By Bob Condotta Seattle Times
The Seattle Seahawks’ mantra during the preseason is that running the ball this year is going to be “nonnegotiable,” as right tackle Abraham Lucas said.
Or, as receiver Jake Bobo said after Thursday’s 23-23 tie with Pete Carroll and the Las Vegas Raiders to open the preseason: “Well we’re going to tell you when we’re going to run it down your throat and then we’re going to run it down your throat. That’s kind of the attitude of our offense and our team right now. And it was cool to kind of take some of that out on somebody in a different colored jersey.”
In their first game, the Seahawks tried to do just that — and mostly did.
The Seahawks rushed for 66 yards on eight designed runs in the first quarter when the Raiders had several defensive starters on the field, and rushed for 170 yards on 32 carries.
And how’s this for balance? They also threw it 32 times, completing 18 for 208 yards.
That is in stark contrast to a year ago when the Seahawks threw it just over 62% of the time, fifth-most in the NFL, and were 29th in rushing attempts and 28th in rushing yards.
“They got some good players out there in the first couple drives,” said Drew Lock, who played the first half at quarterback for the Seahawks. “For us to be able to run the ball, communicate on different fronts, different looks, you’re going off last year’s preseason games and the year before’s preseason games, and getting a couple different looks up front for them to be able to communicate and keep the run game alive. That’s really impressive.”
Here are three more day-after thoughts:
### Zabel gives good first impression
First-round pick Grey Zabel started and played the first two series at left guard, as did Lucas and Anthony Bradford, the leader for the moment at right guard.
Zabel spent much of the game matched up with Raiders defensive tackle Jonah Laulu, a seventh-round pick of the Colts a year ago who was waived and picked up by the Raiders and started seven games and is competing for a starting spot this year.
Zabel mostly had his way with Laulu and earned a sparkling 81.2 grade from Pro Football Focus, 79.0 in pass blocking and 68.5 run blocking.
Laulu, who played throughout the first half and had 26 snaps, turned in the 40th lowest grade of 41 Raiders defenders at 28.7.
“It went good,” Zabel said. “Being a rookie, you have to understand that there is going to be wins, and then there are learning experiences. So, learned every single play. Thought we had a few good first few drives, and we were able to move the ball a little bit and protect the quarterback.”
Lucas, who spent much of the first series matched up against Raiders standout end Maxx Crosby, had the highest grade of any Seahawks starting O-lineman at 81.5. Bradford was graded at 53.8, 25th of 32 Seahawks offensive players.
### Running backs do their part
The two biggest runs of the game early owed much of their success to running back George Holani and fullback Robbie Ouzts.
Holani gained 19 yards on the second play of the game, a run over the left side when he got help from a block by Ouzts, who lined up in front of him on the play. Ouzts had to quickly adjust and take on Crosby when the Raiders brought an extra rusher to that side.
Holani read it well and scooted around the pile of blockers down the left side.
Holani scored on the next drive, a 24-yarder when he again ran over the left side and dived to the pylon to get the touchdown.
As Holani explained later, the Raiders had eight men in the box on what was a third-and-one play.
“That play, it was crazy just going back and looking at it,” he said. “Everybody was in the box, and I’m like, dang, I’m looking outside, I might predetermine this, and I just bounced it. It was just clear from there.”
Indeed, the Raiders appeared to get push up the middle. But Holani had a smart read on it and Ouzts threw another good block, helping clear out backup safety Chris Smith II.
Holani gained 43 of his 61 yards on those two plays, getting 18 on his other five attempts.
The Seahawks had just 10 yards on four rushes on their second drive until Holani’s TD. Lock completed three passes for 29 yards to get them close, aided by two Raiders defensive holding penalties, both on Laulu.
Ouzts, who played eight snaps, earned a solid 72.2 grade from PFF.
Here was Carroll’s assessment of the Seahawks’ running success: “We made some really glaring errors. We made errors. Couple times when we were pressuring, we just didn’t hit stuff clean enough. But as the game went on, we played way better. I thought they did a nice job running the football. I thought that was a really obvious part of their game. In the end we need to do better.”
### Macdonald and Kubiak in alignment
One of Macdonald’s most telling postgame comments came when he noted how well he thought he and new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak worked together.
What appears to have been as big a reason as any for the firing of Ryan Grubb was that Macdonald felt he and Grubb were increasingly not in alignment as the year wore on.
“I feel like we’re on a pretty good cadence communication-wise,” Macdonald said. “It’s great to hear the communication over the headset. Everybody on the staff, everybody is contributing. Play calls in fast. Just all the things we saw in practice were there, and there is some stuff we’re going to go back and recalibrate and learn from and improve on. But solid first start. He’s always chasing the things, which is what you appreciate about him.”
When the Seahawks had their starting O-line in the game — minus injured left tackle Charles Cross and center Olu Oluwatimi — they called eight designed runs and 11 pass plays (Lock ended up scrambling on one, for 2 yards).
Kubiak called the game from the sidelines, but Macdonald said he could still decide to call games during the regular season from the booth, where Grubb worked last year.
Macdonald revealed after the game that defensive coordinator Aden Durde called the defensive plays. That’s something Macdonald handles during the regular season