The Detroit Lions came into their Week 4 game against the Seahawks ranking 24th in Football Outsiders’ Defensive Adjusted Line Yards metric, and they’d allowed 4.56 running back yards per carry on the young season, so it probably wasn’t a surprise that Seattle Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny gashed Aaron Glenn’s defense for 151 yards and two touchdowns on just 17 carries.
Penny’s second touchdown run, a 41-yarder with 2:14 left in the game, gave Seattle just enough points to survive their 48-45 Scorigami win (there had never been a 48-45 game in pro football history before). And it wasn’t just Penny beating up the Lions’ vulnerable defense. After the game, Penny made sure to credit rookie left tackle Charles Cross for the assist.
Interesting from Rashaad Penny: his Seahawks’ game-clinching touchdown on 3rd & 2, 41 yards, was designed to go inside. He and pulling LT Charles Cross read the Lions’ over-shifted front inside and bounced it outside—where no one was for the score. Penny credits rookie for improv pic.twitter.com/dK1KJ1zYVx
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) October 2, 2022
Cross, the Mississippi State alum, was selected ninth overall in the 2022 draft, and he was OT1 in our pre-draft list of offensive tackles. I paid more attention to Cross’ pass-blocking than his run-blocking — primarily because he had 719 pass-blocking snaps to 200 run-blocking snaps in his final collegiate season — but Cross’ college tape showed two things — he’s smart enough to deal with protection adjustments, and his athleticism will show up just about every time he’s asked to drive forward in the run game.
On the replay of Penny’s run, you can see Cross pull all the way over from left tackle to outside right tackle, and taking linebacker Chris Board out of the way as Penny matriculated the ball downfield. The Lions did indeed have an over-shifted front to the defensive left side, with five defenders from the center out, and as all Detroit defenders pinched inside, Cross got his thing going outside.
RASHAAD PENNY. SEAHAWKS WIN. pic.twitter.com/y0LhL6yFtc
— Sports ON Tap Seattle 🎙 (@SONTSeattle) October 2, 2022
Not bad for a guy in his fourth regular-season game. In Cross and third-round rookie right tackle Abe Lucas (the most interesting person in Seattle), the Seahawks have more potential on their offensive line than they’ve had in a number of years.