game’s only touchdown Saturday night, while Walker finished with 97 yards on 16 carries to top 1,000 yards for the season.

His most memorable run was the shotgun toss he took on third-and-17 with under 4 minutes to go in the third quarter, with Seattle clinging to a 10-3 lead. What looked like a concession turned into an improbable conversion when Walker, with blocks from wide receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo, knifed his way through the 49ers’ defense for a 19-yard gain. That extended a drive that would end in Seattle’s final field goal.

Seattle’s run game had defied the third-and-long odds in each of the previous two weeks. Walker converted a third-and-16 against the Rams. Charbonnet did the same against Carolina on third-and-15.

Then Walker broke the San Francisco defense’s back — and Lynch’s heart — on third-and-17.

«That’s a ’12 as One’ play,» Macdonald said, referring to his motto about playing together and making opponents feel like they’re facing an extra player. «Everybody hit their targets, they hit their blocks. My favorite part of the play is Bobo and Jax celebrating more than anybody else. Two receivers on a third-and-long who got their guys blocked and sprang the run that got Ken the first down. It was a heck of a run by Ken, but there’s a lot of great blocking going on on that play, and then to see the guys celebrate like that for the success of the team and their teammate was really cool.»