No Kenneth Walker? No problem. Zach Charbonnet romps Seahawks to 30-18 win at Arizona

The next most unlikely hero of this increasingly unlikely Seahawks season shook his head from side to side.

Zach Charbonnet didn’t see any reason to change the game plan because lead back Kenneth Walker was out. He didn’t care his offense hadn’t run the ball consistently since what felt like when Marshawn Lynch used to play for them.

The mostly no-nonense number-two running back didn’t think what many others did: That without their leading rusher or an offensive line that had been pushing anyone back lately — remember five plays from the 1 and no score against the Jets last week? — this seemed prime time for a Geno Smith aerial show against the NFL’s 18th-ranked pass defense in Arizona.

“No, it didn’t change,” Charbonnet said Sunday evening. “We went in with the same game plan (to run).

“Guys got to step up and execute.”

The second-string, second-year running back stepped up like he never had before Sunday in the desert. Charbonnet galloped, shifted and plowed for a career-high and Seahawks season-high 134 yards on 22 carries with two touchdowns.

That and game-turning interceptions in the first half by Ernest Jones IV and Coby Bryant that Seattle converted into touchdowns sent the suddenly soaring, first-place Seahawks to their fourth consecutive victory, 30-18 over the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.

The Seahawks rushed for a season-best 176 yards, without their lead back. Charbonnet had the biggest rushing day for Seattle runner since 2022, when Walker romped for 167 in a win at the Los Angeles Chargers.

And the Seahawks (8-5) won their fourth consecutive game to stay atop the NFC West. The Rams (7-6) beat Buffalo Sunday. Los Angeles stayed a game behind Seattle with four games remaining in the regular season. The final one is Seahawks at Rams Jan. 5 or 6.

“We’re in playoff mode, man. We’re going to take care of business, man,” veteran left guard Laken Tomlinson said after the best day a Seattle offensive line has had in years. “We understand the position we’ve got right now. We’re in first place.

“But we’re trying to take it all the way.

“All we can do is focus on the next game. It’s back to work tomorrow.”

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald credited offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and line coach Scott Huff for sticking with their midweek game plan even after the team’s medical staff determined Saturday Walker would not play Sunday.

“Ken’s obviously a dynamite back, and we’d love to have him. But so is Zach,” Macdonald said.

“We didn’t feel like we needed to make any adjustments.

“We gave (Charbonnet) a game ball. Gave the offensive line a game ball. Just ran really physical, and it’s tough to tackle that guy in the open field. He’s got speed and power. So, excited for him. ”

Left tackle Charles Cross was pulling to pave inside running lanes as wide as the 202 Loop outside this stadium. Rookie right tackle Sataoa Laumea had another standout game in his second NFL start. Laumea made the block that sprung Charbonnet for a 51-yard touchdown run that put Seattle ahead 24-10 in the second quarter.

This, from an offense that managed just one touchdown against Arizona two weeks ago in a 16-6 win.

Everyone was blocking for Charbonnet Sunday.

On his 20-yard catch and run on a screen pass in the first half, wide receiver DK Metcalf flattened Arizona safety Budda Baker to clear Charbonnet’s path into the red zone.

“Just everyone around me. Like I said, the line, the receivers downfield blocking, tight ends went out there and balled out,” Charbonnet said. “They just made it easy for me. All I had to do was make a dude miss and it was able to work like that.

“I give all the credit to those guys up front.”

Smith dropped back to pass 30 times. And for the first time this season, he didn’t get sacked. The Cardinals hit him just twice. He used more check-down passes than he’d done in a game all season in completing 24 of 30 passes for 233 yards with a touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, off Jones’ interception of Kyler Murray in the first half.

That was plenty for the Seahawks to put Arizona three games behind them in the division with four games left in the season.

“Just the way teams are playing us. We’ve got really good receivers...Guys don’t want to play in man, for the most part,” Smith said. “That’s fine. We’ll just be smart, be efficient and take what they give us.”

Down 27-18, the Cardinals drove inside the Seahawks 30-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. Then kicker Chad Ryland pulled his 40-yard field-goal try wide left. Seahawks defenders jumped up and down on the field to celebrate turning away Arizona without points, and many in the home crowd packed up and left.

On an ensuring third and 2, Smith threw to Metcalf on a quick out route. Metcalf made a defender miss after the catch for an 11-yard gain, and the Seahawks were at midfield.

Smith to Smith-Njigba (five receptions, 82 yards) for a 12-yard completion moved Seattle into scoring territory, and forced the last of Arizona’s time outs spent on defense with 5 1/2 minutes left. Jason Myers kicked a 35-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining for the Seahawks’ final points.

How they ran

The Seahawks used gap-blocking schemes, with Cross and others pulling across formations and creating wide running lanes inside to plow the way for 121 yards rushing. In the first half.

The Cardinals’ defensive front was often shifting and moving at the snap. The Seahawks’ offensive line kept moving them out after it.

Charbonnet had 87 yards rushing in the half, plus another 42 receiving — 20 of them on the screen pass on which Metcalf blasted Baker.

That first-half rushing total was Seattle’s third-highest total on the ground for an entire game this season. The offense had 146 yards rushing week one against Denver and 133 in week three at Detroit.

Rookie right guard Sataoa Laumea continued his strong NFL debut. The sixth-round draft choice from Utah made his second consecutive and second career start with Anthony Bradford on injured reserve.

Laumea may remain at right guard. For a while.

He had the key block that sprung Charbonnet on the running back’s 51-yard dash through the middle of Arizona’s defense for a touchdown late in the second quarter. That bolt of a run put the Seahawks up 24-10.

“I was just hyped, bro, because I had a good block — and we scored,” Laumea said, struggling to raise his soft voice over another postgame locker room of bass bangin’ of the walls. “That’s the best. You can make a good block, but if you score, too, that just means the world.”

Laumea knows what this game meant to an offensive line that’s been the blame line in Seattle for years.

“It makes us feel great, bruh,” he said. “Every O-lineman wants to run the ball. For us to get that many yards...Zach had a really good game. I just feel like that just gave us a little more confidence to run that many yards against a team like this that moves frequently (along the defensive front).

“We played well.”

The effective running meant even 45-yard Seahawks drives took up 5 1/2 minutes. That’s what happened in the third quarter, and it resulted in Seattle not only expiring the middle portion of the third quarter but also getting a 36-yard field goal from Myers. That gave the Seahawks a three-score lead, 27-10.

It was almost 31-10. Smith’s pass on third down into the end zone went off Tyler Lockett’s hands while Arizona’s Max Melton closely covered the veteran wide receiver.

Lockett did not have a catch in the game, the first time that’s happened in 82 games, since Dec. 2, 2019, against Minnesota.

Coby Bryant’s surge

Coby Bryant had no apparent place on the Seahawks’ defense in training camp. He kept impressing coach Mike Macdonald and the new staff with his perfection in practices. He began getting time as a sixth, dime defensive back early in the season. When Rayshawn Jenkins got hurt in October, Bryant became the starting safety.

At that time he had zero interceptions his first two NFL seasons. He now has three in his seven games he’s been a starter.

Sunday, he covered for his teammates’ blown coverage by racing from the center of the field to a deep route outside left by Arizona’s Zay Jones. Murray saw the blown coverage and threw the ball while under pressure from Seahawks outside linebacker Derick Hall. Bryant intercepted it, easily.

That drive starting at the Arizona 46 resulted in the first of Charbonnet’s two rushing touchdowns in the first half, of 1 yard. It put the Seahawks up 17-7 late in the first quarter.

Two weeks earlier, Bryant’s interception and return for a touchdown sealed Seattle’s 16-6 win over the Cardinals at Lumen Field.

So, yes, Bryant is going to remain the starting safety over Jenkins, now healthy again, for a while.

Ernest Jones’ bid for a new deal

It may behoove Seahawks general manager John Schneider to hammer out a new contract for Ernest Jones IV on the team’s flight home.

The new middle linebacker Schneider traded with Tennessee for in late October has been revolutionary for Seattle’s defense. He’s been strong and sure-tackling against the run. In the first quarter against the Cardinals Sunday, he dropped deep into zone coverage and intercepted Murray’s pass over the middle. Jones’ 12-yard return of his fourth interception of his four-year career gave the Seahawks possession at the Arizona 19-yard line.

On the next play, Smith threw to Jaxon Smith-Njigba perfectly over his and a defender’s shoulder on an outside flag route to the back corner of the end zone. Smith-Njigba celebrated his fifth touchdown of the season and fourth in five games by high-fiving a fan wearing a DK Metcalf throwback Seahawks jersey in the first row behind the end zone.

Seattle had its first lead, 10-7.

Smith-Njigba credited Grubb with the scheme that got him lined up directly on slot cornerback Garrett Williams. Smith-Njigba believes him against any inside cover man is advantage: Seahawks.

It has been this season. The first-round pick from 2023 now has 79 receptions for 911 yards and five touchdowns, all the most on this team with Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.

Those two interceptions were two of the worst passes directly to defenders Murray has thrown in his 10 career games against the Seahawks.

Those touchdowns off the interceptions were the first two this season on drives that began in an opponent’s territory. Seattle had not scored a TD in its first such plus-territory drives this season.

‘Bananas’ Michael Dickson

Michael Dickson punted 52 yards on his first time on the field, 6 minutes into the second quarter. He walked along the sideline with no limp after his punt. He missed the last 1 1/2 quarters of Seattle’s win at the New York Jets and parts of practices this past week because of back spasms.

Dickson had a punt of 61 yards into the end zone in the third quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, he boomed one 58 yards. That and Dareke Young’s fine open-field tackle on the return forced Arizona into a drive start at its own 15.

“How about that? The week of all time. This week has been bananas,” Macdonald said. “But it became clear today actually that ‘Dicko’ was going to be able to go and he punted his tail off.

“Really talking about flipping field position and playing complimentary football, I can’t imagine anybody doing it any better than he does.”

Uchenna Nwosu’s back

Uchenna Nwosu played for the first time since Oct. 6 against the New York Giants, the game he tore his quadriceps after just 20 plays. Those were the $54 million outside linebacker’s only plays of the season until he entered for the fourth defensive play Sunday.

Nwosu alternated some with Hall, far from a full workload as the Seahawks work him back from the injury and long absence.

New returner’s debut

Jaelon Darden was the punt returner and primary punt returner in his first Seahawks game three days after they claimed him off waivers from Cleveland.

Darden’s first return for Seattle was on the kickoff after Arizona scored a touchdown on its initial possession. Darden stumbled over his feet and fell near the 20-yard line. Fortunately for Seattle, a Cardinal touched his leg as he was down, because then the ball then came out.

“Would’ve been great if Jaelon would’ve held onto the ball when he was down by contact,” Macdonald deadpanned. “Gave me a little scare.”

On his first punt return, midway through the second quarter, Darden took a 62-yard punt and made the first Cardinal miss on a 15-yard return.

Darden still hasn’t fumbled a kick return in his four NFL seasons doing it for Tampa Bay, Cleveland and now Seattle.