Mike Vorel
The Seattle Times
Rashaad Penny’s opening run had a lot in common with his rookie season.
With 10:45 remaining in the first quarter of the Seahawks’ 27-24 victory over Green Bay on Thursday night, the 5-foot-11, 220-pound running back took a handoff from Russell Wilson, scampered a few steps to his right and slammed on the brakes. He slid out of a Clay Matthews tackle, reversed field and retraced his steps to the left, gliding around diving Packers before eventually turning the corner. Penny took long, purposeful strides into the open field, cut around an Ed Dickson block, spun through another feeble tackle attempt and finally tumbled to the turf for a 30-yard gain.
No, he didn’t take the conventional route. There were countless setbacks and obstacles along the way.
But Penny — the Seahawks’ 2018 first-round pick — finally got there.
“I’ve been saying it the whole time, you’ve got to take advantage of your opportunities,” said Penny, who missed nearly the entire preseason with a broken finger and didn’t receive a carry in a pair of games this season. “You see one thing on one side and then you feel like the whole defense is on that side, so you just reverse field.
“I credit everybody who was blocking. It just wasn’t me on that one. That was a big run.”
True, it wasn’t just Penny racking up big runs on Thursday night. Sure, the rookie’s eight carries for 46 yards certainly helped. But after missing last week’s loss to the Rams with a hip injury, Chris Carson returned to the starting lineup and — after losing a fumble on his first carry — proceeded to grind Green Bay to the tune of 83 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
And, when the Seahawks needed to drain the clock with 4:11 remaining and a three-point lead, Mike Davis didn’t flinch. The 27-year-old running back took three carries on the final drive — gaining five, four and seven yards to effectively dump dirt on the Packers’ grave.
“That just shows you the trust they have in us and the ability of what we can do,” Penny said. “It’s just all about technique, and Mike is a great running back. It’s just reading the technique and how the defense plays and how the linebacker overflows (his gap).
“It shows you where that preparation in practice (pays off) and all the scout team guys doing an amazing job. We’re just reading off that and playing.”
And, regardless of the result, the Seattle running backs and offensive line have been playing well. The Seahawks entered the game ranked first in the NFL in rushing yards per game (1,370) and attempts per game (32), fifth in runs of 20 yards or more (9) and seventh in yards per carry (4.8).
They improved upon that production on Thursday, churning out 173 rushing yards, 4.9 yards per carry and a 6-yard Carson touchdown.
Some might consider the fact that Carson, Penny and Davis have each rushed for more than 100 yards in a game this season to be a potential play-calling problem for Pete Carroll and Co.
But on Thursday, it least, it was more of a problem for the Packers.
“We’ve got three great running backs,” Carson said. “So it makes it so much easier to get yardage because they can’t just key on one back.”
The Packers’ defense was able to key on the Seahawks’ running game in their final drive on Thursday night.
But just like with Penny’s emphatic first impression, they weren’t able to stop it.
“Never in my years playing have I had three, or four running backs really that can step in and be interchangeable,” said Seahawks left guard J.R. Sweezy. “That’s pretty awesome, man. It doesn’t matter who’s back there. We know we’re going to gain some yards when they get the ball.”
