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Seahawks Run Game Comes Through With A Second Straight Big Game In Week 17 Win over Panthers

For the second week in a row, a strong rushing performance helped lead the Seahawks to a win.

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CHARLOTTE—When the Seahawks got the ball back in Panthers territory with 3:40 left in the game and a 10-point lead, there was no mystery about what was coming next.

The Seahawks knew they were going to run the ball, and the Panthers knew runs were coming. But despite a predictably run-heavy attack with the Seahawks in their four-minute offense, the Seahawks were still able to find the end zone after six straight carries by Zach Charbonnet, the last of those carries being the 1-yard touchdown that put the game all the way out of reach as the Seahawks rolled to a 27-10 victory, their sixth consecutive win.

"It was cool to end of the game in a four-minute touchdown, I thought," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "That was something that we have been wanting to get done all year, and the guys did a great job."

Charbonnet, who had one of his best games as a Seahawk, rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, said that final drive, "shows our mentality. We played gritty football, we played downhill. Once again, shout out to our O-line for doing their job and allowing me to just make a cut and get in."

With Kenneth Walker III adding 51 yards on 15 carries, the Seahawks finished the game with 163 rushing yards, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt. That performance comes on the heels of Seattle rushing for 171 yards in a Week 16 win over the Rams, with Walker leading the way with 100 rushing yards and a touchdown while adding 64 receiving yards in that game. Those are two of Seattle's three best rushing performances of the season, an encouraging trend heading into a Week 18 showdown with the 49ers followed by the playoffs.

"It's huge," tight end AJ Barner said. "You've got to be able to run the ball, a run game travels. We've got to keep toting the rock, and shout out to the backs for hitting it, and the O-line. That's the expectations, we've got to run the rock."

Charbonnet having his first 100-yard game of the season immediately after Walker's 100-yard game against the Rams helps illustrate a point Macdonald has made whenever he's asked about those two, which is that the Seahawks feel like they have two starting running backs. That may not be fun for fantasy football players, but it's a great thing to have late in the season for a team that has the talent to go on a deep postseason run. On Sunday, Charbonnet scored his 10th and 11th touchdowns of the season, making him the first Seahawk since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to have double digit rushing touchdowns. He also had Seattle's two longest offensive plays, a 29-yard run and a 25-yard, the latter of which allowed the Seahawks to convert on third-and-15.

"It was probably Zach's best game as a Seahawk I would imagine," Macdonald said. "Like I was telling K9, K-9 played a great game, too. Sometimes that's the way the game goes on some of those creases and things. I mean the third-down conversion was incredible. Some of those black-zone runs are—like 95 was a block in the hole and makes the guy miss. It's a 2-yard gain. That's a big-time two yards, so it's not just the explosive runs. It's all those tough yards as well. And then obviously finishing out in the four-minute was big time."

With 334 rushing yards in their last two games, the Seahawks love the progress they have made in that phase of the game, but they also know there is still room to grow heading into the playoffs.

"It's definitely something we've continued to harp on, and will continue to harp on," Charbonnet said. "We're definitely not satisfied yet, so we're going to keep building on that and keep attacking it."

The Seahawks celebrated the 27-10 road victory over the Carolina Panthers on December 28, 2025.

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