KIRKLAND – The secret to slowing down a couple of high-profile passing attacks really isn’t that covert at all.
That blueprint comes down to a couple of key ingredients. One is inclement weather. The other would be a pair of non-existent run defenses.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Seattle Seahawks-St. Louis Rams playoff game.
When the two NFC West rivals square off for the third time in four months on Saturday, the high-flying aerial attacks might well take a back seat to a featured pair of running games.
“They can do it either way,” Seahawks defensive tackle Cedric Woodard said of the Rams. “They’ve got a coach that does whatever works. If they need to run it to get it done, he’ll run it. If he thinks he’s got to pass it every time, he’ll pass it. Whatever it takes.”
No one seems to know what the Rams will do Saturday. They ran 44 times for 209 yards two weeks ago, then ran just 19 times for 47 yards in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets.
“If you know anything about the Rams,” Seahawks linebacker Chad Brown said, “it’s that they’re consistently inconsistent. You never know what’s going to happen.”
The conditions could well ground both offenses on Saturday, as snow is in the forecast.
If that weren’t enough, the porous run defenses should increase the temptation to feature Seattle’s Shaun Alexander, and the Rams’ Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson.
St. Louis ranks 29th of 32 NFL teams in run defense, allowing an average of 136.2 yards per game. The Seahawks haven’t fared much better, giving up 126.9 per contest to rank 23rd in the league. Seattle’s run defense has particularly fallen off over the past eight weeks, when it has given up an average of 165.5 yards per game on the ground.
Statistically speaking, the running game might be the way for both teams to go this Saturday.
The Seahawks ran for a total of 393 yards in two meetings with St. Louis during the regular season.
Seattle has run the ball 468 times this season, which is the second-most ever by a Mike Holmgren-coached team (the 2001 Seahawks ran 469 times while new quarterback Matt Hasselbeck learned the system). Alexander was one yard short of winning the NFL rushing title and ranked third among running backs with a 4.8 yards-per-carry average.
The NFL leader in that stat at 5.0 yards-per-carry was the Rams’ Jackson, a rookie running back who has gradually taken over for future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as the feature back in St. Louis.
“Steven is on his way, I think, to a brilliant career,” head coach Mike Martz said. “We just have to make sure we do it the right way with him.”
Both Jackson and Faulk see carries, although the Rams’ 381 rushing attempts this season ranked among the bottom three teams in the league.
“It’s nice having both of them,” St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger said. “Usually (defenses) can just key on Marshall, but now with two legitimate running backs, it’s nice.”
St. Louis has tried to establish the run early in each of the past two weeks, with mixed results. The Rams ran the ball on all 10 plays of the opening drive against Philadelphia on in a Dec. 27 win. They opened last Sunday’s game with a pair of runs as well, but eventually gave up on it when the Jets shut them down.
Seattle has been more successful this year when it has been patient running the football. The Seahawks have averaged 34.3 carries per games in their nine wins, compared to 22.9 in the seven losses.
“Our offense is built to do whatever we want to do,” said Alexander, who went over the 100-yard mark in seven games this season. “So when the game comes, we’re going to do whatever we need to do.”
That decision could be as much up to Mother Nature as it is to Holmgren or Martz. Snow is in the forecast, which may or may not mean anything.
“We haven’t ever had precipitation in this stadium,” offensive lineman Robbie Tobeck said. “We thought that was going to be our big home-field advantage. We’ve played three seasons there now, and not one game have we had rain or snow – or anything.
“They can forecast all they want. All I know is that if there’s a game in (Qwest Field), it’s going to be pretty good weather.”
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