“It’s huge,” tight end AJ Barner said. “You’ve got to be able to run the ball, a run game travels. We’ve got to keep toting the rock, and shout out to the backs for hitting it, and the O-line. That’s the expectations, we’ve got to run the rock.”
Charbonnet having his first 100-yard game of the season immediately after Walker’s 100-yard game against the Rams helps illustrate a point Macdonald has made whenever he’s asked about those two, which is that the Seahawks feel like they have two starting running backs. That may not be fun for fantasy football players, but it’s a great thing to have late in the season for a team that has the talent to go on a deep postseason run. On Sunday, Charbonnet scored his 10th and 11th touchdowns of the season, making him the first Seahawk since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to have double digit rushing touchdowns. He also had Seattle’s two longest offensive plays, a 29-yard run and a 25-yard, the latter of which allowed the Seahawks to convert on third-and-15.
“It was probably Zach’s best game as a Seahawk I would imagine,” Macdonald said. “Like I was telling K9, K-9 played a great game, too. Sometimes that’s the way the game goes on some of those creases and things. I mean the third-down conversion was incredible. Some of those black-zone runs are—like 95 was a block in the hole and makes the guy miss. It’s a 2-yard gain. That’s a big-time two yards, so it’s not just the explosive runs. It’s all those tough yards as well. And then obviously finishing out in the four-minute was big time.”
With 334 rushing yards in their last two games, the Seahawks love the progress they have made in that phase of the game, but they also know there is still room to grow heading into the playoffs.
“It’s definitely something we’ve continued to harp on, and will continue to harp on,” Charbonnet said. “We’re definitely not satisfied yet, so we’re going to keep building on that and keep attacking it.”