Seahawks ‘Optimistic’ To Get Charles Cross Back From Injury, What’s Changed With The Run Game & Other Takeaways
Updates on Charles Cross and other injured players.
With an extra week to prepare, thanks to a Bye Week for being the NFC’s No. 1 seed, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is “still optimistic” to get players back from injury and potential injured reserve as well.
Tackle Charles Cross has missed the past three games dealing with a hamstring injury and safety Coby Bryant missed the last two with a knee injury. Neither were placed on injured reserve, which is a good sign they have a chance to return.
Macdonald said, “I haven’t gotten the update on the guys that have been out, but the timetable is still the way we said it at the end of last week where we’re still optimistic to have them back either during practice this week or sometime next week.”
At the end last week, Macdonald said three of the players currently on injured reserve, running back George Holani, tight end Eljah Arroyo and linebacker Chazz Surratt all have a chance to return in the playoffs.
The defense was dominant once again.
Seattle’s defense held San Francisco to just 173 total yards, the lowest total in nine seasons under Kyle Shanahan, in large part because of their ability to limit explosive plays. 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy didn’t attempt a pass of 20 yards or more and completed just four passes anywhere from 10-19 yards.
The defense also held running back Christian McCaffrey to just 23 rushing yards on the night, his lowest total since the 2020 season.
“One of the things that I think we’re most proud of, of our defensive tape, is the waves of football, waves of Seahawks that get to the ball,” Macdonald said. “And what that does is it allows you to take really aggressive angles. So, I don’t feel like I’m just playing by myself out there. And so I feel like our team is really committed to playing in that type of style and that type of speed and that type of effort. And when you do that, you might miss a tackle here or there, but it’s going to get cleaned up and you’re going to get multiple people at the point of attack where you can limit some of those extra hidden yardages.”
The run game had another great game.
For the third game in a row, Seattle’s run game has been the most productive it’s been all season. On Saturday, Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet rushed for a combined 171 yards on 33 carries. Walker also surpassed 1,000 yards on the season for the second time in his career. Along with the Seahawks simply sticking to being committed to making the run game work, Macdonald said the coaches also have a better idea of the amount of information they are able to coach the player up on.
“I think we have a better idea of how much we can handle on a week-to-week basis. How many runs can we carry? How many different types of runs? How many different formations can we build it out of? Kind of like how much you put on your quarterback’s plate defensively too. It’s like, how much stuff can we bring into a game, where we have the right balance of answers and enough scheme to really let us give us an advantage or we feel like it is an advantage. And then there’s a balance of that of how much can you actually execute given the amount of reps throughout the week. So I think that’s been something that we’ve kind of chiseled the way at throughout the year and really throughout maybe the last month, probably since the Bye (Week), honestly, or coming out of the Thursday game. I feel like we really had a better understanding of what that balance is.”
The Seahawks also became the only team to have successful four successful runs on third-and-15 or longer. This week it was Walker with a 19-yard run on a third-and-17 in the third quarter to keep the drive alive.
“That’s a 12 As One play,” Macdonald said. “I mean, everybody hit their targets, they hit their blocks. And then my favorite part of the play is (Jake) Bobo and Jax (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) celebrating more than anybody else. Two receivers on a third and long who got their guys blocked and springing 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 that play. And then to see the guys celebrate like that for the success of the team and their teammate was really cool.”
Keeping the same mindset through the playoffs.
Yes, they’re preparing for a playoff game, but Macdonald has stressed, all season, the importance of, “sticking to the process” and that’s what Seattle will being doing when they head into the week.
“Part of our message to our guys is, I know we’re going to the playoffs, but nothing changes in terms of our preparation, our mentality,” he said. “It’s the same thing that circumstances around the game people are going to be talking about, but for us, the things that we need to be able to do to be able to have success is going to stay the same.”
