The Seahawks have run the ball less often than any team other than the Titans so far this season and the Titans have played one less game than the NFC West club, so no one is running the ball less often on a weekly basis.
Their offensive imbalance was never greater than it was in their Week Five loss to the Giants. Ken Walker III had five carries and Zach Charbonnet had two carries — quarterback Geno Smith also ran four times after protection broke down — as the Seahawks relied heavily on the air game. They had some good moments, but also gave up seven sacks as the Giants picked up on the lack of dimensions to Seattle’s approach.
Walker ran for three touchdowns in Week Four, which made the approach more surprising but not out of left field. Walker only had four carries in the first half of that game, which was a loss to the Lions, and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said on Tuesday that he needs to do more to get the ball into Walker’s hands.
“I’ll own that,” Grubb said, via the team’s website. “Got to get the ball to Ken more. And I think we had plenty of run game in the plan, didn’t have anything to do with not having enough calls for that, just didn’t get called. And for us, we leaned on the wrong thing. And I think if we get Ken 10 more touches, 15 more touches, things are going to look different.”
The 49ers are viewing Thursday night’s game as a must-win because of its impact on the NFC West race. The Seahawks have a better record heading into the game, but they can’t view it too differently and letting Walker cook a little bit more may be a good route to getting back on the right side of the scoreboard.