Our list of Seahawks to watch Sunday against Carolina includes Tyler Lockett, Thomas Rawls and Jermaine Kearse.
Here are five Seahawks who are particularly intriguing to watch in Sunday’s game against Carolina, in no particular order.
RB Thomas Rawls: After last week’s offensive debacle in a 14-5 loss at Tampa Bay, and Pete Carroll’s lament later that Seattle should have run it more, I would expect that the Seahawks this week will, well, run it more. Not only does it make sense with Russell Wilson basically back to full health and able to run as much as needed, but Rawls also apparently is closer to 100 percent this week than he has been at any time this season. Rawls so far hasn’t looked much like his 2015 self, averaging just 2.7 yards per carry — less than half his 5.6 of last season. But Carroll on Friday all-but-predicted a possible breakout game for Rawls against the Panthers, saying that Rawls had his best week of practice, which he thinks will carry over to Sunday. “I’m trying to give you those indications that that’s what it looks like, just through practice,’’ Carroll said of Rawls, who had 38 yards on 12 carries against the Bucs. “He’ll get the ball quite a bit in this ball game and we will not restrict him at all. He’s ready to go and we’ll see how it goes.”
WRs Jermaine Kearse and Tyler Lockett: The struggles of Kearse and Lockett were most emblematic of issues with the passing game against Tampa Bay — Kearse had just one reception on five targets (though that came on a late fourth-down that momentarily kept hope alive) while Lockett had no catches on six targets. That means Wilson was 1-11 when targeting Kearse and Lockett, 16-22 when going to anyone else. But Wilson won’t simply be able to always throw it to Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham (he was 13-15 when targeting those two last week). Seattle needs to more consistently and effectively get Kearse and Lockett involved to reach its full offensive potential this season. And with Paul Richardson out with a hamstring injury and Luke Willson questionable a knee injury, there aren’t a lot of other options as it is.
C Justin Britt: Britt will be back after missing last Sunday’s game with a sprained ankle. After downplaying the impact of Britt’s absence for most of the week, Carroll on Friday admitted “I have to tell you now after the fact, there was a loss of just a sense of chemistry in the kinds of things that you count in an offensive line that showed up some. It was no fault of anybody’s, we couldn’t do anything about it, it was just the connection Justin has as kind of the captain of the group.’’ Britt has unquestionably been the most consistent of Seattle’s offensive linemen this season. But will it be as simple as his return meaning that the Seahawks go back to the offense that scored 88 points combined in the previous three games? That’s certainly the hope. I should also maybe add Bradley Sowell as one to watch, as well, as he’ll step in to a full-time starter’s role for Garry Gilliam at right tackle. But given that Sowell played all but the first three plays last week, the only real change on the line this week is Britt.
DL Michael Bennett: Bennett has missed the last five games after having arthroscopic knee surgery to repair cartilage damage suffered Oct. 16 against Atlanta. He was limited in much of practice this week, so it may not be realistic to expect him to immediately go back to playing 85 percent of the snaps. But then, with Bennett, you never know. More important will be Bennett making it through the game with no setbacks and showing that he can be the same player he was before the injury. Carroll made an interesting comment about Bennett this week during his conference call with Carolina media, when asked about the Panthers’ loss of Luke Kuechly. “A.J. Klein has done a pretty good job stepping in but when you lose Kuechly, that’s like us losing Michael Bennett. The guy that is most productive, the most active kind of guy in your scheme,” Carroll said. “You can’t help but miss that.”
FS Earl Thomas: Thomas returns after missing one game with a hamstring injury. Seattle’s defense could hardly be blamed for what happened last week. But the first two possessions for Tampa Bay were obviously a little uncommon and indicative of what has been a little bit of a trend of late for opponents to score on Seattle early — of the 41 points Seattle has allowed in the first quarter this season, 35 have come in the last four games. And given Carolina’s struggles this season, it maybe goes without saying that the Seahawks don’t want to give the Panthers any more life Sunday than necessary.