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Officially, Seattle Seahawks running back Chris Carson only fumbled once against the Philadelphia Eagles, but he was culpable for two fumbles and once again was at the center of a turnover with the Seahawks trying to close a game out.
Literally a play after Carson actually fumbled (only for the Seahawks to recover the ball), the third-year running back never closed his arms on a Russell Wilson handoff and the ball hit the turf.
Chris Carson's NFL leading 8th fumble of the season gives the #eagles life #Seahawks #SEAvsPHI pic.twitter.com/csUG2GY6Q9
— Slightly Biased (@BiasedSlightly) November 24, 2019
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Luckily, even though Philadelphia recovered, they didn’t score any points. The fumble is charged to Wilson, which is the second time this has happened this year.
So what happened on that botched exchange? Wilson spoke with media after Sunday’s win and said that this was indeed an audible at the line, but it appears as if Carson didn’t get the memo that there had been a change of plans.
Russell Wilson says fumble on handoff to Chris Carson in fourth quarter came after he changed the play at the line, from a naked bootleg to a run. Says it was on him. But it’s apparent Carson missed the changed call. #Seahawks @thenewstribune pic.twitter.com/8QaRWAfT3P
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 24, 2019
Now being the exemplary leader that Wilson is, he’s not going to throw Carson under the bus. Maybe he’s actually right and somehow he didn’t properly communicate the audible to Chris. With all of that said, when the actual play unfolded, Wilson was quite demonstrative (by his standards) towards Carson in a way I’ve not seen him be with another teammate in a long time.
RussellWilsonSmhReaction.gif pic.twitter.com/sXdRwAQWdz
— Vountee (@vountee) November 25, 2019
You don’t need me to tell you that the Seahawks need to, for lack of a better phrase, cut this shit out. That’s 12 lost fumbles on the year, which is the most ever under Pete Carroll. I really don’t have much choice but to single out Carson in particular. He has officially lost four fumbles but he has twice had bad exchanges with Wilson — vs. Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers — that were recovered by the other team and charged to Wilson.
Even when he’s not the one carrying the ball, Carson was at considerable fault for the sack that led to Wilson’s fumble (and Germain Ifedi’s subsequent fumble) against the 49ers. This is the third time this season that the Seahawks have had a two-score lead in the 4th quarter and Carson has been involved in a turnover on a drive that could’ve seen the Seahawks extend the lead and/or bleed precious clock.
I ask the Seahawks kindly once again, please stop fumbling.