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# Seahawks’ Run Game Faces Biggest Challenge Yet in Visiting Buccaneers
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-seahawks-run-game-biggest-challenge-yet-tampa-bay-buccaneers/
- Published: 2025-10-02T05:31:08.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:18:06.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Seahawks, Grey Zabel, Ken Walker III, Zach Charbonnet

RENTON, Wash. - Winning three consecutive games to climb back to the top of a crowded NFC West in the early stages of the 2025 season, the Seattle Seahawks have opened year two under coach Mike Macdonald with plenty of things working for them as they aim to get back to the postseason for the first time since 2022.

For one, Sam Darnold has been everything the Seahawks advertised him as under center, ranking in the top seven in completion rate (70 percent), yards per attempt (9.1), and passer rating (106.5). And even with injuries in the secondary, Macdonald’s defense has been suffocating, allowing just 16.8 points per game, the third-best mark in the NFL.

But as they brace for a tough home battle against the 3-1 Buccaneers on Sunday, if there’s a clear area where the Seahawks haven’t performed up to expectations in the first four weeks, their run game in coordinator Klint Kubiak’s offense has been hit-and-miss at best. While they rank 18th in rushing yards - significantly improved from finishing 28th last season with Ryan Grubb calling plays - and rushed for a season-high 155 yards against the Cardinals in Week 4, they sit 28th in the league in yards per carry (3.6) and 27th in Expected Points Added (-0.151).

Most concerningly, Seattle has been hampered by negative plays in the run game more than any team in the NFL. Per TruMedia, no team has been stuffed by opposing defenses for no gain or in the backfield more than the Seahawks, who have had 33 such rushes through four games. That’s more than eight rushes per game netting zero or negative yardage that consistently put them behind the sticks, including nine such rushes against a stingy Cardinals defense on Thursday Night Football.

“I thought we took a stride here. I thought our coaches did a great job to get the things as the game started to progress,” Macdonald said after the game. “Our guys are fighting up there. They're blocking and \[I\] felt like we targeted things a little bit better. We’ll look at some of those things where those negative-yard runs. But you have to give Arizona a lot of credit, too. That's a really good front, great scheme. They play hard, they have great players, so some of those things are going to happen.”

So far, after emphasizing the ground game all offseason, Kubiak’s zone-centric system has been feast-or-famine with Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet toting the rock behind one of the youngest offensive lines in the league.

On the plus side, the Seahawks have been able to generate explosive runs on the ground, including being tied for fourth with four 20-plus yard runs and ranking a respectable 12th with eight runs of 12 or more yards. When blocking has been decent off the snap without quick leakage, Walker and Charbonnet have been quite effective, combining to help Seattle average 1.3 yards per carry after contact, good for eighth in the NFL.

But those chunk plays have been negated by the alarming frequency of runs being blown up at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield, further evidenced by Seattle’s backs averaging just 1.3 yards per carry before contact (20th overall), including a dreadful -2.21 yards before contact on 33 runs of zero or less yards. Far too often, Walker and Charbonnet have been rudely greeted by one or more defenders before they even had a chance to get up to speed, with the former occasionally trying too hard to make something out of nothing rather than taking the yardage given to him and taking bigger losses such as a five-yard setback on Thursday night.

Though Macdonald understandably feels the Seahawks have positive momentum going with their ground attack coming out of last week’s win in Glendale, rookie guard Grey Zabel and the offensive line will once again be put to the test to see whether those strides translate against a stout Buccaneers front seven anchored by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Vita Vea and ageless linebacker Lavonte David that could be their toughest challenge yet.

Through the first four weeks of the season, coach Todd Bowles’ hyper-aggressive unit - which ranks third with a 36.1 percent blitz rate, according to Pro Football Reference - has been one of the NFL’s best defending the run, allowing just 340 rushing yards and 3.3 yards per carry, both inside the top five in the league. Pro Football Focus has Tampa Bay’s defense sitting third overall in run defense grade (79.5) for a reason, which has greatly impressed Macdonald as prep has ramped up for Sunday’s contest.

“We share a lot of the same principles,” Macdonald said of Bowles’ defense prior to Wednesday’s practice. “They play really hard. They play physical. He calls it aggressively. They've got great personnel. They play complementary ball. They attack the football. A lot of great stuff that they're doing on defense.”

One of the most disruptive defenses around when it comes to wreaking havoc in the backfield, the Buccaneers have taken on the persona of their calm, yet antagonistic coach by amassing 27 total run stops netting zero or negative yards, which ranks sixth according to TruMedia. 21 of those plays have ended up sending opponents backwards on tackles for loss, the fourth-most in the league, while Bowles’ crew ranks second in yards per rush (-2.5) on those blown up run plays.

Living up to Bowles’ previous reputation as a renowned defensive coordinator, Tampa Bay flies to the football in swarms from all three levels of the defense, as the NFC South leaders have limited opposing backs to just 116 yards before contact on 102 carries, 10th overall in the league. The team sits just outside the top 10 in yards before contact per carry (1.12) as well, which would seem to be a bad draw for Seattle given its own issues of creating running room off the snap and allowing frequent penetration into the backfield this year.

But while Macdonald has the utmost respect for Bowles and the Bucs’ defense for what they have accomplished thus far, he remains steadfast in his confidence that the Seahawks have turned the corner and are trending in the right direction building the run game promised throughout the spring and summer. As is the case every week in the NFL, while tweaks in the game plan will be made to counter what Tampa Bay does well and those adjustments will have to be executed well to win on Sunday, they won’t be playing scared and intend to run their system regardless of what their upcoming opponent has done in the first four games.

“It’s tough to look at stats and let that dictate that you're not going to do what you do. How teams are structured, who's going to play and things like that, goes into our game plan, but we’re still going to run our offense.”