Lack Of Run Game Is 100 Percent On Me
There are plenty of reasons that the Seahawks have been so pass-happy so far. Sometimes a defense can dictate that by playing with a heavy box to stop the run, or sometimes Grubb or Smith just might like the matchups in the passing game. And of course, the Seahawks have played from behind for much of the past two weeks. But regardless of the reasons, Grubb said it ultimately falls on him to get the running game more involved.
“I’ll own that,” he said. “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.”
With Smith playing as well as he has so far this season, and with so many weapons available in the passing game, it’s not hard to fault a play-caller for wanting to lean on the passing game, but Grubb said its on him to get the offense more balanced going forward.
“It’s just falling back on the stuff that you know guys can do well and just examining where your offense is at, the DNA,” he said. “What are the things that when you go out and at training camp that these guys can execute? Players over plays. How do we get these guys the ball, even if it’s in a competition, or it’s a one-on-one setting. And so, you just try to find those niches that are available, which they certainly are.”
Grubb’s rather blunt accountability also applied to his description of Seattle’s failed fourth-down attempt in the fourth quarter. On the play, Smith was sacked by an unblocked Brian Burns, and the play call was one Grubb wishes he had back.
“Terrible call,” he said. “Felt like we had a good game plan on it. The head coach wants to go for it right there. Totally supported Mike (Macdonald) on that. And I probably have 10 calls in the call sheet that are better than that. I put Geno in a really crappy position and I didn’t give him an out to get to a better play.”
That Grubb is this hard on himself while the Seahawks currently rank seventh in total offense and 11th in scoring is a good sign going forward. Recent hiccups aside, Seattle has done a lot of really good things on offense through five weeks of the season. But in Grubb’s mind, the past two games, and lack of run game in particular, have shown there’s still room to grow.
“That’s 100 percent on me, and my job is to make sure I get all our guys in the best position possible to win the game,” Grubb said. “And I didn’t do that.”
