O.C., California- Staffeln » Pete Carroll takes blame for Seahawks’

Pete Carroll takes blame for Seahawks’ lopsided pass-run ratio The Seattle Seahawks coaching staff vowed to commit to the run game throughout the offseason Mychal Kendricks Jersey , and through two games... we’ve not really seen that. Seahawks running backs have only rushed 33 times, while Brian Schottenheimer has dialed up 86 pass plays, with 69 attempted throws from Russell Wilson, 12 sacks, and 5 Wilson scrambles. In the flow of both the losses to the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears, the Seahawks were never behind by more than 14, so what gives?Head coach Pete Carroll told media reporters to put the blame on him and his uh... lack of patience.“Yeah, I would tell you that my...I’ll just take it. My impatience a little bit, you know,” Carroll said (via Tacoma News Tribune). “Figuring that we should be on the board more than we had and just got to throw the ball up more than I want to. I’m over that. Both games were so close throughout. We were close enough we could have done whatever we wanted to all the way down to the end of it. I just got a little bit impatient, threw the ball a bit more than we needed to.“And so you look back and that’s with limited opportunities because we weren’t converting, it just kind of works together. I’m just owning up. But that’s what I would say is the issue with that. I need to be a little less impatient. I’m a little bit, tend to be that way, you know?”Now when I say that Seahawks running backs have carried it 33 times, the trio of Chris Carson/Rashaad Penny/Mike Davis have only racked up 116 yards. In other words, the “improved Seahawks rushing attack” is as bad as it was last year. I find “establishing the run” to be a thing that shouldn’t exist, but the Seahawks offense is absolutely not built to thrive off of what is nearly a 4-to-1 pass-run ratio.Schotty’s own presser involved the ever-quotable coach speak.It looks like Carroll is somewhat covering for Brian by saying his impatience led to him intervening in Schottenheimer’s game calling. The third quarter of the Bears game saw the Seahawks pass it six straight times, for a gain of one yard. By the time they ran the ball again, they were behind 17-3 and in uptempo mode... the lack of a faster-paced offense is another storyline in itself.Ideally the Seahawks offense finally finds a decent rhythm against the Dallas Cowboys, and maybe Chris Carson won’t magically disappear from the game due to a non-existent cardio concern. The Los Angeles Rams have clinched the NFC West. It’s been in the bag for two weeks now. They’re going to the playoffs. But which version of them will show up in the postseason — the battering... ram of a team we saw early on, or the squad that’s run a minus-4 point differential since Halloween? Yes, they’ve been outscored in all of November and December combined.For fun, since the Seahawks are playing not-terrible football right now and the Rams are playing maybe-terrible football at some key positions, I decided to compare the rivals’ statistical performance, all quick-like. Just for the month. Since the playoffs are right around the corner and all.Examining some flawed stat like yards per carry and coming to a conclusion one way or another is the worst kind of cherry picking. We need much more data than a single point. A look across at 13 statistical measures (not 12) will show what any spectator had to notice, after watching the Rams lose in Chicago and then at home on Sunday Night Football: they’re not the juggernaut they were in the sunny days of September and October. There are phases where the Seahawks are clearly outplaying the Rams; can we vault into a hope-raft of those trends perpetuating themselves into the postseason, where the teams could well meet? RECORDSeahawks 2-1 / Rams 1-2Advantage: Seattle? Not so quick. LA has faced teams with a combined 18-18 record at the time; Seattle’s foes were 11-24-1, having met the Niners twice. Also, the Rams had two road games to the Seahawks’ one.Still, if it can be helped, you’d rather not be on a two-game losing streak in December, as the Rams are.POINT DIFFERENTIALSeahawks +38 / Rams -2Advantage: Seattle, definitively.Los Angeles’ losses in Chicago and to Philadelphia offset a 14-point win in Detroit during Week 13. Interestingly, the Seahawks also lost in Chicago by single digits and won by 14 in Detroit. Difference is Nazair Jones Jersey , Seattle took care of its NFC East opponent (Dallas) handily at home in September.VARIOUS TEAM OFFENSIVE STUFFSeahawks 9 TD / Rams 5 TDLA isn’t getting scores through the air anymore; four of its five touchdowns in the last three weeks have come through Gurley on the ground. Seattle’s moving the ball every which way, with a defensive touchdown to boot. The Bobby Wagner naptime TD.Seahawks 58 first downs / Rams 61 first downsPretty even.Seahawks 5.4 yards per play / Rams 4.9 yards per playHalf a yard per play is a fairly sizeable advantage.Seahawks 990 total yards / Rams 971 total yards.Total yardage isn’t a great stat on its own. But when two offenses are generating relatively the same amount of yardage and first downs, over three games, it’s fair to call their performance somewhat even. Depending on touchdowns and giveaways of course, which both favor Seattle. Speaking of:TURNOVERSSeahawks 1, differential +4 / Rams 9, differential -3LA has a problem with ball security this month. It’s a big problem. It’s why they lost their games. Single-handedly, Jared Goff has — well, let’s get to that guy.QB PERFORMANCESeahawks 44-68-494-6-1 / Rams 72-132-726-1-7Russell Wilson has the edge in completion percentage (64.7 to 54.5) and yards per attempt (7.3 to 5.5). In TDs and INTs, it’s not close. Goff has been terrible. In his defense, it was cold that one week, sort of.Seriously, one TD and seven picks in December for Goff? Wison has six picks — all season.Clear Disadvantage: RamsRB PERFORMANCE (TOTAL)Seahawks 86-442-5.1-3 / Rams 52-239-4.6-4I’d prefer to use success rate but that’s a lot of research. What the composite rushing numbers for the Rams can tell me, is, they’re not having any more success overall than the Seahawks. Todd Gurley’s MVP case is about to be dismissed. Or maybe it’s Chris Carson who should be getting more recognition.VARIOUS TEAM DEFENSIVE STUFF Seahawks allowing 8.2 Y/A and 3.4 Y/C / Rams allowing 6.6 Y/A and 4.5 Y/CThe pass defense for Seattle has been opportunistic at best and swiss cheesy at worst. But the run D has shown up. The reverse is somewhat true for LA, which liminted Matt Stafford, Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles through the air but was not stout on the ground.Seahawks allowing 16.3 ppg / Rams allowing 20.7 ppgYou’d prefer to face Mullens-Cousins-Mullens over any three-game stretch, but remember that 14 points came in garbage time against Seattle and seven more on a kickoff return, so the more accurate discrepancy here is 9.3 to 20.7 ppg.Seahawks with 8 sacks / Rams with 5 sacksThought the storied LA defensive line might make a better showing here, but.By the way, we’re still looking for a category where the Rams are outdoing the Seahawks. Besides pass defense.SPECIAL TEAMS Seahawks with 2.74 expected points / Rams with -0.52 expected pointsPlayoff games turn on plays like a big kick return, a missed field goal, a muffed punt. Both teams can and have produces all three of those outcomes. Seattle just happens to limit the bad plays better than LA.SUMMARY Sean McVay didn’t know his team could lose two games in a row when it counted. Now he does. There’s no need to be surprised, Coach. You’re struggling. It happens to everyone. I mean, even the Super Bowl XLVIII champs lost three times. But to add a final disclaimer: Arbitrary endpoints are shit. Originally I’d planned on this post being a two-game comparison. The results were so tilted to ward the Seahawks that I expanded the sample to all of December. To help the Rams look better. It’s called compassion. Look it up.Seriously, though, if you go back another few weeks, both teams are 4-2 in their last six games. The Rams are still getting outscored, Goff is still sloppier than Wilson, both defenses are still flawed, and all that separates them is a play or two in the game they faced off.Bodes well for a playoff matchup that could come down to the wire, again.