The Seattle Seahawks let Russell Wilson cook in Week 1. Moving forward, Pete Carroll would like to share the kitchen more.
The star QB diced up the Atlanta Falcons in Sunday's 38-25 win, going 31 of 35 passing for 322 yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, Seattle rushed the ball just 20 times, including three by Wilson. The running backs toted the rock a combined 16 times for 43 yards.
Starter Chris Carson rushed six times for 21 yards, doing more damage through the air, catching six passes for 45 yards and two TDs. Carlos Hyde rushed seven times for 23 yards and a TD. And Travis Homer carried three times for negative-1 yard.
The Seahawks' game plan was superb against an overzealous Falcons defense with a weak secondary. An array of screens from Wilson took advantage of Atlanta's aggression and allowed Seattle to move the ball with relative ease all game.
Carroll, however, doesn't want to quit the ground-and-pound approach that has characterized his run in Seattle.
"First time out it went fine,'' Carroll said of the RB usage in Week 1, via the Seattle Times. "Seven and six carries wasn't enough for our guys and we need to get more. We were at 20 (runs). We want to get more than that in general. But when Russ was completing every pass we weren't discouraged about moving the football. But we love running the ball, we always have, and those guys will get more carries as we move down through the schedule.''
Sunday marked the third time since 2018 that Seattle reached 10-plus passes in a game prior to having five-plus rushes, per NFL Research. The Seahawks are 3-0 in such games.
While Carroll's commitment to the run is expected to lead to more totes for Carson, the coach noted he plans to continue to rotate three backs to keep them spry.
"It felt good giving those guys the chance to keep them fresh,'' Carroll said via Zoom. "Those were two guys that hammer the football (Carson, Hyde) and T-Home (Homer) was such a good change of pace, I just like the three-guy rotation. Imagine how much fresher you can keep a lead guy that doesn't have that opportunity, and so we'll just go one game at a time right now.
"We don't need to call it, anyway -- never have. And I don't think there will be a time in the season where I'll tell you, 'Oh, this guy is going to get all the snaps or this guy is not.' I don't think that's what's going to take place. We'll just keep moving through the game and see what's happening and the style of plays and the runs and all.''
The Seahawks were the most pass-heavy team to win in Week 1. Wilson using an array of short passes as virtual handoffs, coupled with his uncanny deep ball, is the perfect way to keep defenses off-balance.
Perhaps Russ will get to cook more often in 2020. But Carroll will still insist upon his running game at times.
In Sunday night's Week 2 matchup against the New England Patriots studly secondary, we could see a reverse of the Week 1 game plan from Seattle.
