SEATTLE _ In six of Pete Carroll's 10 seasons with Seattle, the Seahawks have ranked among the top six in the NFL in the percentage of times they ran the ball _ and three times the Seahawks were tops in the league.
In four of Carroll's 10 seasons the Seahawks have ranked 12th or lower in percentage of times they ran the ball, three times in the bottom half.
Seattle's average wins when it's run the ball more than almost any team in the NFL: 11.1, winning at least 10 games each season, all of which ended in the playoffs.
The average number of wins in the other four: 8.25, including all three times Carroll's Seattle teams didn't win double-digit games.
The one outlier season is 2016, when Seattle went 10-5-1 and won the NFC West, ranking 16th in run percentage.
We all know, of course, that teams that are behind tend to pass more and teams that are ahead tend to run more. So running a lot doesn't necessarily equal winning as much as it is often a byproduct of winning.
Still, Carroll has always made it clear he sees a causation in running effectively being a key to winning _ if nothing else in setting up play-action passes, which have often led to some of Seattle's biggest plays and accentuate Russell Wilson's famed deep-passing ability.
Which brings us to Seattle's decision last Friday to sign veteran running back Carlos Hyde to a one-year deal reported to be worth up to $4 million with incentives (exact details have yet to be revealed).
Some might not have regarded running back as Seattle's most pressing need. But Carroll has seen what has happened to the Seahawks when they suddenly are caught short at running back and, simply put, doesn't want it to happen again.
There obviously was what occurred a year ago, when Seattle had to re-sign Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin after season-ending injuries to Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny, and then saw the running attack flounder in the playoffs (87 yards per game after averaging 137.5 during the regular season).
But there was also the 2017 season which, for all the understandable emphasis on the defensive injuries that helped derail that year, also went awry when Carson suffered an early season injury. Without Carson, and with the Eddie Lacy experiment a dismal failure, Seattle managed just one rushing touchdown by someone other than quarterback Russell Wilson the entire year and the Seahawks missed the playoffs for the only time since 2011.
And there was 2016, when Seattle endured a revolving door at tailback (due in part to injuries to Thomas Rawls) and had both the lowest total yards and yards per carry of the Carroll era other than his first year in 2010.
Wilson responded with career highs in completions, attempts and yards but also a career low in passer rating (92.6), and Carroll likely sees those as related, that being forced to pass more might lead to doing so less efficiently. That was also the same year Wilson battled injuries, which limited his own ability to run and helped bottle up Seattle's rushing attack some, as well.
But to Carroll, that might have only reinforced the idea of making sure the Seahawks don't always have to rely on Wilson for everything.
Which brings us back to Hyde, who was still available to sign in late May despite having had a career-best season a year ago with 1,070 yards in what turned out to be his only year in Houston (he reportedly turned down a two-year deal said to be worth up to $10 million to stay in Houston so he could enter free agency after making $2.8 million on a one-year deal last year).
That it was later revealed that Hyde had labrum surgery in February, an injury he apparently played through for most/all of last season, might help explain why Hyde was still available, though Seattle also first went after Devonta Freeman before those contract talks broke down.
With Hyde in the fold _ though his signing has not yet been made official by the NFL _ the Seahawks now have two of the 16 players who a year ago rushed for 1,000 yards or more on their roster.
They also have what might seem like a crowded backfield _ and given history, anyway, the virtual certainty that one of Carson or Hyde won't top 1,000 yards this year. Only seven times in NFL history has a team had two 1,000-yard rushers, and only once since 2009 _ and that came with a quarterback among the duo as Baltimore's Lamar Jackson (1,206) and Mark Ingram (1,018) topped that mark a year ago.
