The Seahawks have been one of the best rushing teams in football, and on Sunday, they leaned heavily on it
The Seattle Seahawks entered the NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams aiming to lean on aa main offensive strength under coordinator Klint Kubiak.
The Seahawks have been one of the best rushing teams in football, averaging 126.2 yards per game (ranks seventh), thanks to Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.
The duo rushed for a combined 1,757 yards and 17 touchdowns in the regular season, with Charbonnet (12 TDs) being Seattle's go-to guy in the red zone.
In the playoff win over the San Francisco 49ers, it was Walker who stole the show, rushing for 116 yards and three touchdowns, while Charbonnet only had five attempts for 20 yards.
Such was the dominance of the run game that Sam Darnold only had 17 pass attempts in the 41-6 drubbing, as Seattle dominated their NFC West rivals.
And in the 31-27 NFC Championship Game win over the Rams? Charbonnet is hurt and unavailable ... but Seattle did its damage on the ground nevertheless.
How so? Walker rumbled on 19 attempts for 62 yards and a TD, and added four catches for 49 more yards.
And flashing back to the win over the Niners ... when the run game is rolling like that, Darnold gets to play the role of bus driver.
"It's huge," Darnold said then on the run game. "It opens up the pass game, and we can play action off of it, run keepers, all those things. So, yeah, it's great whenever the run game gets going."
Charbonnet's red-zone running wasn't availble here as he suffered a season-ending ACL injury.
But Walker did his damage, anyway.
And the Rams' defense is no slouch when it comes to the run game. In the regular season, L.A. gave up, on average, just 111.9 rushing yards per game, ranking 11th.
Plus, the Rams only gave up 135 rushing yards in their first meeting with the Seahawks, but then 171 in the overtime loss. And that was with Walker and Charbonnet.
The run game is going to be a pivotal chess match on Super Bowl Sunday against the stingy AFC champion Patriots. And while Darnold lifted his game against LA (with lots of help from the near-unstoppable Jaxon Smith-Njigba) ... the Seahawks and their rushing attack could prove decisive in getting rookie head coach Mike Macdonald and his bunch a win in the Super Bowl.